Published on 12, July, 2020
So I have a an interview for a job I applied for a couple for a couple of weeks ago. I'm really pleased as I've been job hunting for a while and never managed to bag an interview so this feels like real progress.
Anyway it is a job for a mental health and wellbeing peer support worker. This is quite the career pivot for me as I currently work in a lab that manufactures blood grouping reagents and have a very scientific background. It's fair to say this interview will be quite different to ones i've experienced before as I've never applied for this sort of role before.
Does anyone have any experience in a mental health support role or similar and can offer advice on the interview? I really don't want to muck this up.
Take care,
Euan
Good luck.
I always him and ham during interviews, and never receive an offer.
That is kind of you thank you. And no problem at all.
Thank you for this link it's got some helpful things in it. Much Appreciated.
I'm sorry to hear about the barriers you've faced with getting into the field. I think the more people like yourself that value the sort of work the better the world will be! Thank you for the well wishes!
Thank you so much!
I don't have any experience but I looked up more information about the role out of curiosity and found this:
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles-psychological-therapies/peer-support-worker
The page has a list of must have skills for the role, so I'd imagine that's where the questions will focus at interview. I would go through each of them in turn and script an answer that demonstrates your proficiency or past experience.
It sounds like you may be required to talk about your own past experiences with mental health issues and how you can use those experiences to help and support others.
The role description seems big on empathy, which may present some issues if you are autistic. If that is the case I would talk about your knowledge of autism and how you may be able to relate more easily to autistic people.
I lived in supported accommodation for 2 years and had support workers so I have a deep appreciation for what they do. Back then I did want to go into that field of work myself and I even started to volunteer for an LGBGTQIA+ charity at the time as a way of getting there but then my CPTSD made a grand entrance and I've been unable to work since then.
I don't have any particular advice to offer, but I do extend gratitude for the fact you're going into this interview as I know and have seen how it can change lives. Unsure if you use tiktok but I see lots of people on there giving advice on how to interview well, unsure if that will help.
Anyway, good luck with the interview, I hope it goes well!
I don’t have any specific advice, but good luck in your interview! The job seems really interesting!