Job interview for supported housing/homelessness

[Jobinterviewhelp]

Been offered an interview for a job supporting homeless young adults/at risk of experiencing homelessness. I think this includes care leavers and asylum seekers, and I imagine involves some addiction/youth offending work.

I’m absolutely delighted as this is a field I want to work in long term, but I haven’t done a job interview in a long time, and honestly did not expect to even be offered an interview!

What kind of things am I best remembering? I’m thinking I should make sure I’m totally up to speed on legislation around homelessness, child and adult protection, and housing options.

I’m care experienced myself so have lived experience of that side of things - to an extent, I was very young - and know what it’s like having been brought up with heavy social services involvement. Have for some work experience of mental health too, including managing suicidal ideation etc, and trained in counselling skills.

I don’t know if there’s anything else I should be talking about. I’m terrible at my mind going blank when I’m asked things such as best/worst quality etc!

would appreciate any help or advice, thanks!

Lived experience is great, also co-production was a big thing (although I left housing/homelessness services a few years ago).

I don’t work in supported housing but work closely with them as in a probation officer. I expect they’ll be looking for personality rather than knowledge as that can be taught. Definitely mention being in care and experience of social services and mental health issues as lived experience is a big thing in this sort of service (rightly so, I’ve spoken to some incredibly articulate and knowledgeable professionals with past experience of drug and alcohol dependency). Knowledge of child and adult safeguarding and drugs and alcohol will also be useful but mostly they’ll want someone who is down to earth, personable and enthusiastic.

I work with young people in care & know that with care leavers & there's a lot of legislation about what they're entitled to, might be worth looking that up? Google Pathway plan & take it from there. Congratulations on getting the interview & good luck!

maybe prepare for the equal opportunities question? some knowledge about the legal position of asylum seekers and refugees.

Stuff like " what would a good outcome look like to you?"

find out about the local emergency shelters and their policies, and how you could work with them - maybe go and visit

Good luck!

I work for a homelessness charity although it's been a few years since my interview so I don't remember much! They'll definitely be interested in your own lived experience and your work experience. Often in this sector the most important thing is you as a person rather than what you know.

Think about how you would deal with challenging situations, how you would manage risks as a lone worker, why we need to document, what support needs you think the customers may have. Good luck.

I did this and LOVED it!

Primarily, they will want to know you will keep yourself, the service and the service users safe - forever risk assess, before you do anything.

If they ask how you would deal with a particular situation don’t be afraid to say you would call the emergency services if you had exhausted all options.

Safeguarding is a big one - young people in this situations are at risk of exploitation, county lines etc.

You have to be none judgmental - you can’t treat everyone the same, because they’re not the same, but you can treat everyone fairly.

Read up on trauma informed care - there is ALWAYS a reason behind the behaviour. You’ll be expected to help with things like medical appointments, benefit appointments, budgeting and meal plans, engaging them in employment or training - your main role is EMPOWERING these young people to live independently and maintain a tenancy, give them the tools they need and support them rather than doing everything for them. Confidentiality is key, expect when someone is at risk of harm and then you have to disclose and you have to tell the person involved that you are disclosing. Read the Code of Ethics on BASW, they are what you need to embody.

Oh and you need to be calm under pressure and always ready to put the kettle on and just listen.

Good luck, best job I ever had and I’m now training to be a social worker.

Oh and accurate record keeping is a must - document everything, always.

Except - god we need an edit button.

Your counselling skills will be invaluable - IMO listening and questioning are really important in this field. Make sure you interview them back too, I'd want to know things like things like how large is the caseload, how often will you have supervisions, will there be any out of hours work.

Will you have to deal with other organisations? They like to ask questions on how you approach that - carefully as different organisations have different cultures, so tread gently.

Definitely a safeguarding question, probably a scenario and what you would do or tell us about a safeguarding incident you have dealt with. I would say if there are a variety of service user backgrounds then the questions would probably be quite generic rather than on specific legislation etc although it's always good to be able to work that into your answers to show knowledge. Definitely one on challenging behaviour I reckon. Usually why you want the job and what skills and experience can you bring to it. Equal ops, what does this mean to you and how would you ensure this in your day to day work. If you get this question mention the protected characteristics, I forgot this entirely once and focussed on 'levelling up ' opportunities for young people and got 3/7 for that question! Best of luck.

Is this for a local authority or charity?

Oh and information sharing, you’ll be working closely with social workers and other professionals too.