To use this in a job application

[Prudemaybe]

I am applying for a job as support officer for an organisation that brings together different agencies in support of families that have experienced domestic violence. It is basically an admin post, and though I haven't worked in this particular sector, I do have a lot of admin experience.

With the person specification questions, there are two that I would be grateful for advice on. The first is:

"Understanding of domestic violence issues and risk management."

WIBU to say that though I don't have experience of physical abuse, I left my marriage after many years of emotional and sometimes verbal abuse, so I am well versed in coercive behaviour and know how difficult it is to leave? Or is bringing my personal experience into it a no no?

Also, what do they mean by risk management in this particular context?

The other person specification which I am struggling a bit with is:

"A commitment to equal opportunities and an understanding of how this would be applied in this post."

How would equal opportunities be applied in this particular admin job - the post holder will basically be supporting the meetings that go ahead between all the different agencies, and doing administrative work.

I would be very grateful for any pointers because I think it sounds like a really interesting and varied job in which I could learn a lot.

Thanks a lot .

no i dont think your personal experience is relevant,

a biggy maybe confidentiality
you do have admin experience
can you go through job spec and show your transferable skills?

equal ops - ie disability/gender

Thank you - sorry to sound dim, but with the equal opportunities, how would I, as the admin person, apply them? (Second nature for me to give everyone equal attention in a work situation anyway).

I might say that I know a lot about coercive control rather than talk about my own experience. Maybe that would be better?

I do have a lot of transferable skills, and have worked in other environments where confidentiality is very important, so will also talk about that.

perhaps they have male clients who have experienced domestic violence?

I would be very careful of using your personal experience and instead provide a sentence that's more wide reaching about your understandable of the various types of domestic violence including emotional/verbal and coercive control as well as physical and sexual violence.

Risk management - if you google you will find industry models that you can use. Basics are

• identify what risks there may be
• assess for probability and impact
• come up with risk treatments to mitigate the impact
• implement treatment
• reassess the risk

So for example - sending a leaflet to someone experiencing domestic abuse, partner may find the leaflet, if they find it they may harm the victim.

Could you send the leaflet to a neutral address given by the victim or can you provide the information verbally.

If you do that would it neutralise or just reduce the risk

If just reduced is it worth sending the leaflet, would it give enough benefit to make the risk worthwhile?

Equality & diversity - look up the 9 protected characteristics and think in relation to those, so you may have a victim from a religious background such as Muslim, Orthodox Jew, orthodox Christian...... if your solution involved moving them to a mixed sex hostel/refuge that could cause issues.

Okay thanks - and I suppose that it might be the case that people from different communities come for help, and that age, language spoken etc.. shouldn't be a barrier for anyone.

Missed your post @TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 (great name ) will read it now.

Thank you so much @TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 that really helps .

They're looking for evidence that you've worked in a domestic violence setting, if you don't have that then you can say something very brief like 'I have lived experience of domestic violence.' You don't need to say any more than that and they won't probe that in interview.

I think the risk assessment thing is a separate point (it's badly written) so if you have any experience of risk management in another type of job, fire that in.

Equal opps is any situation where you've considered the needs of all customers/clients/whatever - so have you for example challenged a situation where a certain group of people weren't 'allowed'? Or made sure a service you offered was open to a wide group of people?

Thanks @LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett - are emotional and verbal abuse classified as part of domestic violence?

Thank you for the other pointers as well.

Yep, that's coercive control so part of DV. Of course, they're looking for a work context so if it was truthful to say something like 'After lived experience of domestic violence, I have spent a lot of time working to understand the root causes of violence against women and girls...'

Thank you.

@Prudemaybe sorry that you've had experience of coercive control, hope things are much better now.
I recruit to lots of admin roles - please don't get hung up on the equal ops question it's a standard item that will appear on lots of JDs now. In reality is signalling that they are looking for someone who will behave appropriately and will not discriminate when dealing with colleagues and clients etc. If you do get asked a question in an interview it's more than likely that they will be looking for an answer that shows an understanding that some people may have differing needs and need adjustments and that nobody should be discriminated against.

Re the disclosing your own past it maybe relevant but perhaps more in an interview to explain why you are interested in that role (admire the work they do, etc). What they are probably looking for is that you are aware that domestic violence victims are particularly at risk when they have left or are leaving a violent relationship so they will expect applicants to show understanding of the critical need for confidentiality and to be able to respond appropriately should an ex partner try and make contact etc.

Best of luck with the application!

Thinking about the role and level, I believe the thing they are looking for you to demonstrate that you can use common sense in the administration of your tasks and critical thinking.

That you won't just follow a standard list for everyone if that's not in the best interests of the person the case relates to.

I've managed admin roles in the past and you occasionally get a scenario where even though the process said do steps 1,2,3 then A,B,C it is clearly not appropriate in that case to do 2 and C, but the person did it anyway because that's the process.

For 75% of your job that would probably be right, but you need to apply the brakes, stop and reassess the process and whether it's appropriate and find a solution for those other 25%.

Given the nature of this role and the diversity of the client base you would definitely need to be able to quickly and clearly do that reassessment and find the best, most time and resource efficient solution.

This needs to come across enough in the application for them to be interested in you, and then be expanded on in interview.

Look at your previous job roles, and see where you can amend a key task/responsibility you performed to reflect this 'agile', 'critical thinking, 'solution focussed' approach.

May be worth googling understanding domestic abuse and looking through some of the information available then you could refer to this alongside your lived experience.

Thank you for all the kind messages and suggestions.

I have just sent my application off - took hours. I doubt I will get an interview as I think they will naturally want to see people who have already worked in that sector, but you never know. All your suggestions really helped and my application is a lot better than it would have been .

fab news

Don’t talk yourself down. I’m sure your application is just as good as the others. Believe in yourself.

Equal opportunities isn't about treating everyone the same. It's about giving everyone an equal chance and making allowances to enable this based on the individual need.
It's also important to remember that what you think someone may need to feel that they are being treated equally may not be what they themselves perceive their need to be.
So often people assume what someone needs rather than asking the individual.

Domestic violence is being 'rebranded' to domestic abuse in order to encompass all aspects, physical and otherwise.
Domestic violence with a Male victim is seriously underfunded and the statistics are frightening.
Risk management involves looking at ways to protect the victim, putting a crisis plan in place etc

Thank you for the further messages. I did qualify the equal opportunity argument to say that it meant supporting people according to their needs. I also found info on risk assessment and management which is similar to what you have just said @ChoccieEClaire.

We’ll see - but still I think it is so hard to change sector so I am not holding my breath!!