Resilience interview.

[CapitanSandy]

Has anyone had a resilience interview as part of a job interview?

I’ve got through to the second interview for a job role I really want. It’s not too dissimilar to the role I’m in now but the pay and working hours are better.

Tomorrow involves a resilience interview. It sounds like just to check I’ve got the ability/ coping mechanisms to protect my wellbeing in the role. Without being too outing it’s for a mental health charity.

So far I’ve been focusing on preparing for questions like how do you manage stress at work. What would you do if you felt triggered or distressed? Your greatest failure, a time when you felt under pressure etc.

Any ideas what they might ask?

Tomorrow also involves a reverse interview where I ask the team questions feeling slightly more comfortable about that.

The fuck...? Hopefully they actually understand what it's supposed to mean, rather than the version I've encountered previously, which has been 'prove to us you aren't weak and that you will trot around in a happy Pollyanna fashion when All is Shit because we don't like Moaning Minnies in the office'. (I suspect a deadpan 'I'm still here' will not be seen as a positive response).

I think it would be more how you understand the need for facilitating clients to develop resilience, the barriers they experience, the impact of adverse childhood experiences upon this and how you could identify these barriers and address them/talk about a time when you did this in the past.

I'd definitely want to immediately ask them about what was the charity's greatest failure in respect of staff welfare and wellbeing and how they learned and transformed the organisational culture as a result. And how they respond to the concept of post traumatic growth as compared to resilience.

But that's just me. Tough as old boots. Stubborn as fuck and still here largely through sheer bloodymindedness. It might not be what they are looking for.

What do you do to support your own well-being?

What is a good well-being culture at work?

Sounds potentially discriminatory to me, as resilience is largely something that you have or don't have though life circumstances. It's easy to be resilient if nothing bad happened to you, particularly in childhood. Research shows that if you have lived experience of trauma, you are more likely to experience stress and burn out. Yet lived experience is what can improve individual and organisational responses to people with mental and emotional health challenges. This would raise alarm bells for me if they are overly putting the onus on individuals to be resilient, I would want to be asking them what they do to recognise that vicarious trauma and being triggered is a normal part of this work that they should have systems and processes to address.

Bruce Daisy has a book called Fortitude out about this at the moment. See www.managementtoday.co.uk/why-“quick-fix-resilience”-doesnt-work/indepth/article/1795312 and eatsleepworkrepeat.com/rory-sutherland-explores-fortitude/

I have a sneaking suspicion I know what charity you are talking about. I recently left there, and part of the reason was because I was so uncomfortable with these interviews being implemented (and I wasn't the only one unhappy...) It seems ironic that a mental health charity seems willing to potentially disregard a candidate because of lack of 'resilience'. I believe questions are asked in the 'hope' of you opening up about any difficult times in your life (but worded in a way that means legally, they are okay). Once working t the charity, support I felt was severely lacking. I recommend you look at the glassdoor feedback from employees (ignore the ones which are praising...they sound a little too gushing...!).

I was asked

How do you look after yourself?

In my last job intervie.

My answer

• make time for myself to get outside every day
• use flexi tome to my advantage
• joint in house and industry wide interest/support networks.

I got the job.

Thank you for the replies, definitely given me lots to think about. Would you say something like this could be a red flag? The glass door reviews are mixed at best.

Would you mind if I sent you a PM please? @livingthesimplelife

Why do they need to know if you're resilient? Is it so they can put you under a lot of pressure? Is it so that, if various life events like parents dying etc happen, they can have rubbish policies around compassionate leave? Is it so that they don't recruit anyone with poor mental health who they then need to support? The only legitimate reason for asking this is if they are concerned that, as a mental health charity, conversations with their clients may be upsetting for staff and they want to ensure staff can deal with it - but I'd still prefer it if they has appropriate staff support systems in place.
I view myself as pretty resilient but that's because I had a very stable upbringing and a largely easy life since. It didn't stop me from being completely floored by something unexpected which happened to me at work. It also doesn't mean that I won't be floored again when my parents die or something else like that happens.

This is what I’m wondering now. Like you said I thought it was more around the potential for distressing conversations with the people who access their services. Hopefully not so they can pile the pressure on with minimal support.

I’m looking to leave my current job due to the stress and pressure as well as the working hours but I can’t fault they way they support staff in difficult times.

Is it just another trendy piece of crap?

It's so pointless. My world could be falling apart but I'd still put on the show at work.

I think it is potentially a red flag, but you will only really find out by going and seeing what approach they take. If it seems to be very much putting the onus on the individual to be resilient, rather than recognising that resilience comes from our social connections, including in the workplace, in fact, especially in the workplace when you are working with people who are distressed, then you might decide it isn't the organisation for you.

Of course!

I’m fairly new to job hunting so it’s helpful to know your thoughts. I suppose I’m worried about potentially going out of the frying pan into the fire. Great advice about seeing what it’s like tomorrow when I can decide if I need to.

Thanks so much I’ve sent a message over.

Probably as important as qualifications for many roles and something people try to find out by stealth rather than have a interview about it! I suppose if someone might be being hired to look at abuse cases all day they might need to be mentally healthy enough to cope.

Good luck. Say you are as strong as an ox and have never had a day off sick (if that is true) as that might help.

Are they going to stick a bag over your head and kidnap you?

sounds very odd…