7: Job applications and interviews

A: I’m ready to start looking for people to support me, where should I advertise?

B: Hang on a moment, first of all can I just check that you’ve thought enough about the kind of support you would like?

A: Well I’d like a communicator guide…. 

B: …and, go on…

A: What do you mean? 

B: Well have you thought about the skills or personal qualities you’d like them to have? It’s going to be hard for you to get the right kind of support if you aren’t a bit more specific. It might be helpful to first think about the kind of tasks you’d like support with and you can put this in the job description. 

A: Ok, well I need a communicator guide to support me with daily tasks outside the home, as well as to attend leisure activities. This involves using BSL and guiding.

B: OK, so thinking about the personal specification, what sort of qualifications or skills do you think they might need?

A: OK, well they’d need to have at least BSL level 2, some guiding skills, especially for me in the evening or at night time.

B: Good we’re getting that’s a bit more information together. One tip, before you finalise the application form, why not keep a diary for 1 or 2 weeks and it might help you identify the tasks you need support with? Anyway, how about skills related to the activities that you’ve mentioned so far?

A: Well, sometimes it would be great to get support from someone who had a good understanding of money and perhaps someone who can drive a car, not everywhere I need to go is on a bus route.

B: Great that’s a clear list of some of the formal skills you’d like staff to have. Now how about they’re personal qualities, what they’re like as people?

A: Well I’m not really bothered about this as long as they can take instruction from me and can support me safely.

B: OK I do know what you mean, but it might be a good idea to include some information on personal qualities, these can be particularly important if you end up in a tricky situation.

A: Oh OK, well I did have an incident once when a train was cancelled and my communicator guide couldn’t really cope with the change of plans. It would have helped if he’d been better at coping with unforeseen circumstances.

B: Well there you go, that’s one important quality. I know communicator guiding can be hard work, do you think you’d like your guide to have any particular qualities to help them manage with this.

A: Well I think they’d need to be patient, enthusiastic and honest. I need to know if I’m asking them to do too much.

B: OK how about the way they work, I’d suggest it can be useful to include some personal qualities that relate to this.

A: Well I need a communicator guide who is reliable and punctual I suppose.

B: Great, that sounds like a good start. You’ll probably want to add a few things to the list, so you may end up having to decide which skills or qualities are most important or essential and which ones are optional or desirable.

A: So I guess I could make a list of the things that I think are essential and the things that are desirable.

B: Exactly and you can structure the personal specification like that by listing the essential items first and then the desirable ones. You can use the job description and specification to recruit staff to employ yourself, as well as look for freelance or self-employed staff.

A: So what if I want to use an agency, do I just have to take whatever they offer me?

B: No I think you could still use these ideas as a checklist when you are contacting agencies to see whether they can provide you with a service to meet your needs.

A: OK but if I do decide to employ people or use freelance staff, where should I advertise?

B: Well it depends on what is available to you locally. It might be useful for you to think about the best way to try to advertise to people with the right skills, of course in your case that’s BSL. Here are some general ideas: your local direct payments support service, a local disabled or Deaf people’s organisation, a local newsletter, an on-line group or newsletter, your local Job Centre, college, newspaper or shops. 

A: But you’ve made me list all this information. How can I fit it all into an advert?

B: Well you can’t, you need your advert to be catchy and short. You can send the job information pack to anyone who responds.

A: OK, so what should I put in the advert?

B: There are four things are key to include. The type of work you’d like them to do, an idea of the number of hours you would like them to work, the rate of pay (I know this may vary depending on what skills they have), and how they can contact you for more information. It’s probably better just to include a telephone, textphone, email or fax number, rather than your home address as you probably don’t want to advertise this to the whole world! You could give people a rough idea of the area you live in though.

A: But where will people send their completed application forms if I haven’t provided my address?

B: Good question. You might prefer to use a PO Box number or it might be possible for you to use the address of a local organisation, such as the direct payments support service.

A: I must admit I’m a bit nervous about interviewing people. How will I make sure I ask the right questions and what if they ask me something tricky?

B: Don’t worry it’s quite normal to be nervous. I was really nervous the first few times I interviewed people. But it really helped for me to arrange interviews in a place I felt most comfortable. I also asked a friend to sit in on the interviews and give me a second opinion. It’s really what makes you comfortable that is the important thing.

A: But if I just ask them questions, will I really be able to judge how good they’re going to be at supporting me?

B: Well it might be useful for you to ask them to support you to do a simple and safe task. You’ll be able to judge their skills, as well as how well they listen to your instructions.

A: I’ve heard that I need to think about equal opportunities when I’m recruiting for staff. What does that mean?

B: Yes, laws exist to prevent people discriminating against other people for specific reasons, such as someone’s race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and age. 

A: So I can’t make any choices about who supports me, even if I have a good reason?

B: This doesn’t mean that you can’t make some choices about the kind of person you would like to support you. But you will need to make sure that you are making this choice within the law. Ask your local direct payments support service for advice on this.