8. Interview Structure and Questions

A planned and structured interview is a key part of safer recruitment practices, to ensure the right person is selected for the job and to help prevent unsuitable people from being recruited to work with children and young people.

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 provides the following guidance on the content of structured interview questions:
• Finding out what attracted the candidate to the post being applied for and their motivation for working with children
• Exploring their skills and asking for examples of experience of working with children which are relevant to the role, and,
• Probing any gaps in employment or where the candidate has changed employment or location frequently, asking about the reasons for this

Interview Structure

It is important that your interview has a clear structure, which is shared with the candidate at the start of the interview.

Here is an example of what an interview could include:

• Opening Questions
• Value based questions
• Competency questions
• Closing questions

Opening Questions

Start with some opening questions to help them settle before the more structured questions are used. Some examples are below:

• Please can you tell us a little about...
• What prompted you to apply for this role?
• What attracted you to our organisation?
• What interests you about working with children under 5?
• Where does this job fit in your career path?

Answers should be evaluated against the job description and personal specification.

Value Based Questions (VBQ)

Value Based Questions allow a candidate to demonstrate their values and behaviours, how they approach different situations and assesses whether they can demonstrate that their values meet with those of the organisation. Questions will be asked, which are designed to explore the candidate's values and how they display them at work. They will be expected to discuss how different situations made them feel and how they reacted to them.

The NSPCC has highlighted that value based interviewing techniques are best practice, as it will help you focus on each candidate's values and behaviours (Taken from Safer recruitment | NSPCC Learning).

Values are a set of enduring beliefs which a person holds about what is right or wrong, what is good or desirable. Values influence behaviour and are relatively stable. The first step in devising successful Values Based Questions is to identify the values of your organisation. These describe a positive work culture including safeguarding, and identify how staff should behave towards their service users and to each other.

Organisational values are best identified by leaders, staff and service users working together. It is possible that your organisation already has a set of core values, which might be set out in your ethos or mission statement.

These values should underpin the work of the whole organisation, and regularly be communicated with all those who are involved in the organisation in terms of staff and volunteers, as well as those accessing services.

The values need to be embedded in the whole recruitment process and be clear in the job advert, person specification and job description. Candidates invited for interview should be made aware if VBQ will be part of the interview selection process.

Some examples of workplace values identified by organisations working with children and young people are; compassion, integrity, respect, dignity, collaboration, service user focused.

The NSPCC have identified four values for organisations working with children to embed in the safer recruitment process. These four values below can be used to help you devise your own values:

• Establishing and maintaining professional boundaries and professional integrity
• Establishing and maintaining relationships with children
• Taking action to protect a child
• Demonstrating resilience and ability to cope with pressure

Once the values have been agreed, the organisation needs to identify the positive behaviours they need to see from staff and the behaviours which are not consistent with each value and would be of concern.

The interviewers will ask questions to obtain behavioural examples of how the candidate has demonstrated this value in their past. They will need to use follow on questions to explore in more depth and acquire further evidence that the person's behaviour is consistent with the values. Follow on questions will explore learning and reflection.

Competency Based Questions

These types of questions ask candidates to describe a situation which demonstrates their abilities and skills that are integral to the role they have applied for. If the candidate does not have experience in the area, the interviewer should ask what they would do if they were faced with a particular situation.

Examples of competencies are:

• Interpersonal Skills
• Problem Solving
• Judgement
• Teamwork
• Innovative Thinking

Example questions:

• Give an example of a situation where you solved a problem in a creative way.
• How do you maintain positive working relationships with your colleagues?
• Tell me about a time when you used your communication skills to improve a situation.
• Describe a situation where you were asked to do something that you'd never attempted previously.
• Tell me about a time when you achieved success even when the odds were stacked against you.
• Safeguarding children is an important part of our work. Can you give us some examples of how you would contribute to making the organisation a safer environment for children?

Closing Questions

It is helpful to bring the interview to a conclusion with at least one closing question. There are some examples below.

Please can you tell us about ...

• What success would look like for you in this role?
• The biggest adjustments/challenges you believe you would face if you were successful in getting this role?
• The qualities you believe you will bring to our team?
• Why you believe you are a good candidate for this role?
• Is there anything from your supporting statement we haven't covered, that you would like to add?

Other questions to include

There must be a question asking if the candidate has ever had an allegation or concern made against them when working with children and young people.

Any disclosures made on the application form must be explored by further questioning in their interview.

Any gaps in employment should also be explored during the interview.

Supplementary questions may be asked to follow up any issues or areas that are not clear.

Worrying traits to look out for during interviews

These include:

• Lack of understanding of safeguarding, or limitations to that understanding
• Not providing examples to support their answers
• Using inappropriate language to describe people
• Unwilling to follow rules, procedures or work with others