Persona customers help recruit new social care staff

Persona customers are helping out as staff recruiters. 

Potential new recruits will take part in activities and scenarios with the people they will be caring for - instead of undertaking a formal interview.

The new approach will help us find people who are most suited to caring roles, and will give customers a direct role in deciding who gets a job.

Applicants will take part in a workshop assessment involving activities with Persona customers including older people and people with physical and learning disabilities.

Kat Sowden, Managing Director of Persona Care and Support, said: “For some time now we’ve felt that the traditional approach to recruitment just isn’t working for some roles in social care. For those of our staff who work directly with our customers, a formal interview process doesn’t always help us find out about the person, and how they would interact with customers. So we thought, why not get the customers themselves involved?”

A pilot event initially trialled a number of scenarios and activities which would be used instead of formal interview to put candidates through their paces. Customers and candidates were asked to work together to build a tower out of dried spaghetti and marshmallows, and also played ‘human bingo’ which aims to get people talking about the things they have in common.

Kat Sowden adds: “Knowledge and experience of working in care is not essential - though of course we welcome people who do have that. More importantly, we want the right type of people who are interested in making a difference and who want to support Persona customers to live the life they choose.”