Liz Joins The Interview Panel

At Persona, we're all about co-production! This means we aim to work with people we support on an equal basis to ensure everyone's needs are met.

Click here to read more about co-production at Persona.

Carmen Gillon-Weerasinghe, manager of our learning disability day service, asked Liz, who attends The Elms, if she would like to be part of the interview panel when interviewing new staff. This enabled Liz to have an input on two of the questions asked and to chat with interviewees.

We asked Liz a few questions about her involvement on the day and how she enjoyed it:

Why did you want to interview staff for day services?

I want to find the best person for the job and because I was asked to.

Have you interviewed anyone before?

No, I haven't interviewed anyone before.

Could you tell us what happened on the day?

On the day of the interviews, I was dropped off at Sunnybank by Bradley Fold transport at 9.30am, I sat in the interview room with Mel and Carmen. We discussed how the interviews would work. I asked my questions to people who had come for the job in day service. There were 6 in total. They all seemed very nice. Carmen and Lisa also asked questions to the them. After each interview was over Carmen asked me my opinion of the person interviewed and whether I thought they would be good for day service. I then got picked up at 2.30pm.

Did you enjoy interviewing staff?

Yes, I found it interesting.

Would you like to do this again?

Yes, as it is interesting.

Did you learn anything new by taking part in the interviews?

Yes, I learnt how to interview people and what questions to ask.

Do you think interviewing staff was a good thing for you to do?

Yes, as I learnt a new skill and enjoyed doing it.

Do you think it's important for people we support to be involved in the interview process?

Yes, as we can get new skills and we know what people make good support workers.

What were the two questions you picked?

The questions I picked were:

• what experience have you had and what jobs have you had before?
• do you like doing activities? 

Why did you pick these questions?

Staff joining in on activities is important to me.

If someone asked you these questions, what would you say?

No, I have never worked.

Yes, I join in activities, and I also help run a music session.

To read more of our case studies, click here.

To read more about The Elms Community Centre, click here.