Suggested questions to ask a candidate at an interview

Note: these questions are child safeguarding–focused. Ask questions about qualifications, experience, etc. in the usual way.

• What are your previous experiences of working with children and young people?
• What challenges have you encountered when working with children, and how did you overcome these?
• What do you think good practice looks like when working with children?
• Have you ever had an incident involving a child that caused your employer to question your practice or process?
• What do you feel are the main reasons that have led you to want to work with children?
• Tell us about a time when you took action to help protect a child.
• What has your work with children and young people taught you about yourself?
• What steps do you think should be taken if children make allegations against staff/volunteers?
• Have you ever had concerns about a colleague’s behaviour or attitude towards the children in their care? How did you deal with this?
• If a child was displaying challenging behaviour, how would you deal with that? Have you had any experience with that type of situation? How did you deal with it?

Questions to ask of referees

• This role is working with children and young people. Do you have any concerns about (insert name of candidate) working in such a role?

• Would you allow (insert name of candidate) to care for your children?
• Have you ever felt uncomfortable about (insert name of candidate)’s behaviour towards children and young people in a previous job? What were your concerns, what did you do, and how was the issue resolved?
• Did you ever have concerns relating to the safety and welfare of children and young people or the candidate’s behaviour towards children?
• Would you re-employ this candidate again?

Areas of potential concern

Note to interviewers: During your selection process, you may hear things about the candidate that cause you concern and which you would then need to explore further with them. These may include that the candidate:

• Has little or no understanding or appreciation of children’s needs or expectations.
• Appears to want the role to meet their own needs rather than the needs of children and young people.
• Uses inappropriate language when talking about children.
• Displays vagueness about their experiences, has gaps in their application form, or is unable to provide examples to support their answers.
• Is unwilling to follow rules or procedures, or to work with others.