Empowerment case studies

POhWER has a history of involving service users in recruiting for all their staff vacancies
POhWER has also worked with other organisations by supporting service users to take part in the interview process
For example, more recently POhWER has supported service users to interview staff for 4 positions in Hertfordshire Partnership Trust
POhWER was contacted and asked if some service users would like to take part in interviewing for new staff. This is how POhWER supported the service users:

1) The Advocate contacted the service users by asking the members of the self advocacy group if they would be interested
2) The Advocate arranged to meet with the interested members to think up some questions to ask the candidates
3) The Advocate and the service users discussed the questions and practised asking questions and scoring the answers

4) On the day the service users asked the questions
5) The Advocate supported the service users by:

a) Making sure the questions were typed out and were easy to read

b) Making sure the score sheets were clear and easy to use

c) Writing any comments down that the service user wished to make on the score sheet. The service user then signed to say that these were their words

d) After the interviews the service users gave their score sheets to a manager of Hertfordshire Partnership Trust and told them what they thought about each candidate. The manager told the service users that their scores and views would be thought about when a decision was being made about who should get the job

e) The Advocate then discussed with the service users what they had thought about the process and if they would like to do it again

POhWER Interviews

Most people who apply for a job at POhWER and get an interview will find that there is a Trustee on the interview panel

The Trustee will be involved in:
1) The short listing for the interviews
2) Asking their own questions at the interview
3) Scoring how well they thought the individual did
4) The final decision making process – discussing who should get the job and why
If you would like more information about becoming a Member or Trustee of POhWER, click the link below
Members and Trustees

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