Listen here:
My last post, The Dyslexic Social Worker, provided practical dyslexia advice and support. I received a lot of feedback about the interview posters I had created. Therefore, I thought I would share some more examples of how I prepare for interviews.
Whether you are dyslexic or not, interview prep and the interview itself is an inevitably daunting task. For dyslexic people, like me, we are required to push past our memory recall challenges, issues with providing linear lists, and batting to prioritise information. Often the anxiety of the interview itself can make the challenges more pronounced.
However, we can prepare and use our creativity and thinking outside of the box strengths to ensure we can sell ourselves better than most people. Within this blog, I will show you how I prepare for interviews using my dyslexia strengths, I will provide other vital tips and tricks and I will also provide information and support for employers/supervisors.
Get Creative!
As you may recall from my previous post, The Dyslexic Social Worker, when preparing for an interview, I was always advised to take notes with me. However, having a blank white page of notes, which I needed to read through, was more daunting than the interview itself!!
During interviews, I would look and the paper and this would make my mind freeze and make my brain frantically search for the information on the paper. I would then find I could not read the words and my eyes would mix the letters.
I knew this was something I needed to conquer as I would inevitably need to attend an interview, hopefully finding the perfect job first! Therefore, to overcome the panic and my learning needs, I played into the dyslexic strength of thinking outside of the box as well as playing into my visual learning style. I created colourful and eye-catching posters specifically to the interview I was attending (see examples below).
Child protection assessment team example:
To create these posters, I made lists of important aspects of social work practice, which I thought may come up in an interview. I also thought about the type of questions that might be asked and put in keywords on how I would answer them:
the relevant legislation for the post,
how I manage time,
examples of theories/models,
practice examples from my student placement, which I could use if they asked a scenario-based question,
specifics about supervision,
how to write evidence-based and analytical case notes,
transferrable skills I could bring to the post,
why I picked the organisation and specific team,
information on the organisation I was applying for,
personal attributes which make me suitable for the role and working with people in the community it serves
clearly listed questions to ask the interviewing managers,
research on the service user group you will be working with,
values and behaviours the organisation expect you to demonstrate,
and finally, specifics of the role, team, and responsibilities I would need to fulfil as part of the job.
Answering and reflecting on these questions enabled me to bring information and awareness to my conscious mind as opposed to it sitting in my subconscious mind. By engaging and interacting with the content of the poster, and finding strategic and creative ways to display the information, it sat in my working memory and I found it easier to recall during the interview.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Example
Unfortunately, I did not find the perfect job the first time around and therefore set out for another interview. I used this basic template for several interviews. Below is an example from a children’s mental health team. Having not practised in this setting, I completed research on practice and therapy models so I could demonstrate I have researched the area before applying and accepting an interview. This also gave me the opportunity to reflect on and highlight transferrable skills.
I have also added the following:
What I have learnt from a young person in my past roles,
How I relax and offset the emotional and physical demands of the role,
What I have done in previous roles,
And specifics around child safeguarding (can be changed to adults).
Other examples of posters I have created include:
As you can see I do not change the poster template as creating a poster design can often be time-consuming. I do however keep or change the content of the poster in line with the questions asked above.
However, I also use the person specification provided as part of the application packs, as the interview questions are often based around the essential and desirable criteria it lists.
If you would like to create one for your own interview or even for writing an assignment, I used Canva.
General Tips and Tricks
Make the most of your mindset- Most importantly is to start with a positive mindset. There are many amazing and successful dyslexic individuals, in the business and social work world. An innovative mindset is key for any social worker moving forward, so always endeavour to maintain your positive mindset at every stage of the process.
Let them know- At the start of each interview, I will inform the interviewer that I am dyslexic, I will reassert that I may need more time to answer questions, I will notify them I will be taking notes and I will advise them that I have prepared posters for the interview and will draw upon these throughout.
The written task- Inevitably you will be asked to complete a written task, so, ask how adjustments will be made with your needs in mind (we, as social workers, will champion other people, so we need to learn how to do it for ourselves!). Email the employer before the interview to pose this question and if possible, come to a solution together.
Reasonable adjustments- If you need reasonable adjustments at the interview, think about what these will be so there is time to request the adjustment and time for the interviewer to put them in place. It is important that you only ask for the things you need. Adjustments could include: requesting the interviewer provides a list of question topics prior to the interview; request for extra time for questions to be answered; explicitly state you will be note taking and have also prepared for your interview (hopefully with the posters!!); request verbal as well as written instructions; you might ask for a longer interview in order to give you time to process and answer questions as well s formulating questions for the interviewer; ask for a question to be repeated ; ask that any large amounts of reading, for example a scenario or case study, is sent in advance or is available in an electronic version so you can use a screen reader; if there is a computer-based exercise you can ask if you can use your own laptop (this would allow you to use any assistive technology and will allow you to demonstrate that, with reasonable adjustments, you are fully capable of carrying out the task); and finally, request that multiple-staged questions are asked in steps (Dyslexia Scotland)
Preparation is key: Make a tick list of what you need to do and what you need to take with you on the day then work through it. Check out the location, how to get there and how long it will take. Use Google Maps to see how long travel time will take and Google Earth to see what the building looks like. Plan for extra time so you arrive in plenty of time. Try and mind map potential questions and answers.
Write down multiple part questions- This is something that has made interviews less daunting for me. I will often advise the interviewer that I am writing down the questions as it has multiple parts. I will also ask the interviewer to repeat the question as many times as I need to write it down.
Voice the obvious answer first- For some people with dyslexia, organising and prioritising information can be harder than for people who do not have the learning difficulty. Therefore, take a couple of seconds or even a couple of minutes before answer the question to organise your thoughts (maybe write this down as you go along) and start with the most obvious answer before moving on to demonstrate more abstract thinking.
Focus on your abilities- Identify your strengths, and place precedence on them throughout your interview. Ensure you have examples of your strengths in practice and be sure to explicitly discuss the impact/outcome of your strengths in practice.
People with dyslexia have an advantage because they are often more acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses
Tips For Employers
Dyslexia discrimination is often unintentional. When employers lack dyslexia awareness and simply provide everyone with the same basic tools and information, they are inadvertently putting people with dyslexia at a disadvantage. Despite lack of intention, it is discrimination nonetheless.
Under the Equality Act 2010, dyslexia is classed as a disability. This means, to prevent discrimination and comply with the Act, you are required to make suitable adjustments if people with dyslexia require it.
There are lots of different adjustments you can make as an employer to make the recruitment process dyslexia friendly. Below are some example adaptations you can make during the recruitment process to make it dyslexia-friends, as recommended by High Speed Training (2017).
As an employer, you can create dyslexia-friendly job adverts by:
Providing an audio or video version of job adverts in addition to written ones. Having an alternate format reflects positively on the organisation. Including audio or video formats in job adverts makes the advert both inclusive and creative, which may also make your advert stand out.
Writing job adverts and interview materials in plain English – avoid jargon and complex sentences. Short, clear and simple sentences get the job done!
Make use of short paragraphs and bullet points to divide up the text into job adverts and interview materials.
As an employer, you can avoid dyslexia discrimination during an interview and host a dyslexia-friendly interview by:
Keeping interview questions brief, clear and concise.
Explicitly state to the interviewee that you will be taking notes. This could put them at ease with taking their own notes.
Explicitly taking time (a light pause) in-between asking questions.
Offering a light break between asking the interviewee questions and them asking you questions. This will help interviewees note and digest their answers.
Encouraging interviewees to pause in-between answering. Try stating after every question please take a minute or two to think about the question before answering.
Using visual aids. Now we are online, we can do so much more with our interviews. Have you thought about presenting your screen with the interview questions?
Keeping interviews reasonably short and concise.
Provide plenty of pauses and opportunities for interviewees to absorb the information and ask questions.
For written tests, ask the interviewee if they require a laptop to assist them. If so, take one step further and ask if they require a different colour background on the word document to reduce visual stress (I would ask for purple).
For written tests, provide the interviewee with additional time.
Providing assistive options for technical tests. Enable spelling and grammar checking by allowing access to the internet or by installing suitable software like Grammarly.
For written tests, set a dyslexic-friendly font. It's so simple and so effective!
If you are a dyslexic applicant/interviewee or employer and have some adaptations of your own, please share with the dyslexic social work community.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I hope you have found it helpful.
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