What to expect from a domiciliary care interview

Domiciliary Care Interviews

There are many opportunities in home care (also known as domiciliary care), so if you are hoping to secure an interview with a care agency soon, this guide should help you as you prepare to put your best foot forward. Here, we are giving insight into how recruitment and the interview process works at Home Instead, the typical questions you might be asked, what answers care agencies often look for, questions you can ask the interviewer in return, and what happens after the interview.

At Home Instead, our aim is to help people age positively and in place by bringing expert care to their home. For nearly 20 years, we have been providing the highest standard of care, and creating industry-leading training programmes for our Care Professionals that are accredited by nursing and medical professionals. Today, we are the world’s largest global domiciliary care network, supporting over 100,000 older adults with personalised, tailored care at home. Whatever questions you have about the care interview process and the roles we currently have available, we can help. 

How do interviews usually go at Home Instead?

If you are selected for an interview with a member of our team, this is your chance to show us your personality and share your skills in real life. A CV can help to get your foot in the door, but the interview is where you can go into more detail about why you will make a good carer, and why you would like to work for Home Instead. 

You will be invited along to a one-to-one interview with a manager in our team, and asked a series of questions about your knowledge of care work, your experience, your goals, what you would do in certain scenarios, how you would handle specific situations, and more. You will also have a chance to ask the interviewer any questions you have too so you can find out more about the job and whether or not you think it is a good fit for your life. 

The types of questions you may be asked by an interviewer include: 

Questions about the job

It is important to determine whether or not candidates understand the reality of the role they are applying for. You may be asked questions such as “What does a typical day look like for a Care Professional?” or “What do you know about the different types of care an older person might need?” This is your chance to show the interviewer you have researched the position and what would be required of you. Care work can be stressful at times, so showing that you understand the nature of the role and are prepared to learn will set you apart.

A good answer to this question should be tailored to the specific role you are applying for, but it may include things like personal care (washing and dressing clients), making meals, helping with continence care, keeping the client’s home clean and tidy, helping with mobility limitations, managing medication, and more. You may also want to mention the different types of care you might be involved in, such as personal care, complex care, disability care, dementia care, and more. 

Questions about your personal qualities and attributes

Even the most knowledgeable and technically capable individual may not be a good fit for a carer role if they do not have the right temperament and personality. Caring requires a great deal of patience, empathy and positivity to handle the everyday situations that might arise. 

Good answers to questions about your personal qualities will be very bespoke – think about how the people in your life might describe you. Are you a particularly motivated person? Do you think you have a friendly bedside manner? Are you good at putting people’s minds at ease if they are worried? When you are asked about yourself, share the reasons you think you would make a good Care Professional. 

You may find more helpful information in our guide to the skills and qualities that a good carer will need.

Questions about how you work within a team

Often care work will require you to work with other carers and wider healthcare teams to achieve the client’s goals, so being able to provide examples of times when you worked well in a team can be helpful for an interview.

A good answer to this question will involve thinking back to any situations where teamwork was done well, and remember, this does not need to be in a previous caring job if you do not have experience in this area. If you worked well in a team in another job, university, school, in a sports team, or you have had to band together as part of a team in another situation, this is all relevant. Talk about what your role usually is within a team, how you prefer to interact with team members, and in what ways you might inspire your team if morale was low.

Questions about how you handle stress

There is no doubt that the caring profession can be stressful at times, with potentially high pressure situations to manage, and tasks that cannot always be postponed to the next visit when a client is relying on you for things like getting out of bed or making meals. You may be asked questions about how you juggle the everyday demands of caring, as well as how you might handle a particularly stressful situation. For example, you may be asked about what you would do if you discovered a collapsed client, how you would de-escalate a situation with a confused dementia patient, or the steps you would take in an emergency situation. 

Good answers to these sorts of questions might include examples of similar situations you have been in in the past, but remember those past experiences do not have to be examples where everything went perfectly. If you dealt with a stressful situation in the past and you learned from mistakes or know you would do things differently now, this can also make for a great answer as it displays growth and humility – both excellent attributes for caring roles. 

Questions about your past experience

Having past caring experience is not always necessary to take your first step in this industry, but most interviews will ask questions about any experience you have that could be relevant to the job you are applying for. If you do have caring experience, make this known. 

Good answers to questions about experience might require you to think outside the box and provide examples of times you have used skills that are useful for the caring profession, even if not directly related. For example, have you cared for a loved one in some capacity, such as regularly checking in on a grandparent after they returned from hospital? Have you helped anyone while working in a volunteer position? Have you looked after a young child? Have you helped a friend through a difficult time? Have you nursed a very sick pet back to health? While direct experience in caring is helpful, any examples you can provide that show your caring nature and commitment to helping people will be useful in your interview. 

Questions about safeguarding and confidentiality

The care profession requires an understanding of these areas, as all clients deserve to have their health, wellbeing and mental health protected. The people you may be helping are often considered vulnerable due to their conditions, so in your interview, it is important to show an understanding of how safeguarding and confidentiality should be taken seriously by carers who are regularly visiting clients’ homes. 

Good answers to questions of this nature might include some knowledge of safeguarding practices or confidentiality laws, and an understanding that you should never be sharing personal information about clients such as their medical history, medication they are taking, or any private information you overhear at their house. Acknowledge that you understand you may be privy to sensitive information in a carer role, and it is your responsibility to keep clients safe. 

Questions about person-centred care

Your interviewer will likely want to check that you understand what person-centred care is. At Home Instead we are dedicated to ensuring our clients are at the core of any decision-making that goes on about their care, so we always want to make sure aspiring carers understand this will be an important aspect of the job.

A good answer to a question about person-centred care might involve giving a brief description of what this means – caring in a way that enables clients to actively participate in their own care decisions and guide the process. Follow this with some examples of how this might be achieved in certain situations. For example, if a client would like to spend more time in their garden, person-centred care means thinking of ways to make this happen instead of discouraging it for the sake of ease. Similarly, if they enjoy going to the shops to buy groceries themselves, and are capable of doing so, person-centred care would focus on accompanying them to do this rather than taking over this errand altogether. Person-centred care can help to improve a client’s quality of life, wellbeing, and sense of confidence. 

Questions about caring for particular conditions

Depending on the specific role you are applying for, you may be required to look after patients who suffer from specific health conditions and require tailored care that involves coordinating with medical professionals. Examples of this may be caring for clients with dementia conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, or cancer. 

If you are asked about caring for a client with a particular condition, share what you know about some of the symptoms a person with this condition may experience and the types of care situations you are likely to encounter as a result. While we provide extensive training on conditions such as dementia, discussing how this presents and progresses, and the unique challenges you might face in the role, can help show that you understand what might be expected of you in this area. 

Questions about maintaining client dignity and respect

Care roles often involve providing intimate personal care for clients who are vulnerable and unable to do certain daily activities themselves, such as bathing or going to the bathroom. This can be difficult for people who are used to taking care of themselves, so doing this in a way that protects their dignity and respects their personal boundaries is vital for avoiding any embarrassment or awkwardness. 

A good answer to questions on this topic would involve showing an understanding of why this is so important, and discussing the concepts of consent, privacy, and the importance of promoting independence where possible during these tasks. Even if you have no experience handling these situations yet, talk about how you might handle this and how you would attempt to put a client’s mind at ease during these necessary interactions.  

Questions about your availability

Your interviewer might ask you questions about your availability for the role if you were to be successful in getting the job. 

When discussing this, remember flexibility is helpful for caring roles, however you should always be honest about any hours you will not be able to work, or any personal commitments that might shape your availability. Clients’ needs do not stop after 5pm, meaning carers are required for all hours of the day, so do not worry that limited hours will work against you. The chances are there will be a shift pattern to suit your needs, so always be honest about what hours you will be able to work.

What happens after an interview?

After a carer interview, we take time to discuss your application with the wider team and see if we think you would be a good fit for the role. If you are successful, we will welcome you to the team and begin by scheduling any training required. 

There are lots of training opportunities within the care sector, and at Home Instead, we have partnered with the world’s best training organisations to offer advanced professional development opportunities that can open up a number of career pathways for our carers. 

Our industry-leading training will help you to build the foundations of a great career in care work that will give you the skills and confidence to continue developing as one of our trusted Care Professionals. Some features of our training include: 

• Two Princess Royal Training Awards for our dementia training and end-of-life training
• City & Guilds assured 
• Continual Professional Development certified
• Partnered with Alzheimer’s Society and more

If you are considering a career in the care industry, you will undoubtedly have explored multiple options for ways to train and become qualified as a carer, but at Home Instead we offer:

• The best resources and support for all carers at all stages of their career
• Workshops covering a range of topics, from general guidance on medication and manual handling, to safeguarding and basic life support
• Training on more specific subjects such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, catheter care, dementia, and palliative care
• A matching service to ensure you are paired with clients you will enjoy working with, so your skills are utilised in the right place
• A mix of hands-on training and practical advice, so you get a combination of theory work, group discussions, role playing, practical competencies and more
• Virtual sessions and online modules with interactive activities and discussion opportunities 
• The chance to work with external providers on training such as in-depth fire safety, PPE, and even unusual sessions like virtual reality care experiences

96% of our Care Professionals are proud to work for Home Instead. 

“I feel happy all the time in my work. The relationships that you get to build with Clients are special and even after a tough day I go home smiling.”

– Lindsay, Home Instead Care Professional

We’re an award-winning home care provider and part of a worldwide organisation devoted to providing the highest-quality relationship-led care for older people in their own homes. You can discover the exciting positions we have available here, but if you do not see the role you are searching for, feel free to reach out to our friendly recruitment team to discuss other opportunities that may be available.