Interview Skills

Introduction

This Block offers guidance and techniques for conducting effective Housing Options interviews and negotiating resolutions, which are vital elements in the effective execution of the duties under the Homelessness legislation. This strategy is crucial for optimising successful results in the duties of preventing and alleviating homelessness.

Proficient communication and negotiation abilities allow officers to interact meaningfully with individuals, obtaining the information that you need to assess whether an applicant is owed a duty, comprehend their requirements, and jointly devise solutions to their housing problem.

This Block is designed to equip participants with a range of interview skills and techniques that will enable them to:

• Effectively fulfil their statutory responsibilities regarding part 7 investigations and decisions.
• Successfully deliver prevention and relief outcomes in their casework.

The Block should take ?? to ?? hours to complete, with ? to ? hours of follow-up readings.

At the end of the Block there is an Assessment to test your understanding of Interview skills. The assessment is made up of 40 randomly generated yes/no questions. The pass mark is 70 per cent. This means that 28 of the 40 questions must be answered correctly. Once the assessment has been passed, you will receive a certificate showing your accomplishment in your personal dashboard.

Contents

We will look in depth at the following skills and techniques that an experienced local authority officer working in homelessness should be able to draw upon:

• Pre-interview preparations
• How to conduct a prevention focused interview 
• Questioning techniques
• Cultural sensitivities
• Trauma informed practice
• Good practice
• Conclusion, References & Resources

Learning Outcomes

When you have completed this Block, you should be able to:

• Understand how to prepare for a Housing Options interview.
• Know how to conduct a prevention focused interview. 

• Understand different questioning techniques and when to use them.
• Understand non-verbal communication techniques
• Understand how trauma can impact an applicant’s interactions

Conclusion

The conclusion to the learning block

References & Further Reading

At the end of the Block, you will find all the links to the references and there is also some suggested further reading that may also interest you.

Downloads

Contains the relevant downloads, by unit, that you will need to access information to support you through the block.