I interviewed at Compass Children’s Homes (Swindon, Wiltshire, South West England, England)
Interview
The interviewer was late and made a comment along the lines of "who books an interview on a Friday afternoon?". He seemed disorganised and the interview felt rushed. Due to safer recruitment, there had to be another person present but they couldn't get Teams to work so she was dialled in on a video call but we couldn't see each other as the phone was behind the interviewer's laptop. Questions were read out in an order they were written down and no additional questions asked which is what I would expect from an interview for a role within children's services - context, examples, ideas etc.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Name two Ofsted quality standards for children's homes.
I applied through other source. The process took 4 days. I interviewed at Compass Children’s Homes in Jun 2025
Interview
Applied online for home in Birmingham, had a phone call with HR the next day to confirm details, HR sent application to home, home interviewed me a few days later via Teams.
Interview was conducted by home manager and another member of staff, whose role I forget. Home manager discussed induction process at the beginning of the interview, but was clearly reading it off the screen in front of her and I felt like I was talking to a call centre and it was a bit information overload before I'd even started. Finally, the interview started and I was asked about six questions in total such as what does safeguarding mean to you? I wasn't asked any probing questions and it felt like home manager was sticking to a script. Other staff member interviewing me didn't say a word all through the interview, which I found a bit unnerving, and I saw her on camera using her phone while I was talking. I didn't see either of them typing any notes during the interview. They both seemed in a rush and like they weren't really interested. I don't know whether it was because my interview was on a Monday morning. Didn't tell me when I'd hear back and I had to chase this with HR myself, and I recieved an automated rejection email the day after the interview, not giving me any feedback.
I think you can tell a lot about a company by the way they interview candidates, and the interview didn't feel that it was designed to bring out the best in candidates.
I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Compass Children’s Homes (Newhaven, England) in May 2024
Interview
Brilliant and friendly. I took about an hour but the were reaosnalbe as I was a foster carer before but no direct expperince in homes,
I was lied to about over time pay, anythign over 40 hours was promissed at tiem and half. Once joined and worked my first month i was told this had never existed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is resilience
What does safe gaurding mean to you