Personal Care Assistant interview questions and answers

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Personal Care Assistant Interview Questions

Personal care assistants (also known as caregivers) provide care and support for old or sick people. They may be employed by hospitals or nursing homes, although their typical workplace is the patient’s house.

Training or diplomas aren’t usually required. CPR certificate is generally desirable. Experience is probably preferred when a lot of your clients suffer from diseases like dementia, since those candidates will have adequate medical knowledge. But for other cases, young people with limited experience may be great choices if they have the required soft skills in abundance.

Communication ability, patience and strong ethics are all important for this job. Use situational or behavioral questions to assess them. The best candidates will be self-motivated and compassionate. They’ll be eager to learn about your clients and honest about what type of care they’re uncomfortable with. Questions about their availability and means of transportation are important as the final part of the interview.

Operational and Situational questions

• What kind of help does an elderly client need?
• How would you care for a client who suffers from alzheimer’s disease?
• What would be your approach towards clients with memory problems/depression/etc.?
• What would be your reaction if you found out a colleague behaved badly towards a client?
• If a client had a heart attack, what would you do?

Role-specific questions

• Why do you think personal care assistants are important?
• What did you do for your last client?
• Have you worked with children before?
• What kind of caregiving tasks do you feel uncomfortable doing?
• Do you know how to cook according to special health requirements?
• What does discretion mean for a personal care assistant?

Behavioral questions

• Tell me about a time a client expressed their gratitude for your companionship
• Describe a time you had a client that was very difficult. How did you handle them?
• Recall a time you were saddened by your client’s condition. What did you do?
• Tell me about a time you had to provide CPR to a client
• Give me an example of a conflict you had on the job. How did you resolve it?