Ask the Expert: Involving young people in recruitment

I want to involve young people in our staff recruitment interviews but my manager feels this could be tokenistic. How can I persuade her it would be good for our organisation?

Almost every job I have gone for in the past fifteen years has had young people on the interview panel, so this is nothing new. However, it must be done properly in order to avoid the tokenism your manager mentions.

The worst-case is that a young person is on the panel as decoration, clearly has no idea why they are there, and is unable to answer questions from the applicant.

This is acutely embarrassing and can really affect the young person’s confidence. However, with good training and support this can be avoided. It is essential that any young person is offered training in interview skills and there are some good courses around, including those in the Hear by Right participation and rights training pack.

Some kind of reward or payment is essential if tokenism is to be avoided. The adults on the panel are being rewarded, and so should the young person.

Answered by Jeanie Lynch, who works for Barnardo’s and has 25 years’ experience of working with vulnerable children and families