13/08/2026
Female Support Worker – Interview Questions
Position: Monday–Friday, 8:30am–3:30pm
Support: 2:1 support for a participant with quadriplegia
Experience & Qualifications
1. Can you tell us about your qualifications and previous experience working in disability support?
2. Have you previously supported someone with quadriplegia or another high physical support need? Please explain your experience.
3. What experience do you have with hoists, sling selection, transfers, repositioning and manual handling?
4. Are you comfortable providing personal care, including showering, dressing, toileting and continence support?
5. Have you worked in a 2:1 support environment before? How do you communicate and work effectively with the second support worker?
Supporting a Participant With OCD
6. What experience do you have supporting someone living with OCD or significant anxiety around routines, cleanliness, order or completing tasks in a particular way?
7. If the participant became distressed because something wasn’t completed in the way or order they expected, how would you respond?
8. How would you respect the participant’s choices and routines while also following their support plan and professional guidance, particularly if you were asked not to reinforce certain compulsive behaviours?
9. If a participant repeatedly asked you for reassurance about the same concern, how would you handle this while remaining calm and respectful?
10. Imagine the participant becomes highly distressed because another worker has moved one of their belongings. What would you do?
11. What would you do if you noticed that certain actions by support workers appeared to be increasing the participant’s distress or compulsive behaviours?
12. How would you ensure that all workers provide consistent support, rather than each worker responding differently to the participant’s routines or OCD-related behaviours?
Scenario Questions
13. During a transfer, you and the second support worker disagree about the safest way to proceed. What would you do?
14. The participant asks you to complete a transfer in a way that you believe is unsafe or contrary to their manual handling plan. How would you respond?
15. The participant becomes upset or frustrated during personal care. How would you maintain their dignity while also ensuring the task is completed safely?
16. If you noticed redness, pressure areas, swelling or changes to the participant’s skin, what would you do?
17. What would you do if the participant suddenly became unwell or showed a significant change from their usual presentation?
18. If your coworker wasn’t following the participant’s care or manual handling plan, what would you do?
Reliability & Professionalism
19. This is a regular Monday-to-Friday, 8:30am–3:30pm position. Are you able to reliably commit to these hours?
20. How do you maintain professional boundaries when working closely with the same participant every day?
21. How do you handle disagreements or personality differences with another support worker when you’re working together in a 2:1 environment?
22. Tell us about a time you received constructive feedback from a supervisor. How did you respond?
23. What does choice and control mean to you when supporting a person with significant physical support needs?
24. What would you do if a participant asked you to do something that went against their support plan, workplace policy or your duty of care?
Final Questions
25. Why are you interested in this particular position?
26. What qualities do you think are most important when supporting someone with quadriplegia who relies heavily on their support team?
27. Is there anything involved in personal care, manual handling, hoisting or high-care support that you are not comfortable or experienced with?
28. If successful, when would you be available to start?
⭐ Key Question to Pay Attention To
“If the participant’s OCD means they want something done repeatedly until it feels ‘right’, but their support plan tells staff not to participate in repeated reassurance or rituals, what would you do?”
A strong candidate should talk about remaining calm and respectful, acknowledging the participant’s distress, following the participant’s individual support/behaviour plan, using agreed strategies, maintaining consistency between workers, documenting relevant incidents and seeking guidance rather than making up their own approach.
