I interviewed for two jobs as research assistant at Orygen. One was online and the other was in person. The interview process is quite standard for other academic research positions, but there is one element that I haven't seen at other research institutes before. Orygen interviews will often time have a youth advisory council member on their interview panel and their opinion is regarded highly. The Youth Advisory Council member basically seems to act like a character reference and represents the youth that Orygen works with, they are usually someone in their teens or early twenties and will also ask questions during the interview. Despite this, at the end of the day the people you are trying to impress are still the hiring managers.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A young person has disclosed to you that they have self harmed in the last week. How do you navigate that?
I applied online. I interviewed at Orygen Youth Health
Interview
Relatively easy, but the interview panel was a bit scary and way to serious. One of them didn't smile the whole time. It was about 30 min, with 6 questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The asked about how my skills would help me in the role I applied for, and things like conflict management and working in a team.
I applied through other source. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Orygen Youth Health
Interview
The interview was warm and welcoming. They asked great follow up questions to really make clear what they were hoping for in the response. It was easy to arrange a time. The HR team member was really helpful in finding the right role for me.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked about how I would respond to a client presenting with risk to self.