We are currently recruiting for two Practitioners and a Business and Finance Manager (employed roles), so we thought this was a great opportunity to share with you all our Mortal Fools’ Recruitment Promises. 

We believe that when it comes to people, it’s not helpful to try fit them into boxes. We want all folks that engage with us to feel that they are seen, heard and their individual needs met; this includes our recruitment process. We understand that the right individuals, in all their complex and multi-layered glory, can make up a richer, more innovative and resilient collective. In our recruitment process, valuing and seeing individuals, starts with encouraging folks to bring their authentic self to the process.  Our Mortal Fools’ recruitment promises – a series of promises that we hope, makes our recruitment process positive, fair and transparent whilst supporting applicants to be themselves and valuing individuals. 

Promise #1 - We issue recruitment information in a range of formats
Our organisation is richer if it includes people with a range of lived experiences. No-one should miss out on a job because the information provided didn’t meet their needs. We recognise we still have things to learn in this area and are committed to continuing to get better at this. We support the positive recruitment action in the Equality Act by offering all disabled candidates who score at least 2 on all person specifications, an interview.

Promise #2 - We accept written and video application formats 
Sometimes written applications are not the most suitable way for a person to effectively apply for a job. If that’s you, this alternative means you’re not excluded.

Promise #3 - We clearly explain what we expect to see demonstrated and evidenced in an application
There’s too much of “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” that dictates success in the world, so all our applicants are assessed against the same criteria and without bias or favouritism. We provide a detailed recruitment pack and application form and explain specifically what we need you to reference and demonstrate in your application e.g. with reference to the job description and person specification.

Promise #4 - We assess all applications anonymously against the same criteria 
We want to have as equitable a recruitment process as possible. Your application is anonymised when it arrives, by someone not involved in shortlisting (including removing the names of any educational establishments attended). The applications are assessed using a numeric scoring system, based on how well you have demonstrated the qualities listed in the person specification. 

Our scoring system is: 
0 = no evidence
1 = little evidence
2 = some evidence
3 = strong evidence
 
Promise #5 - We reply to everyone who applies, providing all applicants with concise, personalised feedback
We respect that it’s taken you time and effort to submit a job application. In recognition of the time spent applying to us, we make sure to give our time in return by giving you a personalised response.
 
Promise #6 - We provide interview questions in advance to support preparation
For those jobs where, having the ability to think on the spot is a requirement, we’ll ask some direct questions in our interviews. For all other situations, we want you to be enabled to give responses that are considered and that present what you want to say in a way that you’re happy with. Knowing what you’re going to be asked is even more important for supporting neurodivergent people appropriately.
 
Promise #7 - We provide expenses to attend interviews 
We can’t pay everyone for the time they’ve taken applying to us, but we can recognise that it does take time with this small recompense.
 
Promise #8 - We provide detailed feedback to all interviewed unsuccessful candidates
You’ve put in all that time and effort to applying to work with us. There’s likely been some stress and 
some disappointment. Even though you weren’t offered a job, we want to support your learning and development and be transparent about why you weren’t the fit for the role we were looking for.

​Our recruitment promises are about trying to be inclusive, fair, transparent and valuing individuals and respecting what they need from us during our recruitment. You can see more about the roles we are currently recruiting for HERE and see how our recruitment promises feature in with our Information Packs. 

Application for the Practitioner roles and the Business and Finance Manager Application close at 11:59pm on Sunday 31st October. ​

Sunday 10th October 2021 is #WorldMentalHealthDay– whilst your mental health is important every single day, we think today is the perfect opportunity to acknowledge and remember the importance of you and your wellbeing. We’ve pulled together a handy mental health resource, a list of mental health organisations and activists that might be helpful for you to know, check out and connect with.

You can download this resource HERE.

Mental Health and well-being is even more important in the midst of the remaining pandemic fall out and its impact on each and every one of us. We’ve existed in this state of uncertainty and fight or flight for such a long period, that it’s only natural that in this survival mode, mental health challenges arise, emotional resilience lessens, burn out is common alongside fatigue and we might not feel our usual selves. 

It’s a common shared feeling right now and it’s ok.

We are feeling this emotional fatigue too and seeing it across our work! Enabling and supporting good mental health and well-being is an important element in all our projects and we’ve certainly seen the increase in the need for our work, the impact of the pandemic on mental health and its positive impact supporting young people and the people in our network, make sense of the world right now. 

But, days like today, are perfect to take a step back, check in and be kind to yourself and think about practical things we can allput in place to scaffold a brighter tomorrow that has personal well-being as a priority. May be, a lazy Sunday, is exactly what your brain needs right now!? 

We’ve been going through that process as a company, as a team and as individuals. Taking a step back, knowing the uncertainty is set to continue, making it conscious what we need right now to protect ourselves and those around us, whilst we realign, reboot, redesign, reconnect and re-emerge into a changed world.

Mental health conversations are common with the young people we work with, it’s important to keep talking about it and it repeatedly is a core topic in our theatre shows. Ahead of World Mental Health Day, we turned to a the young people of Northumberland and asked them to share with us, either some advice or a positive affirmation, that they would say to themselves or someone else on a challenging day. We had so many contributions and thought today was the perfect opportunity to share them with you all. Reading them was a pure dose of positivity for our facilitators and we are sure, they will make you smile too.

​World Mental Health Day is also the perfect opportunity to highlight some other things you can access through us right now for free, that will support your mental health and well-being and/or those around you...

When The World Is Loud - our audio theatre experience to help you drown out the noise of the modern world. Anybody, any age, anywhere can listen. ​All you need is a phone and headphones, and we’ll take care of the rest. Free to access – donations welcome!

Let Us Tell You - a coming together of young people’s powerful voices in two inspirational and uplifting films; an invitation to step inside their thought provoking and sometimes imaginary worlds.

Resilience in Uncertainty – micro video workshop exploring modern “tigers” #1

Resilience in Uncertainty – micro video workshop exploring modern “caves” #2

Writing For Mindfulness – an online workshop with Melva writer Danielle Burn

Melva’s Pandemic Worrits Resource - a collection of things Melva has found helpful during the pandemic; you can use it to support the children in your life when they feel worrity.

So Happy World Mental Health Day 2021 – look after yourself and one another – If you have any affirmations or wellbeing advice you’d like to share with us, you can do so via your preferred social media channel @MortalFoolsUK or you can drop us an email info@mortalfools.org.uk to connect and say a digital hello! 

#WorldMentalHealthDay