How to Answer: Who has had the most significant influence on you? What makes this person so influential?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Youth Worker job interview.
2. Who has had the most significant influence on you? What makes this person so influential?
What You Need to Know
The type of outside influences that impact you will also affect your approach as a Youth Worker. The interviewer would like insight into your most significant mentor or life influencer. Your response could include a family member, an athletic coach, a professor, a well-known influencer, or even a stranger who left an imprint on you. Take the time to reflect on this influence. What was said or done to create a positive difference in your life? At the end of your response, be sure to mention how you will take this positive influence and leverage it to benefit the youth with whom you will be working.
Written by Rachelle Enns on May 21st, 2013
Entry Level Example
"I have had the pleasure of working alongside many wonderful people. A few years ago, I worked for Agency ABC, and they had an amazing Office Administrator. She was incredibly organized and had the most positive attitude. She was a humble person, thankful for her life, and very kind. One day we sat and had our break together. She told me that she started at the agency as a client. She had been a runaway teen and had an incredible story of healing and redemption. Her story has always stayed with me because it is a story of hope. Because of stories like hers, I strive for excellence, I believe in people, and I know that there is hope for everyone. This hope is why I am so passionate about helping at-risk youth, and why I continually educate myself to be the best helper possible."
Written by Kevin Downey on December 9th, 2022
Answer Example
When I was a camp counselor in my summers off from college, I mentored under the organizer of the camp, and I watched them in action. They had this ability to pierce through the armor of every kid in our camp and get them to open up and reach out. This person taught me early on that all one needs to do is look into someone from the very moment you meet them. Look into them, not at them, not through them, and lower your armor and allow them to look into you. Although it's intense, hold that connection, and the longer you hold it, and remain open, they'll know they can trust you and that you are a friend. They said it's like leaving your front door unlocked at night, and that anyone at any time can come into that safe space you've built. This person was magic, and I learned a lot from them, and have always strived to walk in their footsteps.
Written by Kevin Downey on December 9th, 2022
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