Social work in london

josie80

Hi there,
I've just finishing my masters in social work and was wondering if anyone has any information on looking for work, etc in london, really just some info on how they got started, agencies to join, can you apply from here or do you have to leaving there before getting a job, etc. Any advice would be much appreciated?

Thanks

Jack B. Badd

Moved to the London forum.

Thanks,
Jack.

LadyMayBelle

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Moved to the London forum.

Thanks,
Jack.

Ola! Yup, I'm a social worker (shock, horror!) and moved straight from Ireland having done the masters to London. Will respond ASAP as I'm just up on need coffee first!

LadyMayBelle

josie80 wrote: »

Hi there,
I've just finishing my masters in social work and was wondering if anyone has any information on looking for work, etc in london, really just some info on how they got started, agencies to join, can you apply from here or do you have to leaving there before getting a job, etc. Any advice would be much appreciated?

Thanks

Right. Firstly, which uni did you graduate from? They vary as to when they award the NSWQ certificate. You need that, plus a CRB (UK police check) and to be registered with the GSCC (which is to be disbanded, but for now they are the ones to contact). You have two choices really: either you take a 'golden handshake' job with the likes of SWIIS recruitment, where they give you £1000 or something to stay in a local authority job for a year, or you go on your own and source work. I did the latter, and my friend did the former.

The 'Golden handshake' jobs tend to help you get registered etc but you are committing to a job for a min of a year, and usually in boroughs where there are shortfalls; great experience but be prepared to work long hours, as they are all child protection. Starting salary is prob between 27k and 30k. Social Work is paid considerably lower than in Ireland, I am sorry to say!

Your CRB takes anything from 6 weeks up to get; you will need an enhanced one, and you can only apply for a CRB though an agency or an employer, not off your own bat. Pretty much every social worker-y companies require their own CRB to expect some delay if you do get offered a job. It's pretty much impossible to apply for a CRB while in Ireland unless you have a UK address you can use but even then it's dodgy...

Registering with GSCC is easy; they are super helpful on the phone and it only costs about 40 quid. You will need to send them copies of your NSWQB certificate.

Register with agencies for work and that all important CRB. I had no luck with the big ones like Hays, Reed, Prospectus etc, but great luck with carefirst.biz near Ladbroke Grove. Most employer want experience as there are tonnes and tonnes of social work graduates and students in the UK already. But luckily, Irish master students are regarded very highly (yay for us!), and there are jobs.

charityjob.co.uk
communitycare.co.uk (filter out 'agency'
gscc.org.uk
carefirst.biz

Getting work on your own
I got most of my pre social work job work (while waiting for my cert and crb) through carefirst and got great experience; and I even managed to get a job from gumtree in a private clinic; it's worth checking out. The job I have now was got from literally pavement pounding in my local area and discovering a family centre; went home, googled it and applied for a job. I would also suggest sending prospective CVs to senior SW if there are specific areas you want to work in.
I'm happy to help with a CV if you like as I got good feedback from one social worker about mine.

This post looks a bit jumbled, my apologies, but please PM if you want more info as I found it quite tricky sourcing info initially before and when I moved!

monkeypants

Have a read of some of the stuff on here. Not a field I'd want to be involved in.

LadyMayBelle

monkeypants wrote: »

Have a read of some of the stuff on here. Not a field I'd want to be involved in.

Youth offending? Im not sure I would either BUT I have worked with adult offenders over here... Good work but quick burn out.

josie80

Hi LadyMayBelle,

Thanks for that reply, really informative. I graduated from UCD and things are not looking great job wise for social workers here.

Were you already living in London when you started looking for work or had you gotten work before you left. I'm willing to work for a year in london so thats no problem, just really want ot work in a social work role after 6 years of studying

LadyMayBelle

josie80 wrote: »

Hi LadyMayBelle,

Thanks for that reply, really informative. I graduated from UCD and things are not looking great job wise for social workers here.

Were you already living in London when you started looking for work or had you gotten work before you left. I'm willing to work for a year in london so thats no problem, just really want ot work in a social work role after 6 years of studying

Hello again
I finished college at the end of May 2010 and moved to London in early June... So no chance to even start Looking for work at home!! Most of my cOlleagues went on the HSE panel apart from a few who searched independently for work, and a few like me who went abroad. To be honest, unless you do a golden handshake job you might have a do a few agency type social care jobs while waiting for an independant SW job...

bisset

Its also worthwhile getting the Guardian on Wednesdays. It doesnt seem to carry as much social work vacancies as it used to but it will give you an idea of social policy and other issues that will help you prepare for interviews.