If you’re trying to decide on a career, Social Work is a great choice: it’s rewarding work, and you enjoy the security of constant national demand. This also gives you flexibility – if you need to relocate, you can be confident of finding a job near where you’re moving to.
If Social Work is what you decide on, you need to know what you need to succeed at social worker jobs: not just the qualifications, but the personal qualities that can help make a success of what is undoubtedly a testing and challenging profession.
Qualifying as a Social Worker
If you want to become a social worker, you’re best placed to begin your preparations if you’re still within the education system. This allows you to take A Level choices that give you a better chance of getting onto a social worker training course at University. This means your training will be covered by the student loan and bursary system.
You need to double check your course will actually allow you to practice: it needs to be approved by the HCPC (the Health and Care Professions Council), so compare their list of institutions with your choices before you commit.
This course should provide you not only with the knowledge and skills you need for social work success, but also practical experience that can help you find your first placements. Upon completing your course you’ll need to register with the HCPC, who grant the license for social workers to practice and oversee them
Success as a Social Worker
There are lots of extra qualities you’ll need to be a successful social worker. It’s a job that involves directly working with people a lot: the ability to focus entirely on them and their problems is an asset. If you appear to be preocuppied with your own thoughts – however effectively you’re doing your job regardless – you won’t get a good reaction from your clients.
A sense of genuine mission can also be helpful – it would be a lie to say social work is easy. You’re often working with people in very difficult circumstances, and the services you’re employed by may well be under-resourced. The resilience and confidence granted by the sense that you are doing something genuinely valuable could be your biggest asset!