Some Question You May Be Asked In a Social Care Job Interview

So you found out that you have an inclination towards social care. Now that you have had your qualifications it’s time to land a job. Here are some of the questions you might want to work on since they will most probably be asked in social care jobs in Greater London:

1.    What kind of people or groups you think you will be working with and what do you think your role would be?

This is the kind of question which will only show the interviewer whether you are really interested in the job and know what the job entails. This would be more valid if he candidate comes from another country with not the similar rules and regulations.

2.     Do you have examples to show your effective contribution to team work?

The answer to this question will help the employer to know whether you are a good team player and if you will blend well with your fellow social workers and also management team. As you may well know social care is all about empathy and also listening to communicating well. You might want to base your answer on a particular instance where you had listened to your colleague and provided support adequately.

3.    Has there been a stressful experience in your life? And how did you cope with it?

While the question might take you by surprise, the worse answer you can give is that you never get stressed. What the interviewer really wants to know is whether you can identify your stress level and whether you can handle situations under stress.

Social Workers in Hospitals

A visit to the hospital can be a stressful event, and medical problems sometimes influence other areas of life. The goal of the social worker is to help the patient find solutions to many problems, including problems of everyday life and dealing with difficult situations. Social workers are part of the health care team. They have the professional training necessary to help patients and their families adapt and cope with the medical, emotional and practical problems associated with their illness, hospitalization and treatment.

It is useful to talk to a hospital social worker in London:

•    When you and your family have difficulty adjusting to the condition and your treatment.
•    When feelings of grief and discouragement persist.
•    When family conflicts limit your ability to cope with the situation, your illness and your treatment.
•    When financial, emotional, personal or practical difficulties arise.
•    When you believe that a child or adult is being abused.
•    When you live from the loneliness, isolation or rejection of the family.

How can a hospital social worker in London help you?

Here are some ways:

•    Individual and Couple Counselling and Therapy Services
•    Intervention with families and groups
•    Patient Advocacy
•    Prevention and education focused on health and wellness
•    Hospital discharge planning
•    Identification of available resources and liaison with community partners

Confidentiality

Communications are private and confidential. In other words, in most cases, your hospital social worker does not have the right to disclose information obtained from you to anyone without your permission, except to a member of your health care team.

Do You Have It In You For Social Care Job?

Not anyone can wake up one day and decide to be social worker and be good at it. I mean there can be social worker who can help financially, there is no doubt that they would succeed in it. But when it comes to social care, being the support and care for someone else, it is much more demanding in terms of emotional state and physical state. In this blog we are going to take a look at the key elements which define a social worker and what their job description is.

First of all a career in social care entails being people-oriented and take pro-active actions to help others. If you are uncertain whether you have it in you to be a professional social worker, I will suggest you take up some part time job at the local community before making up your mind. Social work are spiritually very fulfilling in the sense that you get to experience firsthand how much you are impacting on people with problems be it mental or physical.

Having the willingness to care for people in need of care and actually doing it is different. So take your time and see if you will be able to sustain it in the long run. Be reminded that people under your care will be demanding and taxing on your emotions. So no day off to be cranky because the TV remote is broken and you can’t watch your favourite TV show.

And finally after testing your boundaries you find that you are made for social care, and then get qualified. A little search will tell you what certification you need for social care. The rest is a great career and no need to worry about work placements since there are a lot of social care jobs in Greater London.

3 Type of Social Work Jobs to Choose From

Being a social worker means having to care for vulnerable people and you should be qualified to do so. But social work can be very broad in terms of field that it covers. Let us take a look at the 3 main category of social work.

•    Working with family – This type of social worker generally works in a family environment and the most typical situation would be to work with children in care. You may also be assisting children struggling to cope at school, families in financial or housing crisis.

•    Hospital social worker – You’ll see this type of social worker mainly at hospitals. They are the one who would typically follow-up of patients once they are discharged from the hospital after a long and exhausting (both emotionally and physically) treatment. If you ever wondered what do the hospital social worker in London do, now you have an idea.

•    Mental issues social worker – mental disorders related issues are very different from each other ranging from eating disorders to substance abuse. The mental issues related social worker will have to deal with them all.

 Now that you are acquainted with the types of existing social work, you can see the similarities. Each social worker needs to assess the situation of the patient under their care and provide the adequate support they need be it physical or emotional. All of them have a very demanding role to play in the lives of those under their care. The only difference which is noted is the level of care which should be given. The terminally ill patient has a different treatment than that of the one having eating disorder. And the frequency of contact social worker to patient also varies from case to case.

How To Place A Successful Posting For Social Care Jobs

Anyone can place a listing, that’s easy to do. But before you do that, you need to check a few things, as a prospective employee, before you make your decision. These special placement agencies might have their own specialties, within their own sector, or they might offer wide and all encompassing employment service within the sector or even from associated sectors. If the employee needs that they receive importance and exposure, they need to ensure that the agency is placing importance and are well connected with the target industry where the jobseeker is looking to find a job. If the jobseeker and the employment agency have two different specialisations, it will not match and it will end with the employee not receiving the desired type of opportunities. 

A social work recruitment agency in UK might have their own set of rules on who can place a listing on their website. When researching about the agencies, the hopeful candidate is required to visit different agencies, which is easy nowadays due to the internet penetration, and check the specialities these agencies have, if any. Like I said, with internet, it is easy. The primary target agencies should be those who are located in the vicinity or those where the candidates seek a career. Of course, choosing the agency which offers the greatest advantage and career opportunities should have the greatest priority. The candidate would also come to know about the documents, certificates and qualifications they need to access the employment which are offered by those agencies.

It is important to know that not everyone can immediately and readily place a listing for job with social care recruitment agencies. Your qualifications, experience, certificates, clearances might not be valid worldwide. They vary from region to region. Moreover, the local rules and regulations also play a great role in determining your employability. The candidate should know which licenses are valid and which degrees they need to work in a certain area or country. This should be done even before you start your search for a placement agency.  This will be even more important if they are planning to relocate after they complete their education. In some cases, additional education or certificates or registration is necessary to work as a social care worker. The companies would consider their applications only after they have successfully fulfilled the criteria which are set by the local governing bodies.

Protect Our Next Generation, Actively

For public safety official, civil rights administrators and educators and for the parents, child protection and child safety are of prime concern. Saddening fact is that we need to prevent mistreatment and abuse of our future generation that we need to be vigilant in protecting the generation next. 

The children much be kept safe by enforcing the child protection laws and regulation. In the home, this amounts to installing safety fixtures on furniture and hardware, keeping loaded firearms out of the reach for the child and covering the electric sockets with plastic covers. The parents should also be aware of the dangerous goods and recalled products for the kids.

The child protection laws are pretty exhaustive these days and everything including reporting of missing child in the media outlets and the national missing child database to notifications of sex offenders who move into the neighbourhood to attention of observance of the norms and regulations of the community.

Child protection is not a prime concern, sadly, for most of the home and communities. We get to see so many incidents where people forget their kids inside the car, locked or abuse them or even simply do the unmentionables. These acts can be prevented through awareness and interventions so that our next generation is a happy and healthy generation.

Child protection can start at the basic level, at school, at home, at the local church or even at the community playground. Youth coaches, church leaders, related adults and parents can be trained to spot the danger for a child or how to realise that they are victims of child abuse. There are lots of literatures and training courses available to create awareness among the related parties so that they can recognise a child in distress and act accordingly.

Child protection can be done in different ways as well. One can place the child in foster care, report mistreatment of a child or report any suspicious acts of possible child abuse. You can report to the local or national child safety enforcer or get involved personally if it is an emergency. Most of the educators, trainers and advocates who are working in child protection would agree that witnessing and doing nothing about child abuse is the worst crime against children.

Experts would suggest that one should have the basic education and training before getting involved in any child safeguarding practices at personal level. It has also been cited how involving a local church figure or community leader can lead to better results in these cases.

Don't Be Biased Against Dementia Patients

Dementia is one of the early signals of old age and people from every race, region and religion would be vulnerable to this. People carry a stigma against dementia patients, even the family members are often biased against dementia problems. However, this is just another disease which affects the functional activities of the day to day life. This ailment might pose a threat to the welfare service standards of the 21st century. To combat it at a large scale, strategic investments are to be made. This is due to the increasing chronic medical conditions, a constantly ageing population, migration and non-linear family units, longevity, globalisation and more.

The current social policy of immigration and universal benefits have allowed a large number of migrants to migrate to the UK. The need for community care workers just soared.

However, this has a good side as well. If you are a certified community care or social care worker, this means increased job opportunities this also means an increased pay-scale. You need to find a recruitment agency who can guide you to these vacancies. Trust us, there is no dearth of community care jobs in London. There are, actually, dedicated agencies who recruit for social work and community care works alone. These agencies can not only find you a decent job but also can guide you in the proper direction, they would tell you which certificates and degrees would help you in getting better payments. They would also train you, as necessary, to make you fit for the real world challenges.