Who Would Become a Social Worker?

The future for recruitment in social care is looking extremely bright following recent revelations that there are up to 15 applicants for every place on social work degrees.

Government investigations into where social care providers are going wrong and scandals such as the death of Baby P has not halted the popularity of a career as a social worker.

Despite its popularity, a career in social care certainly is not for everyone. There are a lot of negatives which social workers have to face every day but their job satisfaction comes from knowing that they have made a massive difference in the lives of vulnerable people.

This article looks at what skills are crucial to gain a job in social care.

Similar to jobs with nursing care providers, social workers have to be extremely caring and compassionate individuals in order to go through what they do. They often have to face hostility from families and patients but are willing to do so in order to help out vulnerable people in need.

Social workers need to stay in control of their emotions and be able to make difficult decisions in high pressure and high-emotion situations. It takes a very strong-willed person to remove a child from their family but these are the sort of decisions which those in social care have to make on a daily basis.

Communication

Social workers have to extract information from children, elderly people and those with special needs so incredible communication skills are a must within the career.

Interpersonal skills are crucial in order to encourage cooperation from families and vulnerable alike in order to discover information that could be crucial to a case of abuse.

Passion

Social care is not a career where you can ever complete a task half-heartedly. In order to overcome the negatives that come with the job, social workers must have a real passion for what they are doing.