Category: Jobs

Graduate scheme can prove a foot in the door

Charlie

Graduate jobs are tough to come by in today’s economic climate, with NEETs (those not in education, employment or training) bearing the brunt of unemployment. Employers have cut back on positions as well as the scope of any graduate scheme they might run, reflecting the harsh realities of the economies they are having to make to stay afloat. Many companies are still running an internship programme, which can be a great way to move into a job. However, internships must be considered with caution, since they differ enormously in quality and purpose.

In the worst case, an internship is just an employer’s way of finding cheap labour. Under the pretence of teaching you about their industry, they can essentially exploit their interns. The change in the law that requires employers to pay interns at least the minimum wage has reduced this problem slightly, since they still have to get value for money out of those who come to work for them. However, there is still the problem of widely differing expectations. Too many interns arrive in their new place of work, only to find that their employer has taken the prospect far less seriously than they have. In these cases, an internship is little more than a way of marking time.

In the best cases, though, internships can be unparalleled learning experiences. They will often lead to a job in the relevant industry or the company itself, and it is worth ensuring at the application stage if this is a possibility. This fact alone will often enable you to distinguish those who want to prepare you for working in the sector, and those who are just looking for cheap workers. Larger employers with well-organised schemes are usually good bets. However, smaller employers can be goldmines, since they offer great scope for getting to know the whole of an organisation. If you are uncertain, read any reviews you can find or ask previous interns. Feedback is often stored on university careers sites.

An internship is one way into graduate jobs, and may be an option in a climate where the graduate scheme market is more limited than it was a few years ago. Nevertheless, you should not give up on these. Start early, and cast your net wide to maximise your opportunities. You can always turn down offers you get if you realise you don’t really want them. What you don’t want is to find yourself in the position of so many other NEETs: finishing university, with no job or internship lined up, and no immediate prospect of finding something you really want to do.

Please visit http://www.careerplayer.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.careerplayer.com/

4ebd68852d0f3

Social services jobs for a better quality of life

Annie

Social worker jobs can put professionals through higher than average stress and burnout.  As local authorities are forced to make cuts, increasingly large caseloads in a job with strong emotional demands are placing more pressure on our social workers than ever before.  Researchers in Calgary, Canada have attempted to find the key to happiness for those in social services jobs, hoping that policy makers will embrace their data to make social worker jobs more attractive.  The study, by John Graham, a professor of social work at the University of Calgary, focussed on what makes these professionals happy, rather than concentrating on the well documented causes of stress.  His work will be of interest to all employers who want to make sure they keep hold of their valued employees.

He was motivated by trying to keep people in social services jobs, after recent statistics showed that eight percent of teachers and 15 per cent of social workers leave their jobs every year.  Graham’s team sent a survey to 2,500 registered social workers in Alberta, and received 700 replies.  They took the 13 ‘happiest’ social workers of those who had replied and focussed their investigation on their lives, through job shadowing and in depth interviews.

They saw that the happiest social workers reported higher levels of fulfilment when they had flexible work schedules, work life balance and support in their jobs.  Graham commented that social workers, by their nature, are caring, sociable people.  When they suffer from high caseloads they need to be given support in order to do their jobs well.  One of the findings reported commonly by the happiest social workers was having a high degree of freedom as part of their jobs, particularly having enough flexibility to manage the demands of heir jobs with their personal lives.

From victims of abuse to neglected children, people in social work jobs find themselves in many kinds of challenging circumstances every day.  This makes social services jobs demanding, but also fulfilling, as long as social workers receive enough support.  These findings have interesting implications beyond the remit of social worker jobs, as other employers might be encouraged to look at what makes their employees happy rather than tackling what makes them stressed.  As the researchers point out, everyone is more effective in their role when they can find satisfaction and happiness in what they do.  The most effective way to help your employees achieve this is to develop organizational cultures that reinforce these principles.

Please visit http://www.sanctuarypersonnel.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.sanctuarypersonnel.com/

4dc9d58a498ca

Social services jobs are attractive despite hardships

Annie

Social work jobs are difficult and intense at the best of times, leaving a small amount of room for contemplation of the past, and thereby achieving more perspective on the present. However, Brian Dimmock, a principle lecturer in social work at the university of Gloucester, has carried out a project to change that. Recently the Guardian reported on his project to compile more than 50 face-to-face interviews with a range of people in all types of social worker jobs. The interviewees range from very young workers at the initial stages of their careers to older people, who have been in social services jobs for over 40 years; from students in their first jobs, to managers.

The interviews also include a range of workers from various areas of the country. Dimmock’s research took more than four years, and the interviews are unedited, ranging from 20 to 50 minutes long. The main reasons for carrying out this project seem to be to gauge the mood, or level of job satisfaction, amongst social workers, and to see how they see their own profession. Also, the aim was to test whether progress is being made in social work according to the workers, and to see what has changed in 40 years of support work.

One of the outcomes is that people find that the rise of the management culture can frequently be frustrating, since it is perceived to cause a reduction in face-to-face time with the people they are supposed to be able to help. This is accompanied with frustration at a higher level of bureaucracy: the amount of risk assessments, incident forms and other types of paperwork has increased consistently over the past 40 years. However, there were positives to come from the interviews.

The most noticeable of the findings, according to Dimmock, has been that people in social worker jobs have stayed so positive about their professions, despite the many challenges that they face. The profession does seem to suffer from a perception that, to begin with, one starts off idealistic, and ends up becoming ‘world weary’ as a result of the frustration of not being able to make as much of an impact as one had hoped. However, this does not seem to be the case, judging by the people in social work jobs interviewed in Dimmock’s archive. social services jobs still seem to attract people who are motivated to make a genuine difference to people’s lives, and often as a result of their own life experiences.

Please visit http://www.socialworkandcarejobs.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.socialworkandcarejobs.com/

4cfe2e690d452

Sanctuary Personnel prides itself on placing only the best applicants in social work jobs

Annie

Sanctuary Personnel is an accomplished social care recruitment agency offering social work jobs and social services jobs.

Sanctuary Personnel has branches in Ipswich and Glasgow but they operate across the Home Counties, Birmingham, Manchester, and the whole UK providing experienced, able social workers to local authorities and public sector associations.

Sanctuary Social Care was founded in 2002 as a niche Social Work consultancy business. The company is dedicated to promoting best practice and its unparalleled understanding of the requirements of Local Government and Public Sector associations has made it a favoured supplier to more than 140 local authorities and leading organisations such as CAFCASS and the NSPCC.

The agency has numerous social worker jobs and social services jobs on its books for both permanent and temporary employees. Because of the agency’s relationships and links to these organisations, they guarantee to offer social work jobs and social services jobs that are not advertised in other agencies.

The company has highly proficient and knowledgeable consultants to help make your search for vacancies as simple as possible. All the consultants will clarify the current options available and guide you through compliance processes.

Are you interested in social worker jobs? Are you a experienced Social Worker, Social Work Assistant or Occupational Therapist, looking for the best available job? If so, you’re exactly the kind of person that Sanctuary Personnel is looking for.

Sanctuary Personnel also has a division called Sanctuary Executive. It specialises in placing the right executives, senior managers and directors in top-level social work jobs to ensure your organisation runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. The company believes in carrying the entire recruitment burden for you.

If you are searching for deserving and competent high-calibre candidates to fill your social worker jobs, why not let Sanctuary Executive do the work for you? They will filter all the candidates so that the candidates you are presented with are the ideal fit for your organisation. Sanctuary Executive achieves this quickly and easily.

Choose Sanctuary Executive or Sanctuary Personnel and you will get the perfect people to help you manage change and staff your organisation into a successful future.

Please visit http://www.sanctuarypersonnel.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.sanctuarypersonnel.com/

4c3d97ebf1f71