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An Interview with a Bolton Social Worker

Name: Jason Hart

Job Title: Social Worker

Directorate: working for Adult Services (Older Peoples Social Work Team)

Describe a typical working day.

Arrive in work and check my emails. Organise who I am going to visit for the day and prioritise the most important tasks. I have to deal with crises on a daily basis which comes with the territory when you have a case load of 30 people. My day is a mixture of dealing with these crises and managing the rest of my work.

What attracted you to working for Bolton Council?

I was actually a student for my last 80 day placement in the team that am working in now. Some Social Work jobs were available in the team and my manager suggested that I should apply. As a student I didn’t think I would be able to pass the interview but I did. This meant that I already had a job lined up as soon as I had qualified, on a team that I had been working on for three Months.  

What advice would you give someone looking for opportunities in this area?

As a mature student (28 at the time) one of the most important things I did was to do an access course first, just to get me into writing assignments and sitting exams again. I feel that it definitely gave me an advantage when it came to doing the work.

What qualifications or experience are essential for this kind of work?

You will need to do a degree in social work (part or full time) full time is three years. A good grounding in the social care field would really be helpful. If people have no experience in social care I would suggest doing some voluntary work for a few months prior to training.

What is the best thing about your work?

The best thing about social work is that you get to meet very interesting people and as you manage your own case load you kind of get to be a master over your own working day. It is stressful but when things go well it can be very rewarding.

What opportunities does your Local Council provide that you cannot get elsewhere?

I think one of the most important things in terms of working in the local council is Job Security and employment rights. The other thing in terms of social work is that although local councils have to look after their money the work I do is not motivated by profit which is important to me.