Who is hiring newly qualified social workers?

I have left comments on carespace a couple of times that I have 8 years PQ experience, an AMHP qualification and full PQSW award. I voluntarily left my last employer for personal reasons and have been trying for the past 6 months to get work. I have recently been for 3 interviews, so my applications are good enough to get me that far, but I am very nervous and lack confidence at interviews and subsequently, I don't get the jobs, although one reason given by an interviewer after the interview was that they gave the job to someone with more recent experience. How a person performs at interviews should not be taken as meaning they cannot do the job - I have the experience and the qualifications, so it isn't just newly qualified that can't get work.

I may not be wholly thanked for this but I'm not entirely sure that the broader picture can necessarily be gleaned from CareSpace. People with things to grumble about tend to gravitate towards forums so there's a case of a 'silent majority' factor making it hard to gauge what the wider trend might be.
I think that recruitment is more generally down at the moment because a lot of posts have been frozen but I'm not convinced it's affecting newly qualified workers more than any.
The reliance on agency staff is more about lack of long-term planning in local authorities rather than an agenda not to recruit, I suspect.

i started working last summer as a newly qualified - shortly after i started another nqsw started and we have now employed a further 6 nqsw's. we also have a number of agency workers to give the nqsw's a chance to settle in.
i think that its important to remember that having a social work qualification is not a guarantee that you will get a job - you still need to demonstrate understanding of the profession and how to apply skills and theory to practice, and no matter how desperate a team may be for staff, i wouldn't advocate employing a candidate just to get bums on seats - its quality over quantity

Hi! We are hearing at BASW from newly qualified SWs who cannot get jobs. My view is that some employers are still insisting on experienced SWs who can hit the ground running and will not accept they need to take on newly qualified people and nurture theem for a year or two. Of course thhis would pay dividends as the NQSW if treated right would then stay on as an experienced worker but short termism tends to rule the day.
As cb comments, the freezing of posts is not helping and nor is the accelerating erosion of social work and the delgation of work which should be done by SWs to staff without that qualification.

As a newly graduated, mature social worker I am struggling to remain positive about my job prospects in social work. Three years ago there were many jobs around but over the last two years it seems - and particularly over the last year - the jobs have dwindled to a mere trickle. For adult services jobs it is very difficult to find anything to apply for. Having said that, most of my cohort who had C&F placements have now got jobs, indeed many had offers before graduation. This leads me to believe your standard of work on the degree as well as your attendance and attitude record doesn't seem to matter much to employers. My final placement in older people's services was short staffed but preferred to employ agency workers and in fairness, there was no way they could support a newly qualified social worker - the team was incredibly busy and several qualified and experienced staff were brought to tears of frustration as the 'system' did not allow them to do their jobs properly.

I worked my butt off to become qualified and got excellent results, feedback, placement outcomes, portfolios, attendance etc etc....but I am jobless. On the bright side, I have managed to get interviews for the two jobs I have seen so far...and, though some LG's tell me they don't accept CV's I am shortly to send mine off in search of work to everywhere I can think of that is appropriate! :o)

Also, though LG's are meant to be family working practices friendly, I hardly ever see jobs advertised as job share or p/t, and yes, I know that the F/T posts are meant to be open to job shares, but, come on, am I really being cynical in thinking it would be soooo much easier just to find the one person for the job?

Ok whinge over.

How hopeful is anyone that there will be jobs advertised after the spending review is announced??

Hi Mrs Winchester,
I am drawn to your plight as I too am a newly qualified mature s/w and have struggling to gain any interviews from the adult sector not alone any responses from the many CV's I have sent. I have been working in social care for 21 yrs so I do know what I am doing to a point and believe that mature s/w have a more holistic approach and empathy to the social work role than any newly qualified will ever have. I don't mean to be "ageist" but there must be a role for people like ourselves as social work teams should employ a wide diversity of people for a better balance - plus we are less likely to chop 'n' change our jobs every 6 months like many locum s/w's.
good luck to you in the future and lets hope employers become brave enough to give 'us' a chance.

What I find most offensive as a mature NQSW (after years of study/work/family juggling) is that the LAs do not even have the decency to respond to say you have not been shortlisted. How hard can it be to send a automated email saying' sorry you were not succesful'. Some of the applications take hours, they demand to know very intimate areas of your life as well as your entire life history (when you're in your late 40s and left school at 16, this is no mean feat) and then not even a simple acknowledgment. This adds to the stress and frustration and feeling that one must be worthless in spite of gaining good marks and having had succesful placements.