Recruitment drive kicks off in style

Nearly 5,000 calls have been made to
the social work recruitment help line since the launch of the government skills
drive on 19 October.

Figures from the launch up to the
end of Monday show that the help line has received 4,926 calls, more than half
way towards the target of 9,000 for the first month. Meanwhile the website has
received 3,797 visitors, with the course finder pages being accessed the most.

Adverts are appearing in the
national press and on regional radio during the six week £1.5m launch campaign,
but not on television. Radio advertising will stop in mid-November while the
press campaign finishes on 3 December.

The advertisements’ storylines
depict service users including a girl who becomes pregnant by her mother’s
partner, an autistic child, and a father and young girl suffering abuse from the
girl’s mother.

A Department of Health spokesperson
said that the campaign aims to illustrate the depth of social work, raise
questions and challenge people’s perceptions as well as demonstrating that
social work is a profession as well as a vocation.