With the demand for care rising in an increasingly competitive labour market, it’s important to raise the profile of social care to encourage future recruitment into the sector.
National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week both run from 6-10 March and are a great opportunity to promote social care as a positive career choice. There are lots of ways social care employers can get involved.
Sign up to the I Care…Ambassadors programme
I Care…Ambassadors are people who work in social care and promote careers in the sector through activities such as presentations and talks.
Social care organisations can nominate staff to become I Care…Ambassadors. When you sign up, you’ll gain access to a resources bank with template presentations, an activities toolkit and tips for delivering tasks.
Signing up can help your organisation develop longstanding relationships with schools, colleges and the local community, while helping to motivate and develop the skills of your staff.
Start an apprenticeship programme and promote your vacancies
Apprenticeships are a cost effective way to grow your workforce and improve retention. In fact, 88% of employers (pdf) who hire apprentices believe that they lead to a more motivated and satisfied workforce.
You could use National Apprenticeship Week to launch a new apprenticeship programme, or promote existing vacancies. There are even funding opportunities available to help you.
Offer work experience or taster sessions
More and more students are looking for work experience to boost their CV and help them explore different careers. It can also help you see if candidates are suitable for care work, and lets candidates see if care work is for them.
You could approach local schools or colleges directly, or you could speak to your local Jobcentre Plus about joining a sector-based work academy. These academies run six-week programmes for potential candidates, and can help you find people with the right values, skills and experience to work for your organisation.
If you offer a volunteering programme, we have templates and resources to help you induct new volunteers.
Write a blog or case study about what it’s like to work in social care
Students enjoy hearing from people who work in the sector when searching for career information.
You could ask staff in a range of roles to write a blog or case study about what they do everyday, and why they enjoy it. There are lots of examples on Skills for Care’s think care careers website - you could link to the job roles pages for people who want to find out more. You can then promote these blogs on your own website, social media and in local magazines or newspapers.
Get involved on social media
Get involved on Twitter and Facebook using @CareersWeek, #NCW2017, @apprenticeships and #NAW2017.
Your local jobcentre might also retweet your posts so make sure to include them too – especially if you’re promoting case studies, available apprenticeships or vacancies.
This guide (pdf) to using social media to attract potential recruits can help if you’re new to social media.
Skills for Care has lots more resources to help you get involved in National Careers and Apprenticeship Week. To find out more, visit the Skills for Care website.
Content on this page is produced and controlled by Skills for Care, sponsor of the Guardian Social Care Network leadership, learning and development hub
