Graduate and social care might not be obvious bedfellows but there is plenty to offer a new grad in the sector. Here are three roles which are open to graduates:
Children’s social worker
Joe Stone, a Durham University criminology graduate, joined Frontline’s new two-year leadership programme partly because of the rare opportunity it offers to work straight away and be paid to train. Graduates on the scheme are involved in life-changing child protection work in Greater Manchester and Greater London, following a five-week residential course. The programme also leads to a master’s qualification and qualified social worker status.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with other participants on the programme, getting to hear about lots of different cases and working as a team to find out how to progress things with families in the most effective way,” Stone explains. He says the programme has helped him learn how to make the greatest impact on the families he is involved with.
Entry on to schemes such as this mostly require a 2:1 or higher in an undergraduate degree, usually in a related subject.
Palliative nurse
Palliative nursing is a specialised career for which professional training is essential. The role involves providing patients with relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, with the goal of improving quality of life for both the patient and the family. But if you graduated with an unrelated subject, don’t write it off.
Susanna Malkakorpi is a palliative nurse at the Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent Hospice in Berkshire. She did an MSc in chemistry at the University of Reading before deciding she didn’t want to pursue a career in the subject.
After the deaths of loved ones, travelling across Africa and Asia working in hospitality and sales, and doing “a lot of soul-searching”, she decided she wanted to do something to help others and began a two-year post-graduate nursing degree at Reading University. “I knew I wanted to work within palliative care,” she says, “but I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get a job in such a specialist environment as a newly qualified nurse.”
She applied to Sue Ryder, however, and has now worked at the hospice for six months. “I have already been given the opportunity to not only deepen my nursing skills, but to truly take part in the running of the service,” she says. “I have been coordinating shifts and have also been part of writing new clinical guidelines. The hospice provides end-of-life care across Berkshire from its inpatient unit, day centre, out in the community and in people’s own homes.”
“Working in palliative care has been very much how I imagined it to be,” adds Malkakorpi. “I love getting to know the person and their family on a much more personal level than I ever could in an acute hospital setting. We are expected, and more importantly allowed, to look at the person holistically.”
Social care policy officer
Saskia Goldman thinks graduates don’t often consider social care as an option. The 23-year-old social care policy officer claims the opportunity to progress within social care policy to more senior positions is great and the profession encompasses a range of diverse roles in tendering and winning new business, as well as project management. But graduate schemes are thin on the ground.
Goldman is on the National Skills Academy’s graduate management training scheme, a programme devoted entirely to adult social care. She studied English at undergraduate level and a masters in international relations but wanted to work in the voluntary sector. She therefore got a job at a Brixton women’s centre after her studies.
However, she was always interested in social care and is now enjoying a 12-month placement as a policy officer at Friends of the Elderly, one of the UK’s longest running charities supporting older people. In October, she starts another policy officer role.
“It’s amazing being able to stay in the sector as a graduate,” Goldman says. “Because there is a small number of us, we are able to give a lot of personalised care and attention.” However, she adds: “The placements can be a bit of a lottery. Some people have a fantastic experience, like me, but there is some variation.”
Looking for a job? Browse Guardian Jobs or sign up to Guardian Careers for the latest job vacancies and career advice.
