Today (30 November) a new national resource has been launched in Wales on the WeCare.Wales website. The resource helps jobseekers improve their employability as well as helping employers identify people most suited to working in social care roles.
The new resource is available on the website of WeCare Wales, a campaign that aims to attract more than 20,000 extra people to work in social care and childcare over the next decade.
The resource features an assessment section where the candidate can watch videos of different roles in social care and answer questions about how they would deal with the situations that arise. This gives prospective applicants a first-hand opportunity to see if the job is right for them. Budding applicants for roles in social care can find the learning resource on the WeCare Wales jobs portal.
Once complete, candidates are given a document that can be shown to employers to help them stand out against other applicants.
ONS reports that 730,000 fewer people in the UK were receiving pay in July than in March. WeCare Wales hopes that by launching the new online learning resource and its updated jobs portal, it will be easier for the right people to be linked with the right employer.
Sue Evans, Chief Executive of Social Care Wales, said: “With so many people looking for work at the moment, we wanted to provide something that could help potential applicants understand if care is right for them, and if so, help them stand out from the crowd.
“Applying for a role in social care is great and we need all the support we can get, but a high turnover of staff makes things particularly difficult - not only for employers who then need to find someone else, but also the people they support. We want to help give more of an insight into these important roles, and the new online learning resource helps us do that.”
As well as helping individuals boost their employability, the resource also helps employers find the right people for the roles that can be particularly difficult to recruit for. Those roles include Social Workers and Social Care Nurses and Home Care Workers, like Karima Alghmed.
Karima is a Home Care Worker who has been working throughout the pandemic. Appearing in the TV advert which launches as part of the campaign, she said: “I’ve been working in care for over 15 years. A learning resource like this would have really helped me to get started. Care is so varied and rewarding, it’s great to see a brand-new tool that engages people and helps them understand exactly what we do.”
James Dwyer, Managing Director of Pineshield Health and Social Care Services, said: “Our mission is to put the service users’ needs at the heart of what we do, but we cannot do that if we don’t have the right staff. Every time we recruit, we find that so many applicants just aren’t right for the role.
“Recently, for one Home Care Worker position, we had 69 number of applications. By having completed the online resource, it would show an individual’s dedication. It will help the right people stand out.”
For the next few weeks, the WeCare Wales campaign is focusing on the need for more Home Care Workers, Social Workers and Social Care Nurses and is supported by a national television advert. If you have been inspired by the heroic efforts of care workers during the pandemic and think you’ve got what it takes to work in care visit WeCare.wales/jobs