Summary: Recruiting and retaining social workers has been a big challenge for anbsp;lot of authorities for many years. High profile cases like Baby P have not helped to attract new people into the profession, which is why the government recently announced a pound;58m recruitment and training package. The show this month focuses on how one Council has managed to buck this trend and recruit 28 social workers with one campaign. We also hear from Kathryn Kelly, who is managing the IDeA's campaign to raise awareness of Social Work as a career - part of the LGA's Respect, Recruit, Retain campaign. To listen to the podcast, click the grey arrow below. Lou Carter is Assistant Director of Planning and Performance in Children's Services at East Sussex County Council and is part of the team responsible for their highly successful recruitment campaign. Lou talks about what she believes has made their approach work so well, including: REALnbsp;COMMITTMENT - from members and senior management GENUINE PARTNERSHIP WORKING - between HR teams,nbsp;advertising agents, operational managers and staff, is crucial STAFF ENGAGEMENT - was important all the way through the process, including talking to candidates and attending job fairs and interviews PARTICIPATION OF SERVICE USERS - children and young people were involved in photo shoots and at the selection and recruitment events HAVING A TIGHT GROUP WORKING ON THE CAMPAIGN - with a lot of central control A GOOD REPUTATION - has helped to attract new people to the Council PHILOSOPHY OF LEARNINGnbsp;#38; SUPPORTnbsp;- not blame nbsp;Lou's three top tips are: INVOLVE ALL KEY STAKEHOLDERS - including young people and front line staff HR COLLEAGUES NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE SERVICE REQUIREMENTS - and work collaboratively, don't just sit in a remote central function HR DELIVERABLES - need to be slick processesnbsp;that make sure every contact a candidatenbsp;has, is a positive experiencenbsp; You can find out more about East Sussex Count Council's social worker campaign by contacting Lou Carter, Sally Carnie or Edward Howarth on 0345 60 80 190. Kathryn Kelly works in the Talent #38; Skills Team at the IDeA and her focus is Social Care, whichnbsp;happens to benbsp;the top skill shortage area in local government. Kathryn believes that a lack of understanding about what social worknbsp;actually is, may be thenbsp;key reason why more people do not enter the profession. Although there is a shortage of qualified social workers and some do leave the profession,nbsp;a large proportionnbsp;havenbsp;not actually left, but have moved their careers in another direction.nbsp;In order to encourage more to stay as front-line social workers Kathryn's advice is: MAKE THEM FEEL VALUED - by both employers and society as a whole DEVELOP MORE TRAINING AND CAREER PATHS - that will allow expertise to develop without the need to move into managerial roles, so they can remain in the frontline PROMOTE THE FLEXIBLE BENEFITS PACKAGES AVAILABLE - such as training opportunities To have the best chance of recruiting and retaining social workers, Kathryn's view is that HR teams and service managers must work muchnbsp;more closely together. If they don't, then the current problems will continue. Click here to find out more about the LGA'snbsp;Respect, Recruit, Retain campaign. If you would like more information about the IDeA's work in this areanbsp;go www.idea.gov.uknbsp; or www.LGcareers.comnbsp;You can also get help and advice about recruiting social workers from www.socialworkcareers.co.uk Listening to the show is simple, you can do it in a number of ways and you donrsquo;t need an iPod or MP3 player. Simply click on the grey arrow underneath the show heading and it will play through your computer. Alternatively, you can easily download the file and listen to it later, ornbsp;transfer it onto an MP3 player,nbsp;just right click on lsq...
