I have been touched by the marketing campaign of the Children’s Workforce Development Council promoting work in Social Services.

So much so, that I actually did search for “Be The Difference” to find out what working in Social Services might mean (aside from the satisfaction of doing good). It would indeed be a huge change for someone already working in a professional environment.

I found out that “being the difference” is a very difficult decision indeed.

It means studying for a full time undergraduate degree in Social Services, which you can pretty much only use in this type of job. Asking someone to make this decision for life at 18.

Or a Masters degree, which you can complete to “re-train” in social services if you come from a different background and which takes 2 years. It is specifically noted this will be 2 years off work to re-train.

I found there is no certain job waiting at the end, you just have to apply to different local authorities and try and get a job in the sector. And at a time when those authorities will be cutting back, there is no standard pay grades either.

I found that you would hope to start on a salary of £18,000, and with some employers you would get “up to” £30,000 with experience. If you can find this job that is, and after investing years and money in becoming trained.

I thought this:

It’s not just money and time – it’s two of the most important tools we use to attract and motivate people to perform in a job.

Maybe they should consider spending the advertising budget around this thought instead.

Or should I have the cynical view that the marketing is not actually trying to attract workers in the sector, but rather to promote that the government cares about social services after recent failures becoming widely publicised?

thoughts

Another frosty morning today, driving to work my thermometer showing -4°C.

I have had a really hectic start of the year. A lot of work, a lot of things planned for the rest of the year (more on this later).

We celebrated Chinese New Year last weekend. Cycled into town, and watched the parade. To be honest the anticipation was much better than the parade, but the Thai food that we had later compensated. I even recorded a video message to China in the little Chinese I have learnt (no, I won’t share this).

That’s it from me. More when I have time to write…

me