Advice and guidance

What to expect when applying to Approach Social Work.

On this page you can watch our “Application tips and tricks” webinar and read guidance for each stage of the application process.

Application form

The application form is a mixture of data capture and competency-based questions. We will be assessing your answers to the competency-based questions, so we recommend reading through our competencies carefully to understand what we are looking for. We also recommend that you:

• Take your time with the competency questions on the application form, you don’t have to do the whole form in one go. We would recommend you write the competency questions elsewhere and copy them in. This makes it easier to check spelling and grammar and make sure you are fully happy with your answers before submitting. You could even get a family member or friend to read through your answers to make sure you are clearly displaying your skills to the assessors.
• Think carefully about why social work and Approach Social Work is right for you. What experience (work, personal or voluntary) or values do you hold that evidence this?
• Consider a range of experiences which demonstrate your ability to work with people.
• Use ‘I’ and not ‘we’ – we want to know about the part you played in a situation or task.
• Ensure you answer the questions, don’t copy and paste an answer from another application form. Tailor your answer for Frontline.
• Make the most of the word count.
• Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach. This will help you to give a well-structured and detailed response to fully answer the question. Describe the specific situation or task you needed to accomplish, the action you took and what happened, what you learnt and the results you achieved.

Online test

You will have 7 days from when you’ve submitted your application to complete the online test. If you require an extension for any reason, please contact us. 

It should take about 30 minutes to complete the online test and you need to do it all in one sitting.

Verbal reasoning and situational judgement

• Situational judgment tests are bespoke and related to a specific sector and role. This test has been designed specifically for Approach Social Work. Practice tests may not be relevant for social work but will give you an idea of the structure of these tests.
• Make sure you set aside the correct amount of time for the test where you will not be distracted (around 20 – 30 minutes).
• Pay clear attention to the instructions for the online test.
• Spend some time researching social work and Approach Social Work as this test assesses your suitability for child protection social work.
• Finally, please remember that we are looking for your ability to demonstrate our core competencies, we do not expect you to have detailed knowledge on social work policy and procedures.

Assessment centre

• Our assessment centres are virtual and last for half a day on a video conferencing platform.
• You will be assessed in three different activities throughout the day, which include a written exercise, a role play and an interview with a social worker and care-experienced young person.
• In the written exercise you will be asked to take on the role of a Frontline social worker who has recently joined a new team. Your colleague, who is going on leave, has asked you to support two families that they have been working with. Your task is to review the information sent by your colleague and to write an email summarising the key points. We want to see how you interpret the information provided and gather additional evidence, as well as outlining the solutions and next steps in written form.
• In the role play activity you act as a newly qualified social worker and engage in an 8-minute conversation with someone portraying a parent. Following this, there will be a reflection session to evaluate the conversation and consider if there is anything you would do differently. We want to see how you communicate, build relationships, show empathy and lead the meeting with purpose.
• The interview is a panel interview with a social worker and a young person with care experience. They will ask you questions about your experiences and why you aspire to pursue a career as a social worker. We want to get to know you a bit more. Its a competency-based interview so we will ask you about your past experiences.
• It’s important to prepare well for the assessment centre. Have you done your research? Do you know why the profession and programme are right for you? How does Approach Social Work fit with your experiences, work, values, etc?
• You may find it useful to review our fictional case study and prompt questions to get a sense of working through scenario-based activities.
• Explore the role of a social worker. Think about the activities you’d be expected to do on a daily basis and how they relate to the Approach competencies.
• Think about how our competencies might also relate to the different activities in the assessment centre.
• Take the opportunity to ask questions – this is a chance to make sure the programme is right for you.