Approach applicants

Start by completing the application form that you have been sent via email.

It asks for information on your academic, volunteering and work experience. It will also ask you to share more about your personal circumstances linked to any adjustment needs you may have as well as location preferences.

We will ask you two competency-based questions based on your experiences. We are looking for you to demonstrate your commitment to working with children and families, as well as an understanding of Frontline’s mission.

Once you have submitted your application form, you will be sent a link to complete the online test. You will have 7 days to complete this. The online test is a combination of verbal reasoning and situational judgement tests where you will respond to realistic, social work-related scenarios.

For each scenario shared we will ask you to consider a list of possible responses and decide which of these you are most likely and least likely to take. There will also be a question asking you consider the information and demonstrate understanding of what it is saying.

We do not expect you to have any previous knowledge of social work to complete this test, we want to see how you initially would respond to the types of scenarios you might face in social work.

There are practice questions before you start the test to familiarise yourself with the type of question asked and the format.

If successful in your online test, your application will be screened by a social work trained screener. They will not have access to any of your personal details or work experience to ensure there is no bias. You’ll hear the outcome of this within seven working days.

To have the opportunity to be invited to an assessment centre, you must upload all of the required eligibility documents using the link provided.  Please make sure you check here for what documents we will need from you and prepare these as soon as possible.

We run assessment centres from October through to April. We recommend moving through the earlier stages of our process as quickly as possible to maximise the possibility of being invited to an assessment centre. We invite candidates on a rolling basis dependent on location and the needs of our local authority partners.

All assessment centres are delivered online via a video conferencing platform. Once you are invited to an assessment centre, you will get more information on how to access this.

Our assessment centre involves:

• a competency-based interview
• a written exercise
• a role play exercise

Through the assessment centre you will have the opportunity to meet other candidates and be assessed by our trained assessors, a mixture of people including some with experience of the care system and social workers who have completed one of our programmes.

You’ll hear from us within 10 working days to let you know the outcome of the assessment centre. If you are successful you will need to meet a number of eligibility and suitability requirements before being made an offer for the programme. These include verification of your qualifications and right to work status, references, health and conduct checks and a DBS check. Once pre-employment checks are completed, our team will work to identify a placement for you with one of our local authority partners.

Written communication is an important part of being a social worker so make sure you take the time to check the spelling and grammar of your responses before submitting. 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.   

Ensure you answer the questions we ask, don’t copy and paste an answer from another application form. Tailor your answer for Frontline.

We encourage candidates to make the most of the word count to ensure that they have answered the questions fully and demonstrated the competencies that we are looking for to the best of their ability. 

Our screeners will only see the answers to the two competency questions when they review your application so it is critical that your answers and examples shared fully answer the question, don’t rely on your work experience as our screeners aren’t looking at this! 

You may find it helpful to use the STAR method in writing your response to this question. 

1. Situation 
2. Task 
3. Action 
4. Result 

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.

Consider the range of experiences you have 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.

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?

We are looking for people who want to work closely with children and families to keep them safe, healthy and happy. You will understand that people are capable of change, and demonstrate an enthusiasm to help disadvantaged families and children, even in challenging circumstances. You will be aligned to Frontline’s mission and committed to our programme as well as the communities you work with.

We recommend looking at our example answers before submitting your application. They are just examples, you do not have to structure your response as they do, but please take a look to get some ideas!

Example answers are here.  

The online test is not timed however all applicants must complete this in one sitting – we recommend allowing around 30 minutes . With this in mind, we recommend you give yourself plenty of time to complete the test. It is important to review and digest all of the scenarios fully to ensure you have a good understanding of what the text is saying. 

For the situational judgement questions we will give you some options of actions to take if you were in the scenario and ask what you are most and least likely to do if that happened. We know that they may not align entirely with what you think you would do in a situation however please do choose the one that is closest to the action you think you would take. 

Spend some time researching social work and Approach Social Work as this test assesses your suitability for child protection social work.

It is important for the verbal reasoning questions that you consider all aspects of the information and what the question is asking you. It is important when given information that you do not make assumptions about the situation, instead focus on what the text tells you is true.