Assessment centre tips

• Make sure you have spend time reviewing the competencies. We don’t expect you to have any social work experience but we want to see that you have an understanding of the role and that you can demonstrate the skills that are necessary to become a great social worker. 
• Check your tech! Make sure you check our guidance on how to use the video conferencing platform plenty ahead of your assessment centre to make sure everything is working for you. 
• Attend one of our events to find out more about social work and get more hints and tips
• We also have drop-in sessions where you can and have your questions answered – we run these at lunchtime or in the evening. 

The activity: This 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.

The purpose: We want to get to know you a bit more. Its a competency-based interview so we will ask you about your past experiences.

• The questions we will ask you in the interview will be linked to the competencies. Make sure you have familiarised yourself with them and have considered and prepared examples of when you have demonstrated these. 
• We recommend not scripting answers. We want the conversation that you have in the interview to feel natural and we will be looking at how well you communicate through the day. If you have scripted answers you may find it difficult to adjust responses to the prompt questions, as well as preventing us from seeing your natural communication style. 
• You may find it useful to try and structure your answers using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

The activity: You will be asked to take on the role of an Approach Social Work  social worker who has recently joined a new team. Your colleague, who is going on leave for three weeks, 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.

The purpose: 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 this exercise, it is really important to manage your time. You will be asked to consider information that you will need to review and then write a response based on the questions asked of you. You will need to make sure that you give yourself ample time to understand what the text is saying but also ensure that you are able to complete the written task required. You will have 40 minutes in total to complete the exercise and we recommend you start writing your response with a minimum of 30 minutes left.
• You will be asked to prioritise which family you would go and see at home. There isn’t a right or wrong answer in terms of which family to pick but it’s important to show a clear rationale behind your thinking.
• Ensure your writing includes your own thinking and doesn’t simply regurgitate information, we want to see your judgements, supported by evidence in the materials we provide.
• Consider your tone and your writing style also – try to think about how the report would feel for that person to read and avoid judgemental language or assumptions.
• Writing is an important aspect of the social worker role. It is important that you check over your answer at the end to make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes and that everything makes sense. 
• We recommend you look at our fictional case study to practice working through scenario-based activities.

The activity: Acting as a newly qualified social worker your task is to 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.

The purpose: We want to see how you communicate, build relationships, show empathy and lead the meeting with purpose.

• You will be given some time ahead of the exercise to read about the family you are about to visit and the situation they are in. It’s important to consider what the objectives are that you need to achieve in the conversation and use the information that you have to ask questions and steer the conversation. 
• We are looking to see how you interact with the parent, how you handle challenge and guide the conversation to positive outcomes. Have a look at the list of competencies and think about which ones might be assessed in the role play activity and how you might demonstrate those in a role play setting.
• When in the role play, consider how you might be able to achieve the objectives set out in the brief whilst being conscious of how the parent might be feeling. Having a conversation with a social worker can be a challenge to many parents so it is important to think about handling different emotions and how you might be able to build rapport in this situation. Don’t be too surprised if the parent doesn’t really want to speak to you! 
• You will have the opportunity to reflect on your performance with an assessor part way through the exercise. Be honest in this time, think about what you did well and what you could do differently. We want to see how well you are able to adapt your approach after reflecting so it’s good to be able to identify strengths and weaknesses.