Social Work Panel 2013

lbouyle48

Listening to radio clips about the new child and family agency. It doesn't seem very promising for social work jobs.

SeanC320

lbouyle48 wrote: »

Listening to radio clips about the new child and family agency. It doesn't seem very promising for social work jobs.

I haven't heard anything what are they saying? That's all we want now!!!

lbouyle48

SeanC320 wrote: »

I haven't heard anything what are they saying? That's all we want now!!!

Ya it's very disheartening to be honest. The reporter asked how many social work jobs will be on stream. They didn't give a direct answer just said a few so that's not a lot. Similarly social workers goin on maternity leave are not being replaced and at present they have no provisions in place for this. I just hope it's early days. I know they have a budget of 600 m so surely some of that has to go to sw jobs

bisset

As far as I understand it Gordan Jeyes office has approved a number of vacancies to be filled. Some of these currently have agency staff covering the post. A lot of the agency staff will be on the panel. They would not have moved to interview band B if they did not have approval to fill the vacancies. There is a tentative agreement with the union to fill some maternity vacancies from a panel (as yet unidentified as far as I know). Basically if you are high up on the panel for a particular area you have a good chance of being offered a child protection job. The situation is somewhat distorted by the fact that there area a number of permanent child protection social workers on the panel waiting to be offered jobs in primary care and other areas. In the future there will be a national transfer policy for child and family social workers so that if a person in post in Dublin wants to transfer to an equivalent post in Cork they can apply through the transfer process and not clog up the panel system. It seems to take about 5 to 6 monthes from being successful at expression of interest stage to taking up a post. Most of the delay seems to be associated with Manorhamilton.

SeanC320

lbouyle48 wrote: »

Ya it's very disheartening to be honest. The reporter asked how many social work jobs will be on stream. They didn't give a direct answer just said a few so that's not a lot. Similarly social workers goin on maternity leave are not being replaced and at present they have no provisions in place for this. I just hope it's early days. I know they have a budget of 600 m so surely some of that has to go to sw jobs

Its time that they started to cop on and wake up to reality everyone knows how stretched CP services are, just because its a new agency the issues are not going to disappear overnight, this new agency needs to get it right from the start otherwise they will just continue to chase their tail as before. Anymore word as to when offers will be sent out for band b panel?

lbouyle48

bisset wrote: »

As far as I understand it Gordan Jeyes office has approved a number of vacancies to be filled. Some of these currently have agency staff covering the post. A lot of the agency staff will be on the panel. They would not have moved to interview band B if they did not have approval to fill the vacancies. There is a tentative agreement with the union to fill some maternity vacancies from a panel (as yet unidentified as far as I know). Basically if you are high up on the panel for a particular area you have a good chance of being offered a child protection job. The situation is somewhat distorted by the fact that there area a number of permanent child protection social workers on the panel waiting to be offered jobs in primary care and other areas. In the future there will be a national transfer policy for child and family social workers so that if a person in post in Dublin wants to transfer to an equivalent post in Cork they can apply through the transfer process and not clog up the panel system. It seems to take about 5 to 6 monthes from being successful at expression of interest stage to taking up a post. Most of the delay seems to be associated with Manorhamilton.

Thanks for your reply do you know which geog location did Gordon jeyes approve the posts for

lbouyle48

SeanC320 wrote: »

Its time that they started to cop on and wake up to reality everyone knows how stretched CP services are, just because its a new agency the issues are not going to disappear overnight, this new agency needs to get it right from the start otherwise they will just continue to chase their tail as before. Anymore word as to when offers will be sent out for band b panel?

Ya that's true. I'm on band a and I'm still waiting on an offer for my geog location. I just wish they would get rid of agency staff and focus on the panel.

SeanC320

lbouyle48 wrote: »

Ya that's true. I'm on band a and I'm still waiting on an offer for my geog location. I just wish they would get rid of agency staff and focus on the panel.

Well hopefully the ball starts rolling now as its the new year and positions filled, there seems not to be many social work jobs on offer across the board at present, I had mentioned earlier in a post that I heard from a particular SW practicing in Dublin she told me that the new agency had secured funding for 200 SW posts now I don't know how true this is but I hope she is right!

lbouyle48

SeanC320 wrote: »

Well hopefully the ball starts rolling now as its the new year and positions filled, there seems not to be many social work jobs on offer across the board at present, I had mentioned earlier in a post that I heard from a particular SW practicing in Dublin she told me that the new agency had secured funding for 200 SW posts now I don't know how true this is but I hope she is right!

Ya would be great if there was 200 jobs and we were lucky. It's time we get started

Sweets86

Does anyone know how long the process takes from showing an interest in a permanent post to actually starting work will we be left waiting months before we can start due to clearance checks ect?

bisset

"Thanks for your reply do you know which geog location did Gordon jeyes approve the posts for"

As far as I know each community care area had to apply through the management line for approval to fill vacancies on a permanent basis. In practise approval seems to be only given on a one for two basis.i.e. if two permanent staff members resigned approval might be given to fill one post. I have heard that the greatest number of vacancies are in Dublin North, but then a lot of people may have put down that area. I think the figure of 200 is credible if you count 17 ISA areas across the country plus specialist posts in places like ACTS and maybe adoption and the Section 20 office.

Bonnie88

Hi, from expressing an interest to hearing the job is yours is roughly 5 days to a week...then the fun starts, about 3 months your looking at...goes through various stages and teams...medical, filling out forms...getting references, declarations (thought being in coru would of excluded the need for that kinda thing but there you go) ...get them whatever they ask for asap to avoid any delay but i was waiting roughly 3 months but then i had to give my current employer 4 weeks notice so was four months before i started. Hope that helps x

augusta24

Hi everyone,

I was just hoping to ask you all about the video interviews you originally went through. I'm from a different profession which the hse are now starting to form a panel for. The process sounds the exact same as what you went through.

With the video interview do they only ask you questions specifically related to the profession, or are there also those kinds of questions like "tell me about a time when you demonstrated responsibility/team working/ there was a conflict etc etc??

robertsulli

Hey Augusta,

I was very fortunate at the time that a few of my friends had gone before me so i could predict certain questions. There seemed to be a repetitive pattern of what they asked. They seemed to be very typical questions. Just from the top of my head they were
What is the role of a children in care social worker?
What would you consider in working with someone who self harms?
What is the importance of a multidicilpinary approach?

I personally found it an unusual experience as you talking to nobody at the other end as it is being recorded. It was very hard to gage how i did! I cut short two questions from what i remember of 1 minute each. I said to myself id try again in the future, but i was fortunate to get on the Band B.what i am trying to say is i suppose is don't be too critical on yourself afterwards!

I practiced the questions with friends which helped me. I then turned my back to them and answered questions they asked to prepare me better to get the experience of just seeing the camera.

I hope this helps, if there's anything else i can help with let me know.

All the best :-)

mopimopr

augusta24 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I was just hoping to ask you all about the video interviews you originally went through. I'm from a different profession which the hse are now starting to form a panel for. The process sounds the exact same as what you went through.

With the video interview do they only ask you questions specifically related to the profession, or are there also those kinds of questions like "tell me about a time when you demonstrated responsibility/team working/ there was a conflict etc etc??

I found the questions at the video interview very strange as I was expecting the "tell me about a time" questions like I have had in all other interviews for Social Work and there were none! They were all "basic" questions and I suppose were more practical? They were the kind of obvious things you would know but as I wasn't expecting to explain them, it threw me.
I remember:
What are the factors you need to assess a child
How would you support someone with a mental health difficulty
How would you work with clients who are difficult to engage
all of which you could go on for hours about, so figuring out what to say in a three minute answer. . .

k_t11

Hey can anyone on panel b keep the rest of us updated on any movement on the panel or any job offers. I'm in band c and have got a job offer in london. I want to stay in ireland but have bills to pay and all the rest. Any insight on panel movement would be great. I know some panels are moving faster. I chose dublin north at the time.

miriam88

I'm band b and there is definitely some movement. My area is Dublin South Central and no jobs have come up there but 3 came up nationally for Dublin north last week!

moochers

Just got notification of Dublin South West/Kildare/Wicklow today. Four for Dublin the past two weeks so there is definite movement.

mopimopr

Nothing at all in Galway/Roscommon, but I got all the notifications for Dublin. Why are they sending them nationally if there are still people on the panel?

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/quarter-of-social-worker-posts-unfilled-240098.html

From that article it looks obvious what motivated calling B for interview, so not very promising for people in any other area but Kildare and Wicklow!

k_t11

Hey thanks for the replies. I think I will just hold on a bit longer and see what happens. The downside of the panel is that there are people willing to work in areas that cant find anyone!! I studied in Scotland and all jobs are advertised by individual councils a much better system I think!!

topcat28

I would advise you to hold out for a post you really want especially because there are lots of posts going with CPL at the moment. I recently accepted a permanent post and the job is so not what i expected. Although it was in the area I was panelled for the reality is very different!

bisset

I have not heard anything about about band c people being called for interview so it could be a year before anyone in group c starts a permanent job from the panel . If you have no ties it might make more sense to take a job in Uk and build up your experience but it depends on your circumstances.

k_t11

I suppose because I have already had to leave to study my masters I don't really want to have to leave again. And because Band B was called 6 months after Band A went live I just thought Band C might be called forward in June or so. When I spoke to Manorhamilton in June 2013 they said Band b wouldn't go live for a year so I think there is alot of ambiguity up there. I said no to London anyway, hoping I won't regret it!

k_t11

Also I started a thread about the possible social work graduate programme if anyone feels like discussing it here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=88818333#post88818333

augusta24

Hi everyone,

I've got through to the competency application from stage (this is for a similar profession and this selection procedure is the same as your social work one was).

Basically I was wondering if anybody could give me some advice or insight as to what they are looking for in your answers. The form feels very intimidating to be honest! The competencies are things like: planning and managing resources, team player, evaluations information and judging situations, commitment to providing a quality service, and a professional knowledge clinical question! It's making me feel very nervous just reading it!

lbouyle48

Hi just wondering if anyone received any notifications for sw positions recently. I'm in category a And I haven't heard from them in 5 weeks even for places outside of my geog location

mopimopr

Im in B and haven't heard anything since January. I called tusla and the girl said they are working on moving everyone over to the new agency and they would look at posts which need to be filled "in a couple of months, I would imagine".

lbouyle48

mopimopr wrote: »

Im in B and haven't heard anything since January. I called tusla and the girl said they are working on moving everyone over to the new agency and they would look at posts which need to be filled "in a couple of months, I would imagine".

Seriously so it will b a few months before they fill posts again from the panel? That's crazy. Wonder what will happen if the bring in the newly qualified social work scheme. Where will we fair out

mopimopr

Apparently

I'd forgotten about the graduate programme... Does anyone know if all graduates will be able to apply for it, like a jobsbridge type deal? Or just new graduates?

lbouyle48

mopimopr wrote: »

Im in B and haven't heard anything since January. I called tusla and the girl said they are working on moving everyone over to the new agency and they would look at posts which need to be filled "in a couple of months, I would imagine".

Seriously so it will b a few months before they fill posts again from the panel? That's crazy. Wonder what will happen if the bring in the newly qualified social work scheme. Where will we fair out