Social Work Skills Assessment.

[peppapig]

Hiya!

Yes, we are in Melbourne, out in the SE suburbs, in Narre Warren. We love it here, moved over in November and already feel really settled. Melbourne itself is lovely, as are some of the inner suburbs, but for us out in the 'burbs suits us really well. We have 3 little ones, eldest is 3yrs and 2yr old twins, it is really family friendly around here with reasonable rent and house prices. It apparently has the largest population of under 5's in Victoria!

I definately think that with your experience you should both be looking at equivalent jobs here, doubt you would have any problem at all. I met someone who had been out of social work for a few years after the kids and got work no problem. With CP work I would imagine those jobs would need you to be registered with the AASW as you would be looking at department of human services, but I guess you could look at that once you are here. There are plenty of jobs that don't require any registration, just quals and experience and alot seem to be with 'not for profit organisations'. There seems to be a lot of work around.

Just thought, your OH could also look directly at the health authority websites too for work if he has CMHT experience. My OH is a psych nurse and he says that community jobs are often around, for nurses or social workers. A few I can think of are Southern Health, Peninsula Health, Melbourne Heatlh. I think maybe Sunshine Health on the west? (or something like that!). Some of them will recruit before you arrive and have facilities to send in your CV as expression of interest via the websites. Thats what we did and OH had job waiting for him. We were sponsored, but shouldn't make any difference to the process, one less thing for them to do if you already have, or have applied for, a visa! Might be worth keeping an eye out on the websites.

When you come on your trip you are more than welcome to meet up with us if you fancy it!

Sarah x

[The Whalley Rangers]

Hello Sarah,

It would be great to meet up when we get there...but first let me bow to you and bask in your greatness....THREE children under THREE!!!! And TWINS! I find it hard with two under two! Theres another thread somewhere on this site about people with twins.

Good idea about getting the job sorted before we go. I think Tom thinks he can have a break and have time to settle in when we get there. We shall see about that!

Im going to try to PM you with my email details. Have not done it before but will give it a go. I don't know why I keep on harping on about a laptop in the salary packaging schemes because I won't know what to do with it if I do get one!

Julie

[teammitchell]

Hi

has anyone applied to for social work sills assesment without having a degree? If so, how is that progressing?

thanks

leeann

[peppapig]

EXACTLY - 3 children under 3. Why do you think i'm going back to work?!

OH's job was very kind, they didn't give him a start date until we had been here 4 weeks, we had time to settle in a bit, find a rental and move in, buy a car, furniture etc, then is was back to work to earn some much needed cash after all that expenditure! To be honest, I think he started to get a bit bored not working.

Oh, on the salary packaging stuff, a couple of companies that manage the schemes are macmillan shakespeare and access pay. If you do a search for their websites the info will prob be clearer than my explanation, still trying to get my head round it!

teammitchell - I think you can apply for a skills assessment for welfare work with AIWCW without a relevant qualification. You have to prove your competency in lots of different areas. When I looked at it it seemed to be an awful lot of work and I really couldn't be bothered to do it. Might be worth a look at their website, the list of competencies is on there and the types of evidence they require.

Sarah x

[kathypdickinson]

HIYA
This is my first time on here and I, my husband and two sons are hoping to immigrate to Queensland, Bunderburg area.
I have recently applied through AASW for my qualification assessment. I have a Degree in Social work and community studies and four years experience in CP. After enquiring I was sent a brief email stating that the assessment is not positive. I am still waiting for the complete assessment to be sent back. I understand that it will also be forwarded to AIWCW and will be advised on bridging courses. Does anyone know what is entailed re bridging?
Kathy