Social work in Australia

[Clkielty]

Hi folks, my first post so please be kind.

 

I'm looking to make the move from Northern Ireland to Australia, I graduated in July 2015 and primarily my experience is in Children's residential but will be moving to Family intervention in the next few weeks. From some online research I see that as my course was three years instead of four I would need to have three years post qualifying experience, is this the case?

 

I'm also not sure of which area of Australia I would be interested in moving to, main focus is to go where the jobs are! So any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Initally I would like to go out on a working holiday visa to see if I like it or not, however is it possible to get a social work job on a WHV or even a social care job or would it be necessary to apply for a residents visa? According to the online residency points calculator I should be applicable at the minute for residency but am not sure about how sponsorship works as there's seems to be a lot of mixed messages.

 

Im also curious if people had jobs or interviews lined up before they went or just applied when they arrived.

 

Apologises for the long post, any information you have would be a great help! Thanks in advance!

[deryans]

Hi folks, my first post so please be kind.

 

I'm looking to make the move from Northern Ireland to Australia, I graduated in July 2015 and primarily my experience is in Children's residential but will be moving to Family intervention in the next few weeks. From some online research I see that as my course was three years instead of four I would need to have three years post qualifying experience, is this the case?

 

I'm also not sure of which area of Australia I would be interested in moving to, main focus is to go where the jobs are! So any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Initally I would like to go out on a working holiday visa to see if I like it or not, however is it possible to get a social work job on a WHV or even a social care job or would it be necessary to apply for a residents visa? According to the online residency points calculator I should be applicable at the minute for residency but am not sure about how sponsorship works as there's seems to be a lot of mixed messages.

 

Im also curious if people had jobs or interviews lined up before they went or just applied when they arrived.

 

Apologises for the long post, any information you have would be a great help! Thanks in advance!

 

 

Sadly social work is a growing area, particularly in the lower socio-economic areas, Western Sydney has a central DOCS (department of community services) in Liverpool which is where the 1st response call centre and where assessment is, various offices around , Ashfield in western sydney has the HQ and aboriginal unit, but these are also spread around.

 

You should get work quickly as a basic entry level social worker (office based) fairly quickly , especially if you are qualified, Sydney LSAs' (local services areas) could not find enough resource when I worked with them, the LSA's are broadly aligned 1:1 with the municipal councils except rural where they are consolidated, you might find assessment visits and pre-assessment visits are limited because you are not permie and on a working holiday, but then again, you may be thrown straight int the deep end at the three mac's (a notorious area) in western sydney. this can be tough if you're not used to it.

 

I admire you for your choice, it's not something everyone wants or can indeed do, there have been some very high profile (what else I hear you say) failures of leadership in child protection in NSW and recently in SA, some of it is just well, depressing.

 

Docs sydney : http://www.community.nsw.gov.au

 

DECD south Australia: https://www.decd.sa.gov.au

 

both these organisations are media shy (for good reason) and sensitive, DECD has just had child protection taken off it and placed into separate entity.

 

Can't comment any more but you'll have an embarrassment of riches to choose from, such is modern society.

 

ah, and you'll need working with children and a separate police clearance expected times vary, but:

 

Police in NSW took about a week, SA was almost next day, education clearance in NSW was about a week and in SA took almost 3 months!!!!!! go figure

[kmrg]

Hi Clkielty

 

I was recently over in Melbourne and spoke to two agencies there, Tradewind and McArthur both said that they employ people who are on a WHV and it appears there is lots of short term work available in both children's and adult services.

 

I think there are still some sponsorship opportunities available but these will only really be for experienced child protection social workers who are always in short supply.

 

Regarding the need for three years post qualifying experience I would recommend that you email the Australian Association of Social workers direct to check this, I found them quite responsive when I had questions.

 

If you are eligible for a WHV then I would suggest that you go over on that initially, as you will be able to gain Australian social work experience which could be useful if you later apply for a permanent residence visa.

 

Good luck