In the 110th episode of the UK’s number 1 career podcast, I have a very special guest returning to the show after a gap of 5 years. An innovative graduate scheme which offers a fast-track route into the field of mental health social work, it is, of course, the brilliant Think Ahead scheme. In today’s show, we explore Think Ahead in detail, looking at what the scheme is and how it is the best fast-track route into a career in mental health social work. We cover what the role entails and what you will be doing on a day to day basis. We discuss what Think Ahead look for from candidates and how you can stand out in the application process. We go over hints and tips for impressing in each stage of the process, from the initial application, through to how to make an impact in the video interview and role play, and the secrets for performing well in the assessment centre. We also delve into why it is absolutely is crucial to focus on Think Ahead’s 7 values and your motivations for why you want a career in mental health social work. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of Think Ahead before, or not even considered a career in social work, this is an episode which you aren’t going to want to miss! As always, you can find a full transcript and links to everything we discuss, including Ivan’s top book recommendation which you need to be reading if you are applying to Think Ahead, which you can find in the show notes, which today are at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/thinkahead2.
Before we start today let me tell you about my brilliant step-by-step online course ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ which is LIVE!!!!! The members who have snapped it up are all doing brilliantly and loving the private member’s webinars and the course content spread over 8 modules, 23 video tutorials, 14 hours of content, and 20+ handouts. The value of the course can be seen that several have sailed through the application processes for the big graduate schemes and have their first assessment centres coming up in the next couple of weeks. As well as the course the private member’s Facebook is going down a storm, with members helping each other out and sharing the questions that they are facing for each application, which as you can imagine is invaluable! As one of the members said, ‘I just love having all of the information I need to get a graduate job in 1 place’. If you are serious about getting a graduate job, if you want to turbo-charge your job search for companies like Think Ahead, if you want to know in advance all the pitfalls and mistakes so that you don’t make them yourself, and if you want to know exactly what you need to do at each stage of the process to get on a graduate scheme, then head to howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up. It is an investment in yourself which will pay itself back many thousand times over when you get that graduate job of your dreams. So, go to www.howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up now! Right, on with the show.
MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
- What the Think Ahead scheme is and how it is the best fast-track route into a career in mental health social work
- What the role entails and what you will be doing on a day to day basis
- What Think Ahead look for from candidates and how you can stand out in the application process
- Hints and tips for impressing in the initial application
- How to make an impact in the video interview and role play
- Secrets for performing well in the assessment centre
- Why it is crucial to focus on Think Ahead’s 7 values
SELECTED LINKS INCLUDE:
- Check out the ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ step-by-step online course at https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/
- Don’t even think about applying for graduate jobs until you’ve read my free guide, ‘The 5 steps you must take before applying for graduate jobs’. Click here NOW. It will completely change the way you apply for jobs!
- Would you like a free 30-minute video coaching call? Simply select a time that works here https://calendly.com/gradjob/ We can go over your CV, application, or anything that you are struggling with.
- Interested in getting coaching help? Check out my coaching services HERE
- https://thinkahead.org/ – The link to find out more about the scheme
- Ivan’s top book recommendation! Mental Health, Race and Culture Suman Fernando. Read this to impress in your application. Click HERE to buy from Amazon and help support the show
- Ivan’s website recommendation – https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/
- Episode 32 – My first episode with Think Ahead.
Transcript – Episode 110: How to get a graduate job with Think Ahead
Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.
James Curran: Hello and welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each episode I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, graduate recruiters and career coaches who bring decades of experience into a byte size show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had when I graduated.
And a big hello to you today to the 110th episode of the UK’s number 1 career podcast, and I’ve got a special episode for you this week, returning to the show after a gap of 5 years, I have a brilliant graduate scheme which offers a fast-track route into the field of mental health social work, it is, of course, the brilliant Think Ahead scheme. Now the first episode with them remains my most popular episode to date, out of all 109, and I’m sure this one will be equally as popular. In today’s show, we explore Think Ahead in detail, looking at what the scheme is and how it is the best fast-track route into a career in mental health social work. We cover what the role entails and what you will be doing on a day to day basis. We discuss what Think Ahead look for from candidates and how you can stand out in the application process. We go over hints and tips for impressing in each stage of the process, from the initial application, through to how to make an impact in the video interview and role play, and the secrets for performing well in the assessment centre. We also delve into why it is absolutely is crucial to focus on Think Ahead’s 7 values and your motivations for why you want a career in mental health social work. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of Think Ahead before, or not even considered a career in social work, this is an episode which you aren’t going to want to miss! As always, you can find a full transcript and links to everything we discuss, including Ivan’s top book recommendation which you need to be reading if you are applying to Think Ahead, which you can find in the show notes, which today are at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/thinkahead2.
Before we start today let me tell you about my brilliant step-by-step online course ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ which is LIVE!!!!! The members who have snapped it up are all doing brilliantly and loving the private member’s webinars and the course content spread over 8 modules, 23 video tutorials, 14 hours of content, and 20+ handouts. The value of the course can be seen that several have sailed through the application processes for the big graduate schemes and have their first assessment centres coming up in the next couple of weeks. As well as the course the private member’s Facebook is going down a storm, with members helping each other out and sharing the questions that they are facing for each application, which as you can imagine is invaluable! As one of the members said, ‘I just love having all of the information I need to get a graduate job in 1 place’. If you are serious about getting a graduate job, if you want to turbo-charge your job search for companies like Think Ahead, if you want to know in advance all the pitfalls and mistakes so that you don’t make them yourself, and if you want to know exactly what you need to do at each stage of the process to get on a graduate scheme, then head to howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up. It is an investment in yourself which will pay itself back many thousand times over when you get that graduate job of your dreams. So, go to www.howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up now! Right, on with the show.
James Curran: I’m pleased to welcome, back to the show, program director for the brilliant graduate scheme, Think Ahead. Welcome back to the Graduate Job Podcast, Ivan Wise.
Ivan Wise: Hi, James. Thanks for having me.
James: Ivan, it’s been, can you believe, five years since you were on this show back in episode 32 where we discussed Think Ahead, and it remains one of my most popular episodes. Lots have changed over that period. For listeners who are coming across Think Ahead for the first time, do you want to share what exactly is it they do?
Ivan: Absolutely. I’m astonished it’s five years as well, but in that time, Think Ahead has really moved forward in a really pleasing, impactful way. What Think Ahead is, essentially, is a mental health social work training program. Lots of people around the country want to get into social work. They’ve seen all the changes that have happened in this country through Coronavirus, they’ve clapped for carers every week, and they want to be part of that change for our country.
But, traditionally it’s been quite hard to break into it. It’s been hard to get placements in mental health, it’s been hard to get places on social work courses. Think Ahead was really designed to support people who already studied before who wanted, after doing an undergraduate degree, to go into mental health social work where they can train in two years with a focus on adult mental health. They could get qualifications, they could get paid to train, and they could come out of it with the ability to start up a really interesting and impactful career in mental health social work.
James: Brilliant, and congratulations on the government funding, so £27 million over two years to expand the intake to the 160 people in each cohort, is that right?
Ivan: Yes, exactly right. What that means, really, is that we are now able to host participants in different parts of England. The funding is just for England, but will now be in all the different regions, will have more people taking advantage of our training every year over the next three years, which is just brilliant because it will mean that more people can take advantage of the opportunity and there’ll be more impact for service users across the country.
James: Amazing. That’s great news, and mental health is one of those things where you don’t quite realize just how much it touches on most people’s lives. I’m sure in every family, there’s people who have been impacted by mental health in different ways, so it’s great that Think Ahead are breaking down barriers and getting people into help the people who are most vulnerable in society.
Ivan: Yeah, exactly right, and what we’ve really found is there’s a real ground swell of interest in doing this sort of work. Lots of our applicants are from people who’ve done other jobs for a short period and have just found them not quite satisfying enough, and they really want to make an impact on others, and I think, in particular, people who, either from their own experience or in their families, have seen what the impact of mental health can be. They want to do something to give back, and they also really want to be part of the mental health challenge and being part of the solution to that because we know more people than ever are struggling with mental health difficulties. We know that services have been cut in lots of areas, and that continues to be a challenge, but there’s a real interest and desire to do something to support that, and we’re delighted, each year, that thousands of people are applying to join our program.
James: Brilliant, and I think an interesting word you used, satisfying, is people applying for lots of different graduate jobs out there, and I think when they might get them or be in them for a couple years, found out that they’re maybe not as satisfying as they’d hope to be, and I’m sure that’s not the case with Think Ahead. You’re making real practicable differences in people’s lives, which is, I’m sure, one of the reasons that people are applying in the thousands, as you mentioned.
Ivan: One of the important things is that social workers have got real authority and position to actually affect change. Lots of people are interested in trying to support people, but they don’t know quite the role to do it. The advantage of training to be a social worker is you can then undertake a role where you have a real position of authority, you work within a multi-disciplinary team where you’re working with other professionals such as psychiatrists and therapists. You have the ability to really affect change in people’s lives. You have the ability to work one-on-one with people from a variety of different backgrounds, and you have that authority within your role to link them up with those services, to act as their advocate, and to really do what you can to support change. The role of a social worker, we’re trying to do a lot to promote why we think it’s important because it is a crucial vehicle to affect change, which is what we all want to see.
James: The scheme has been going for — we spoke five years ago. Where are some of the people who maybe joined from the first cohort back in 2015, and what sort of roles have they progressed to?
Ivan: What happens over the two-year program is people get a huge amount of training in the academic and the placement side of mental health social work, and they also get leadership training as well. Participants then join our alumni program, so after they’re finished, the two years with Think Ahead, they then become involved in all the activities we use to support people through their careers afterwards. What we’ve been really pleased to see is lots of our alumni are remaining in mental health social work. Some of them are going into new roles.
There’s a role called “approved mental health professional”, which is a different role that people can do after they’ve graduated our program. Some people have gone into more service leadership type management roles, which is great news as well. Some of them have gone into different areas of social work as well. What I’ve been delighted to see is that lots of our alumni are staying within the Think Ahead network. We’re staying in touch with each other. We’re trying to support them in terms of contacts, in terms of training and development to support their careers. But, lots of them are staying within the mental health social work field and trying to, again, achieve that change by taking on new roles.
James: Excellent. That’s great news, and you’ve started Think Ahead, you have that practical hands-on experience on the ground, and then the skills it will take you through if you’re going into more policy-orientated work, or whatever it might be, you’ve got that knowledge, which is going to keep you in great stead for whatever aspect of social work you go to later in your career.
Ivan: That’s absolutely right, and one of the key things, we worked with Middlesex University, and Middlesex University provided the academic teaching for our program, and what Middlesex have really helped us to achieve with this program is allowing people the breadth of knowledge that they want from our program, but also support them to get a range of different experiences. On the Think Ahead program, in the first year, you did two adult mental health placement stages, so you’re getting a whole load of different experience with different types of mental health, different ages, different backgrounds, and you also do a children and families placement as well to get experience with that.
What our curriculum and our placements are enabling our participants to do is to get very broad experience of what they can achieve within the sector so when they then complete the program and graduate our program, they’ve got a huge range of skills and experience to draw on to decide what to do next. I’m delighted there’s so many hundreds of alumni now are using experience they’ve gained on the Think Ahead program to really support their career they do after that, and most of them, crucially, are staying within the field of social work.
James: Brilliant, that’s really good, and you talked earlier about the expansion additional government funding. Geographically then, now, which parts of England are you able to offer roles for people.
Ivan: We are in all regions, but in some regions only in certain areas. What this increase in funding will do is allow us to go much deeper into areas. There are certain areas of the country where we’re only in one of two towns, or in one city, and we’ve only got one unit of maybe four or five participants in the area. What this will allow us to do is deepen our presence. Every year, our NHS Trust and local authorities apply to work with us, and up to now, we haven’t always been able to take them all because we haven’t got enough places.
What’s brilliant about this expansion to 160 places per year is that we can say yes to more of the partner NHS Trust and local authorities to allow us to deepen our presence in those areas. Rather than just having a group of four or five participants, we might have two or three of those units, which will just obviously do a lot to increase the impact we have in those regions.
James: Excellent, and you mentioned about taking on people who had previous experience. Do you prefer to maybe take people with previous life experience who’ve maybe had start-off with a career, done some things, and then actually realized that Think Ahead is where they want to be, or are you still happy taking people straight out of university?
Ivan: I think we’ve learnt a lot since we last spoke five years ago. Think Ahead has always been badged as a “graduate program”, but that doesn’t mean it’s simply for people who have just left their undergraduate degree. It means it’s for people who are graduates. The majority of the people who make up our applicants and of the people who make up our participants are people who have actually been out of university for a few years. They’ve done other jobs, maybe within the social care sector, maybe within the charity sector or something often very different. We’ve had people who have come to us having studied accounting, for instance. But, often that people have done other jobs for a period and found something lacking in that role.
Some of our participants do come straight from university as well, but the way we select people is very much according to our seven attributes. We talk about this on the website. We are always looking at certain particular attributes of things like motivation from mental health social work, how much does this person really understand and wants to do this particular role, problem solving, how good will they be if they’re confronted with a series of different and difficult situations. How do they deal with unpacking that? Leadership, how influential will they be over colleagues and people they work with?
We’re looking, fundamentally, at those core skills, and obviously, people can develop those through the jobs they’ve done, and a number of our participants each year have worked within mental health broadly, but a number of them haven’t, and so we don’t have a particular preference. We’re looking for very broad-based, we want people from a wide range of backgrounds, we want people who represent their communities in terms of their demographics, we want people who’ve been underrepresented in mental health social work before, we want more people who are non-white, we want more men applying as well. But fundamentally, we want people who’ve got those core skills. We don’t have a particular preference whether they’ve done lots of experience in the area. We just want you to be able to meet those criteria and those attributes and have a real fundamental passion for the work that we do.
James: My next question was about do you require people to have experience working, maybe, in mental health, or working for charities more generally, as part of their experience? I guess they just have to show their motivation in whatever way that might be.
Ivan: Exactly. It’s a fundamental difficulty. Lots of people I talk to who are considering social work, trying to get placement experience, trying to get work experience, it’s hard to do. We’ve always seen ourselves as an organization that provides opportunities to people who’ve not done it before exactly because when we began Think Ahead five years ago, a lot of the conversations we’ve had were people saying, “Look, I’m really interested to get involved. I just can’t get the experience.” It was a specific choice on our part to say, “Well actually, we do want to allow people to apply who’ve got no experience, provided we can feel confident that they meet those attributes.”
Clearly, if people do have experience and it’s related to the role, that will also be of benefit, but what we’ve always said is we’re not fundamentally closed to people who’ve not got experience. We’re looking for that raw talent and potential, and each year, a number of people who start our programme each July will do so having never worked within a community mental health team, having never worked in that sphere before. That’s okay, provided they can demonstrate they’ve got the ability to do it when the challenge arises.
James: Yeah, and if you are interested in applying, there’s lots of opportunities out in your community, I’m sure, to work with different charities where, of course, there will be aspects which touch upon mental health. As I said, it’s about showing that motivation in different ways, and it is possible to do, I’m sure, across all different areas of the UK that people find themselves in. Let’s maybe move on then, Ivan, to the application process. You mentioned you get people from all different broad areas applying, so accountant, et cetera. Are you agnostic, then, about the types of degree that people have?
Ivan: We are. It’s open to people who’ve studied any undergraduate degree, apart from social work. That’s the only one that they cant have done before. Clearly, there are certain subjects that are more likely to come up, so about a third of our applicants have done psychology. Quite understandably because people with an interest in mental health over many years may well have thought to do that before, but after that, you then look at the range of subjects that are represented in our applicants and our participants, and it’s essentially every subject you can imagine. On our program each year of just over 100 people, we have about 50 undergraduate subjects represented.
It is open to people who studied anything apart from social work, and broadly, we just don’t take that into account when we’re making our selection decisions. So, no what you studied before is not a key criteria for us.
James: 2:1, 2:2, is it a 2:2 criteria still?
Ivan: We expect people to have a 2:1\. There are circumstances where people can join the program without that, and there are specific circumstances that we go into on the website, but the general expected criterion is that people should have a 2:1 when they apply.
James: In terms of particular skills, so the scheme’s been going five years now, you’ve seen thousands of people go through the cohorts. Are there any particular skills that you think, really, that candidates have that really make them stand out once they start working for Think Ahead?
Ivan: I think the main thing is their ability to interrelate with services users. On our assessment, which is one of the, obviously, key bits of our application process, we put people in a room, or now in a Zoom room with an actor who’s playing the part of a service user, and we observe how the candidate interrelates with that person, and it’s really striking because, obviously, for some people, that’s a very difficult experience. It’s a type of situation they’ve never faced before, and some people find that really difficult. We also have a session where people interrelate with one of our service user and carer reference group where they talk to them a little bit about what it’s like having a social worker and from the service user point of view, and both those two examples really help us to understand what it is that makes the difference between somebody who’ll be great as a social worker and somebody who won’t.
Fundamentally, what it comes down to is their ability to be natural around people, their ability to empathize, their ability to be non-judgmental, and that is a very difficult skill that not all of us have, but those two particular aspects of the assessment really draw that out, and then that becomes very clear, then, when our participants join the program because that ability to empathize, be not judgmental, and to be natural and build relationships with people, however different they may be superficially to you is a fundamental skill to be a good social worker. Because, in the role, you can work with anyone and everyone from all backgrounds, from all walks of life. If you have that ability to connect quickly and build trust, and speak to that person as another human being in a non-judgmental way, then they will trust you, they will begin to form a relationship with you, and they’ll open up to you, and probably they’ll cooperate.
But, if you don’t have that skill, then the role obviously becomes significantly more difficult. That really is the thing that tips people into being able to do the role, and it makes an amazing difference for them.
James: Good advice there. Let’s maybe walk through the individual steps of the application process. What does the first stage look like with the online application?
Ivan: The first stage is people register, which is just a short form to give their personal information, and then there’s a situational judgment test, and your listeners will be familiar with these, lots of organizations have them. It’s a series of a dozen questions where people are asked questions about social work scenarios. Imagine you are a social worker, you go to the front door of a home, and you are confronted with this, what do you do? A, B, C, or D, and people have to use their judgment to decide what they think is the best and least good option to take.
The point of that exercise is really to get a sense for us, at an early stage, of whether people have the ability to understand the information being given to them and make what is a sensible decision based on that. There’s a dozen of those. People do them in one sitting of about 45 minutes or so, and then they come to their conclusions over each one, and then they submit their answers. That exercise gives people information about what the role would be like, so hopefully it helps to encourage them, “Is this the right role for me?” and from our side, it helps us to understand are they making the right choices in those situations?
James: Any advice apart from, “Be authentic and make sure candidates know the seven values on your website”?
Ivan: The situation judgment test, the main thing is really just to use your common sense, to use your judgment based on everything you’ve understood and read about what social work values. The PCF, or the professional capabilities framework, really outlines some of the key things that we’re looking for from social workers, generally within the sector, and that will help support people as they go through that process.
James: Excellent, and if people make it through past the situational judgment test, what can they expect next?
Ivan: There’s then an application form, and like all application forms, it’s really trying to understand your motivations as an individual. There’s a series of questions in there, mostly written, but a couple of video questions as well where they’re making a short video in answer, and they’re all linked back to the attributes that I mentioned earlier, and really trying to get a sense of you, what your skills and experience are, and how you’re relating that onto Think Ahead. You write a couple hundred words for each of the written answers and two-minute videos for the video ones, and we are 100% scoring those against those attributes. What we’re looking for is people who really understand the role. What we’re looking for is people who can clearly make the link between what they have done before, whatever that might be, and what the role is next, and people who have actually taken some time to come up with several different, perhaps, interesting examples.
The key mistakes that people make at this stage is maybe they didn’t write very much, so they write kind of short answers, they reuse the same examples again and again, they use examples that are maybe quite hackneyed or clichéd. When they’re asked about their experience about building relationships with vulnerable people, they only talk about maybe friends or people they know. That’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for how you engage people who you don’t know, and they often reuse the same examples. The best examples of applications are people who really link back their own experience and skills to the role, people who have a clear narrative and show they really understand what the role is, and people are using several different examples that really demonstrate their breadth.
James: Excellent, lots of good hints and tips there for listeners to stand out. Definitely take Ivan’s advice on board there. The same with the video questions, any tips there for standing out when they have to record their two-minute videos?
Ivan: It’s a bit that everybody worries about, and I understand because, obviously, people can feel quite vulnerable in front of a camera. The main advice we always give is, firstly, please don’t worry about what you look like or what your background is. That’s really not what we’re looking at. What we’re looking at is your ability to speak and present yourself in a way that we would then understand how you would do that in front of a service user, in front of your colleagues and your social work team. We’re looking for people to be measured in their response to be articulate, to make a clear argument, but to show that empathy and sense of proportion as well.
The key thing is that you’re just explaining very clearly what you think and you’re articulating yourself as well as possible. The video is a chance for us to get a sneak preview of what it would be like to interview you. Approach the video as a very mini interview where it’s a one-way process, it’s just you talking, and you won’t go far wrong. It’s certainly the bit that people worry about the most, but as a proportion of the whole scoring, it’s actually not that significant. I would really encourage people not to overthink it, just to be themselves, and to treat it like a short interview and present themselves as clearly as they can.
James: After this stage, is it the assessment centre next?
Ivan: Yeah, so if you’re successful with the application, you’re invited to the group assessment. It’s a five-activity assessment. When we were running them in a physical location, we would get people together, and there’d be a chance for them to talk to each other. Since March, obviously, these have all taken place remotely, but the structure of the assessment is still the same. Across those five activities, we are, again, assessing people against our seven attributes. I mentioned the role-play earlier and the meeting with our service user. There’s also a reflection exercise, a group activity, and there is also an interview as well.
Across all those areas, we’re looking for these fundamental things. Does this person understand the role, are they really passionate about not only starting it, but actually completing the two years with Think Ahead and then hopefully going onto a career in the sector? Do they understand the interests of people around them? Are they sensitive to other people’s differences to them and their differences to those other people? Are they going to work well both with their colleagues and service users? Are they aware of some of the kind of key aspects of the role so they’re advocating for other people, they’re making decisions which will affect people’s lives, they’re working inter-disciplinary, so not just with other colleagues in the mental health team, but with services like the police, the legal system with benefits office. Are they demonstrating their ability to do that, are they able to work with people who are different to them without forming judgments? Are they tolerant, are they friendly, are they upbeat, are they a good listener? These are all the things that we’re looking out for at the assessment.
James: I saw you break down some of the constituent parts there. The group exercise, which is always difficult enough face to face, but over Zoom or video must add additional challenges. Any advice for candidates on how to stand out with it being remote?
Ivan: It is a slightly different experience, and I think the main thing I would say to people is be aware that your assessors have slightly less to go on than normal, because the normal times, you can see a range of body language and visible physical cues. That’s obviously limited when you’re reduced to a size of a screen. I think it’s just about being aware that you need to focus your assessor’s attention on what they can physically see. I think that just takes a slightly different technique because they won’t be able to pick up lots of other aspects of your behaviour because they’re not there in the room with you. I think we all instinctively know that now. We’ve all had enough Zoom calls with friends and family over the course of this year. We all, I think, understand now how virtual conversations and interactions are different in certain key ways to physical ones, and I think it’s just taking that learning that we’ve all got from our own social lives and family lives and applying that to the job market.
As I said, the content of the questions and the activities are pretty much as they were before. We’ve not really had to change those. It’s just being aware that you, as an applicant, as a candidate of the assessment, not everything that you did in the physical world will be visible and obvious. It’s about just being aware of that, and therefore making sure that all your impact comes across in that small rectangle that you’re being assessed over.
James: Good advice there. We touched upon the role-play earlier. In terms, then, of the interview, what are the best ways that candidates can stand out in the final interview stage at the assessment centre?
Ivan: The aim of the interview, 100% is really trying to understand whether this individual is clear about what the role involves and can show that they are right for it. We’re obviously looking for people who will come across well in tutorials, so when they’re meeting with their teachers, they’ll be able to explain and understand things, they’ll be able to articulate things. We’re looking for people who’ve got a level of humility, who are able to take on feedback, who are able to learn and don’t think, necessarily, that they know all the answers. We’re looking for people who are curious, who want to know more about the world, who want to have a real desire to help people and support them.
We’re looking for people who aren’t fazed by pressure. If you talk to anyone in social work, a big part of the job is handling difficult, sometimes crisis situations, under pressure. We’re looking for level of calmness and ability to respond quickly, but not in a panicking kind of way. We’re also looking for people who are going to be applicants, so we’re looking for people who can be role models who can stand up for the rights of service users, who can support people who’ve been oppressed and ignored by society, who can help people who no one else is helping who’ve got the desire and ambition for change in society that they want to stand up for people who no one else has stood up for.
That’s some of the things that really come across in interviews with successful candidates, that ability to project those things. But, like any interview, what you’re looking for from the interviewer’s point of view is, “Can I imagine working with this person? Are they going to be a good advert for my organization and the sector that I work in?”
James: Excellent, lots of good advice there, listeners. Final question then, Ivan, because time is unfortunately running away with us. What would you say to someone who’s in two minds about whether they should apply to Think Ahead? What would you say to convince them?
Ivan: I think the first thing I’d say is you need to be convinced yourself that this is something you really want to do. Mental health social work is not right for everyone. There is a real set of skills and attributes that you need to do the job well. You need to care about other people, you need to be able to focus on their interests rather than yours, you need to be confident and able to work with other people in often quite difficult and quite tough circumstances.
But, I think if you believe that about yourself, then social work is a great way to bring about change. I think if you feel that it’s unjust that so many people suffer from mental health difficulties, if you feel that it’s wrong that so many people across society don’t get the help they need, then this role is the perfect way to try and do something about that, to be an advocate for people who are not able to advocate for themselves, and to try and bring about a better life for them.
I would encourage people to do it because Think Ahead is a great two-year program to give you the support and training you need to be a really accomplished mental health social worker with great teaching from Middlesex University, qualifications in, postgraduate diploma, and a master’s in social work, and leadership training as well. That package is going to really, really help your career and going to make you a brilliant mental health social worker. To me, that’s the reason to do it.
James: Excellent. That’s a lovely point for us to finish the main part of the interview on. Listeners, have a listen again back to the episode. There’s so much advice there to help you through the application process and to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. You’ll be able to find a full transcript of today over in the show notes at graduatejobpodcast.com/thinkahead2\. Let’s move onto the weekly staple questions then, Ivan. Question number 1, what one book would you point listeners to? Is there one book that’s going to impress if listeners name-drop it through the application process? Is there a required reading for Think Ahead?
Ivan: Well, there’s no required reading. A book that I’ve started looking at because he was involved in our teaching is “Mental Health, Race, and Culture” by Suman Fernando. Essentially, this is looking at an issue that’s obviously been hugely in the limelight this year, which is about different models of handling mental health difficulties and some of the accusations that way of teaching may be construed racist, or offensive, or otherwise wrong. What the book is trying to do is really look at different issues around how societies deal with mental health and stigma, and how they deal with it for people of different ethnic backgrounds, and trying to look at where the mistakes have been made, where the injustices are, and where some of the ways of handling mental health issues have been structurally and systemically wrong from the beginning. I’ve only recently started reading the book, but it’s just an interesting introduction to some of the key issues our participants as mental health social workers are going to face, and it’s obviously a crucial text at this time at the heightened awareness of some of the injustices that go on around the world.
James: That will be linked to in the show notes, so listeners, if you’re thinking of applying to Think Ahead, it sounds like a really good book to read. Next question, Ivan, what one website or internet resource would you point listeners towards?
Ivan: One thing I have found really helpful is the King’s Fund. On the King’s Fund, there’s lots of papers about facts and figures about adult social care, about some of the workforce challenges, things around the priorities for the health and care sector of the coming years. I think anybody looking to apply to Think Ahead and join the social care workforce needs to be aware of some of the structural issues going on, and the King’s Fund website has got lots of articles that handle some of those and summarize it in a really clear way.
James: Excellent, and again, I will link to that in the show notes.
Ivan: Final question, then today. What tip would you give listeners that they could implement today on their job search?
Ivan: I think the most important thing is to ask yourself, “What do I want from my job?” When we ask our participants those question, the people who’ve been successful, what they fundamentally want is to help people who are oppressed, or ignored by society, or can’t help themselves, and they want to bring about societal and system change. I think if those are the things that you want from your career, if it’s not financial incentives that’s your primary interest or it’s not your own self-glorification, but it is supporting other people who are oppressed, trying to be their advocate and guide through many of the ordeals that they have and will face, if that’s what fundamentally drives you, that’s the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, that ability to help other people who are disadvantaged by their mental health conditions, to me, that then answers the question. But, asking yourself, “What do I fundamentally want?” is the first way to understand whether mental health social work is right for you.
James: Excellent. Ivan, thank you so much for appearing on the Graduate Job Podcast. What’s the best way that people can get in touch with you and also Think Ahead?
Ivan: All the information is on our website at thinkahead.org.
James: Perfect. Thank you for joining us again on the show.
Ivan: Thanks very much.
James: Thank you very much again to Ivan for his time and insight today. What is there not to like about Think Ahead, a 2-year fast track scheme where you will get an amazing experience, get a master’s in social work, and be doing a job which will be helping people every day. Everyone is a winner! Get yourself over to the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/thinkahead2 where you can download the transcript and find the links to everything we discussed including Ivan’s book recommendation which will help you stand out through the application process. Think Ahead is an amazing scheme, and as such, it’s a competitive scheme, so make sure that you are giving yourself the best possible chance of success and let me help you with coaching through the application process. My coaching is entirely flexible so we will work on whatever you need, it to be, be it a 1 off session to get you ready for the video interview, or a block of sessions to help with crafting your answers for the written questions, through to preparation for the assessment centre so that you can walk in confident that you will perform at your best. You only get one shot each year to apply, so if Think Ahead is the scheme for you, invest in yourself, take action, and get expert coaching so you can be one of the new cohort. I offer a completely free 30-minute coaching session with me where we can go over your applications, or do mock interview practice, or whatever you want to focus on. It’s completely free, so take advantage of it, again, find the details in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/thinkahead2. Join me next week where I have Computacenter on the show discussing the graduate schemes that they have available. It’s a goodie. I hope you enjoyed the episode today, but more importantly; I hope you use it and apply it. See you next week.