Preparing for your Social Work interview day at ARU

So, you’ve worked hard to get the results you need to meet the requirements for the Social Work degree, you’ve smashed out an awesome personal statement and made it to interview for the Social work degree at ARU, what should you expect? how do you prepare? What will the interview be like? Here I will try to answer some of these questions for you.

When I did my interview for the course, it was before the pandemic, but I am sure the key elements are still the same, albeit online right now.

Your interview is held over one day and consists of a few different elements.

Firstly, you’ll be introduced to some of the lecturers who teach the course, don’t panic, they are really lovely and not scary at all, from the first time you meet them, what will hit you most is how passionate they are about Social Work, but also how passionate they are about wanting you to do well. Then you will also be introduced to the SUCI, this acronym stands for Service User and Carer Involvement team, an inspiring group of people who have all had experience with social care in some way.

The interview itself is split up into 3 components:

The written task

You’ll be given an article or case study and will be asked to answer some questions on, this is a timed activity where you’ll have the chance to show case what you know and demonstrate your writing skills. What you write gets taken away to be marked by an academic.

The group activity

For our group activity we were given a video clip to watch and then discussed the clip in a small group of 6 or 7. There will be a lecturer and SUCI member making notes. It’s important here to both contribute to the activity and also be a respectful active listener. It’s your chance to demonstrate some of the practical skills that would be needed when you become a Social Worker.

The individual interview

The individual interview is carried out by a panel of 3 people, usually a lecturer, a SUCI member and a representative from one of the partners to the course for example someone from social care in Essex County council. You’ll be asked questions about your experiences as well as being asked to reflect on your own performance in the group task.

You’ll find out if you are successful a short time after the interview, they’ll usually tell you when to expect to find out, and I also emailed for feedback about my performance as I wanted to reflect on what I could have done better!

So how can you prepare?

There are some good resources online to help you prepare for your interview, having a good knowledge of Social Work England’s Professional Standards and BASW (British Association of Social Workers) code of ethics and PCFs’ (Professional Capabilities Framework) will help you to know what the interviewers are looking for, as well as what will be expected from you when you actually take the course. Being up to date with current affairs in Social Work would also be a good move, you could look at Community Care website, the news and again BASW.

Most importantly, try to just work on relaxing and being yourself. Interviewing for the course and starting is such an exciting journey to be on! Enjoy and Good luck!