Your Social Work interview will take place online through Microsoft Teams. As your interview is online, we highly recommend visiting us at an Open Day, Taster Day or Applicant Day to get to know the University.
Your interview will consist of a written task, questions and scenarios. We’ll be interested in your knowledge of the role of a social worker and your values.
Please note your interview may be recorded.
Below, you'll find some helpful information about your interview and some of the things we'll be discussing. Please take the time to read this; note that it applies to Social Work in Cambridge and Chelmsford only.
You'll need to be prepared with knowledge and an understanding of the role of a Social Worker. We recommend you look at websites such as Social Work England (SWE), British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and Point of entry to training | BASW.
When you graduate, you'll be eligible to apply for registration with SWE. As you’ll be working with people accessing services at a very vulnerable time in their lives from early on in your degree course, and throughout your career, you're expected to be aware of and uphold the SWE’s professional values and behaviours.
There’s no need to worry, all of our interviewers are relaxed, friendly and are looking forward to seeing your potential.
You are required to watch the following video before your interview date: Half a million more UK kids drop into poverty.
The first task of your interview process will be to complete a written exercise on this video at home and submit it by 5pm the day before your online interview.
Download instructions for the written exercise
Please submit your completed task to [email protected].
On the day of your interview, you will be asked about this written exercise, so please do read through your work again to ensure it is fresh in your mind.
Your online interview will be via Microsoft Teams. The link was included in the initial interview confirmation we sent, and on your Applicant Portal. Please contact [email protected] if you no longer have this information. Please note that all interviews are conducted at UK/GMT(Greenwich Mean time) therefore any time differences should be taken into consideration.
Please note: A camera, a microphone and ID are required to meet our interview regulations. If you don’t have access to these, we may have to reschedule your interview.
The day will include:
You’ll be notified via UCAS of the results of your interview within three working days.
You will need to upload copies of the qualifications and ID documents you have declared on your application, which must be done prior to the interview.
If your name is now different to that listed on your certificates, you must also provide proof of this, eg marriage certificate, deed poll.
Please note that once checked, if found not to be genuine, applicants will be immediately withdrawn and will not be able to reapply. All relevant authorities, funding bodies and professional bodies will be informed accordingly.
If you cannot find any of your certificates, we will check your Government Personal Learning Record (PLR) to verify these. The Personal Learning Record service is a permanent online record of your qualifications and achievements. It is held by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE).
If we are unable to verify your qualifications via the PLR and you do not have the certificates, you must apply for a replacement(s) immediately. Please note that this process can take more than six weeks and a charge is involved. It is your responsibility to ensure all this information is provided as Admissions will not follow this up for you.
Applicants should not send in original documents or copies via the post to Admissions as we are unable to collect or return these.
Above all, you need to be certain that this is the profession you want to join. Consider visiting us at an Open Day, if you haven't already. Then commit yourself to learning as much as you can before your interview day.