With lots of different roles and plenty of opportunities to progress, social care is a great choice for people who are thinking about their career. The adult social care sector will need up to 520,000 more workers by 2035 to meet growing demand for care and support.
We have lots of information and resources to help teachers, careers and employment advisors promote social care as a positive career choice. Read our short leaflet of support or scroll down to find out more.
Even if someone has never worked in adult social care before, they may have transferable skills that would make them an excellent care worker. These could come from working in other industries or from their personal life. One of the great things about adult social care is that as long as someone has the right core values, most employers will provide development opportunities to enable people to put their transferable skills into action. Below are some examples of where people have done just that.
Presentation: Care Careers – Choosing care as a career
This is a presentation that can be used to share with anyone that may be interested in knowing more about working in adult social care. It will explicitly address some of the myths that prevail about the incentives and conditions of working in the sector. It will also give an outline to the career and development opportunities available along with some resources for people to further explore.
⇨ Download the presentation.
Video: Working in care… a rewarding and valued career
This short video provides an introduction into what adult social care is and why it’s such an important job. It looks at where you could work and who you could be working with and highlights why people love working in care.
Useful links from the video:
Video: Working in care - what's it really like?...
This short video challenges some of the common myths and assumptions you might have heard about working in care. It looks at career journeys and pathways, how to apply for jobs and the many benefits of working in adult social care.
Useful links from the video:
Video: What to expect with distance recruitment in adult social care
This short video to help people applying for jobs in the sector know what to expect where distance recruitment is being used. It includes the different technologies that might be used, how to keep your information safe and help to prepare for a virtual interview.
Useful links referenced in the video:
Keeping you and your data safe:
Preparing for a virtual interview:
During the interview:
Further help:
Case studies: transferable skills from other sectors
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic many people have been made redundant or our facing redundancy and perhaps have never considered a career in social care.
We’ve collated a selection of examples to show how people have utilised skills learnt working in another sector and successfully applied them to roles in the adult social care sector.
⇨ Read the case studies
Leaflets and posters
We have a range of leaflets and posters that can be downloaded to help you promote careers in social care.
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Make a difference: work in social care is a great overview leaflet that explains what social care is, why choose a career in social care, the different jobs you could do and has a short quiz to check you have the right skills and values for the sector.
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Job roles in social care booklet tells you more about the different roles you could do in social care.
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Routeways into adult social care explains how you can start your career in care, for example through a traineeship or apprenticeship, including case studies.
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Routeways into adult social care is a poster that explains how people can start their career in adult social care, if they don't quite have the skills and knowledge to apply for a job yet.
Labour market intelligence and workforce data
Our Size and structure of the adult social care workforce report provides data about the workforce, including turnover rates and the projected number of jobs.
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The number of adult social care jobs in England as at 2019-20 was estimated at 1.65 million.
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The number of adult social care jobs increased by 1% (17,000 jobs) between 2018-19 and 2019-20.
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The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs was estimated at 1.16 million.
Request an I Care...Ambassador to do a careers talk or fair
I Care…Ambassadors are people who work in social care who also do careers activities such as talks, fairs and work placements. What makes them so special is that they’ve been there and done the job they’re promoting.
⇨ Search for a local ambassador
Our infographic shows the great work ambassadors do to inspire others to work in care. This includes an increase of 23% more young people and adults who are now more interested in a career in care, and 91% of people have a better idea of what it’s like to work in care after hearing from an ambassador.
We’ve also had great feedback from teachers and careers advisors who have used I Care…Ambassadors, 100% who requested an ambassador gave positive feedback about the events and activities.