Social care

People in the social care profession work with individuals and families to improve day-to-day living and long-term outcomes. They provide care, protection and support to ensure that the client gets the help from the services they need.

If you're passionate about helping others, empowering people and helping them to progress through difficult situations in their lives, then a career in social care could be right for you.

Typical graduate-level jobs in this sector include: 

  • adult guidance worker
  • child psychotherapist
  • cognitive behavioural therapist
  • counselling psychologist
  • social worker.

Key skills that are useful in this sector include: 

  • the ability to relate to people of all ages and backgrounds and gain their trust
  • tact, patience, and empathy
  • resilience for coping with difficult situations and challenging cases
  • a non-judgemental attitude
  • a practical and flexible approach to work.

For job profiles and detailed information on pursuing a career in this sector, see the Prospects website: 

Social care profile

Contents

How to get a job

To prepare for a graduate-level career in social care, you should research the sector carefully. You should also talk with people who are in the sector already.

Make a connection

To connect with people already working in the sector, consider joining Saint Connect, the University of St Andrews’ exclusive, global, online community for networking and career mentoring.

See more ideas for making a connection.

Work experience

Relevant work experience is essential for many roles in social care. It is also typically required for any postgraduate course - some universities specify a minimum amount of time to be spent gaining experience.

Due to the sensitive nature of the work involved, few formal internships exist in this sector. It is therefore worth considering making speculative applications to find opportunities. For example:

  • Get in touch with your local authority to ask for work experience or to work shadow.
  • Contact schools in the area, especially special needs schools, and ask whether there is a possibility that you could carry out work experience.

You could also consider doing voluntary work to gain relevant experience:

  • Do It is a useful resource for finding voluntary opportunities in general, while Fife Voluntary Action offers the same within Fife
  • Include Me offers citizen advocacy volunteering opportunities in north-east Fife.
  • Over the Wall has volunteer opportunities to work in summer schools for children with special needs.
  • Revitalise has respite programmes with volunteer opportunities to reach families and individuals with additional needs.

Other work experience opportunities:

  • Frontline offers a variety of work experience opportunities, including insight days and brand manager positions.
  • Think Ahead has opportunities for current students as campus recruitment ambassadors, and for students and graduates as summer interns.
  • Skills for Care has opportunities in private care homes for paid work in a residential home or day centre.

There are also opportunities available directly with charities, such as:

Find internships (Careers Centre)

Attend events

The Careers Centre often puts on events where you can talk to employers visiting St Andrews. Visit the events page for more information.

Further study

Many roles in this sector require a postgraduate qualification (for example, educational psychologist, social worker, or counsellor). For details of the qualifications you may require, you should carefully research the roles you are interested in:

Finding a job

Check out our job listings for vacancies or see the resources below for jobs in the social care sector.

Find jobs (Careers Centre)

Jobs in the UK

Graduate training schemes

A graduate training scheme is a paid, entry-level job that also acts as a training programme. See social work graduate training schemes such as:

Jobs outside the UK

Applying for a job

The recruitment process for careers in social care will depend on the role and the employer. See:

If you would like personalised help on any aspect of applying for a job, you can book an appointment with a careers adviser.  

Applying for a job

Additional resources