Social care recruiters ‘should learn from commercial sector’

Nick Elvin

Recruiters in the social care field must borrow attraction strategies from the commercial sector to avoid further skills shortages.

That’s according to social work and healthcare recruitment consultancy Medicare First, which says a number of areas of social care are suffering from intense skills shortages at managerial level with very few available specialists on the ground.

Areas such as mother and baby interventions are especially affected, with mid-level managerial roles the most difficult for social care bodies and organisations to fill.

Consequently, the company believes that the commercial sector is the place to look for guidance on recruiting and retaining the best talent.

Andrew Anastasiou, managing director of Medicare First, said: “It won’t come as a shock to many people that the social care arena is one of many to be suffering from mid-level managerial shortages.

“One area that has been affected particularly severely is mother and baby interventions. This is a relatively new field and there simply aren’t enough specialists in the market with the right technical and, crucially, soft skills to meet the demand. This has led to a state of affairs where the best social workers are perpetually sought after and there’s significant competition to secure their services.

“The most effective way to tackle the issue is to recognise and borrow some elements of best recruitment practice from commerce and industry. It goes without saying that the social care arena is vastly different from the private sector and the skills required are also very different, but they can learn some valuable lessons.

“Commercial sector firms are becoming increasingly adept at identifying talent early on, before they need them, and engaging with them either through face to face interactions or platforms like social media, and this is certainly one approach that social care should look to emulate.

“Obviously social carers still need to have compassionate understanding and empathy, but borrowing these types of techniques could ultimately help to solve some of the many hiring issues that social care firms and bodies are facing.”