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Recruitment insights - Mandatory minimum qualifications

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Minimum qualification equivalency principles, in recommendation 209

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line up with many many elements of the Bachelor of Social Work, but they

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were actually developed to ensure there's flexibility for recruiting specialist

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Family Violence practitioners with a diverse range of qualifications.

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When you're referring to qualifications in job advertisements, you should make it very clear to

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candidates without a Bachelor of Social Work that they may still meet the minimum qualifications

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equivalency based on other qualifications, and shouldn't be discouraged from applying

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and that those who don't have an equivalent may be eligible to be employed as long as

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they're still willing to work towards an equivalency within a particular

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time period. So keep that language around qualifications encouraging.

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In terms of actually mapping equivalencies of those candidates who

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don't have that bachelor, or a Masters of Social Work, Family Safety Victoria have created an

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Organisational toolkit and that Toolkit includes an equivalency principle self-assessment tool.

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I would really recommend you take advantage of this and then request candidates to fill it in

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so you can see how aligned their qualifications are to those equivalency principles. This could

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be done at that stage two process of your recruitment so that it's less daunting and

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gives them a bit of encouragement that they perhaps might be shortlisted at this point

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and you know they're not feeling like they have to address everything right up front.

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I would say some of the best practitioners I've worked with over the years have been people who have not come up through

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bachelor degrees and a place of privilege, they have known

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real struggle, they've got lived experience and they've fought hard to get into the industry

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and do the work that they're very very passionate about. I don't think you can replicate that kind of

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passion and dedication, so I think that there's a lot to be said for people who might not meet it on

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paper and certainly any of the pre-screening and you know paying particular attention to interview

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questions that allow I guess, conversations to flow from why people are motivated to apply

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for the position.

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I'd say you will get a rich pool of candidates if you stayed up front that

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you'll consider those candidates who have related degrees or five years of relevant professional

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experience or those who have cultural knowledge or lived experience and are willing to work to

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work towards the relevant qualification, and also we're suggesting that interested candidates who

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don't know if they fit the criteria or don't have a Bachelor of Social Work to contact the

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recruiter and ask and just have a discussion about their qualifications and that you could

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provide them with a self-assessment tool so they can see where they stand.

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