What core skills do I need to work in social care?

Every role in social care will require you have a certain set of skills.
Some of these will be specific to the job you are applying for. However, there are
some skills that all social care workers need; these are called core skills.

Core skills include:

• English skills (the ability to read, write, speak and listen)
• Number skills (the ability to do calculations, record numbers, understand measurements, and use timetables and plan work)
• Digital skills (the ability to find and manage digital information, share personal data digitally, use digital technology with people using services and make use of e-learning)
• Employability skills (including teamwork, problem-solving, planning own learning and development and managing own health and wellbeing)

You might also recognise these as ‘transferable’ or ‘life’ skills.

The skills for care guide will:

• Outline what core skills you need to work in social care
• Give you practical examples of how you might use these skills in your day to
  day role
• Ask you to reflect on how you already use these skills, including writing an
  answer to a mock interview question using the STAR method
• Give you practical ideas and examples to help you develop your core skills.

The skills for care guide will detail which areas of social care work each of the above core skills can be applied to. In addition, for each core skill, it will give you prompts to where you may have already used these skills, describe how to optimally present these skills and give you tips for how to further develop these skills.

Demonstrating your core skills

You might not have experience of working in a social care role, but you might have
lots of other experience that demonstrate that you have these skills. You could draw
on experiences from:

• A hobby
• Volunteering or work experience
• Your home life
• A previous job (part-time or full-time)
• Everyday living.

The guide will describe to you how to collate and build upon these experiences to optimally present yourself and demonstrate your suitability for a role in social care.

Download the guide by clicking here