You may have heard of Frontline, England’s biggest social work charity. For the last six months Isabel Williams, a third-year Applied Social Sciences and Sociology student at the University of Sheffield, has been a Campus Brand Manager for Frontline. We chatted recently about her role, the charity, and social work generally.
The role
Although Isabel has been working with Frontline as a Campus Brand Manager for about six months, she applied around this time last year; she was given training from the period of being accepted until September when she started in the role.
The role is pretty varied, involving a lot of promotion both online and in person.
“On the day-to-day, my role entails posting on social media – LinkedIn, Instagram – about certain virtual career events that Frontline has got going on…I’ve also attended quite a few career events with my recruitment officer,” she said.
For example, she remembers a speed networking event that she did in February, representing Frontline in the event organised by the Department of Education at the University.
Another key part of the role is engaging with societies and departments at the university, promoting Frontline by getting coverage in departmental newsletters, for example. This has led to reaching a variety of audiences; Isabel said she got coverage in her own department’s newsletter but has also collaborated with other departments like Chemical Engineering.
“You wouldn’t typically assume that people who do Chemical Engineering would want to get into social work, but it’s just getting the word out there to as many people as possible.”
Isabel summarised the role as just getting the word out about Frontline, student and graduate opportunities with them, and what they can bring to students.
What opportunities does Frontline offer?
The main opportunity Frontline offer is the Frontline Programme, a two-year programme through which you earn (and are funded in) a master’s degree in ‘Advanced Relationship-Based Social Work Practice with Children and Families’ with Lancaster University, as well as gain experience in social worker in the field. The programme operates on a part-time work, part-time study basis.
“It’s beneficial in both ways in that sense, that you get a master’s that’s fully funded but you also get paid as you do it and you’re leaning hands-on,” Isabel said.
The programme is open to grads and also those looking to make a career change. You don’t need to have studied a specific degree at undergraduate level, in fact, the main requirement in this sense is that you haven’t studied social work previously as your previous degree – “any degree discipline, any university, it doesn’t matter.”
Frontline also offers a graduate internship for those interested not in the running of the charity. The charity also runs webinars and insight days, designed, to dispel myths and break stigma about the social work profession, as well as promoting diversity in the industry.
Isabel said: “What Frontline is trying to do is destigmatise social work, because there is a stigma – especially in schools, if you say to a friend that ‘the social worker came round’ or mention that you have a social worker, it raises alarm bells in people’s heads.”
There was recently a specific “dispelling the myths” campaign where a social worker sat down and talked candidly about the profession and about myths that were just that, myths. Insight Days are for those interested in going into social work, perhaps planning to apply to the Frontline programme; they give those interested an idea of social work, give them the chance to engage in situation-based role-playing, and sometimes feature professionals talking about their work. These insight days also promote diversity – they have one coming up, for example, designed just for ethnic minority applicants. Frontline is “trying to diversify the profession, get more men in the profession and people from minority professions,” Isabel said.
Information on opportunities for graduates and others interested is available on Frontlines website.
Isabel’s take on her role: does she recommend it?
Isabel sees the role as having benefited her in a variety of ways. For one, it has allowed her to better understand perceptions of the social work system that must be battled against, the stigmatisation noted above: “It’s really opened my eyes to the complexities of social work, and how many people really do have that lack of understanding,” she said.
People will talk to her about how the social work system is broken – that’s the point, she said, what Frontline is trying to solve.
She also feels as though the role has given her professional working skills, for example in recruitment; this is an area that she had never thought she would want to work in but is now considering. Isabel said she’s looking for jobs in recruiting, something she doesn’t think she would have done if she hadn’t had this role.
Confidence and improving her ability to talk to strangers are other benefits.
“I’m quite happy to talk to anyone now, it’s given me a lot more confidence, in person.”
A lot of her previous experience, work experience and internships, had been virtual so this was in that sense a new experience.
The role itself is perfect for students, she told me: “I would definitely recommend [the role] because I can mould it very well into my uni work…it feels a lot more flexible, accessible, than a regular part-time job.”
If she’s finished studying for the day, then she can just write a blog post, hand out flyers in the SU or write emails – students who do the role can fit in the work when it suits them.
The pay is not a bad benefit either. “Through doing the in-person events [and other duties], I’ve been able to have a nice little pocket to spend each month that isn’t just my student loan,” she added.
Shaping your career
This role, for Isabel, has not only been something that matched her prior values but has clarified and endured those values going forward.
She said: “It has made me want to work for a charity or an organisation that is for a good cause, that I’m also passionate about.
“I would love to work for Frontline full-time in some sort of capacity because I think the work they do is really, really important; bettering the social work system is crucial for the children that are in it.”
Isabel can’t confirm whether there will be the same opportunity for a student to serve as campus brand manager next year, but keep an eye on Frontline’s channels if you’re interested in a similar role, the Frontline Programme, or any of the other opportunities Frontline offer that have been mentioned.