Module 04 – Placement allocation process
Placement allocation process
This section provides students with an overview of the types of placements and key tasks associated with placement allocation. It is important that students are familiar with each stage of the process and the associated requirements. Students are responsible to ensure that they have complied with each of the identified requirements.
This section focuses on:
- Placement allocation
- Pre-placement interview
- Student Undertaking
Allocation and placements processes
Students nominate for available placements via InPlace during the nomination period. Students are notified of key dates and information through a range of processes, including Social Work Field Education Newsletters (issued to those enrolled in Field Education).
Students will receive an email alerting them to placement offers being open for nomination. Placement offers include details of the placement and any criteria outlined by the agency. The criteria may include certain checks (such as an international police check), specific knowledge and/or access to a car.
The Field Education team allocates students to a placement based on the student Personal Planning Form (PPF), current CV, the placement criteria, the student’s availability, and AASW criteria. The role of the Field Education team is to support students in successfully completing the Field Education program, while also meeting AASW accreditation requirements.
RMIT has a large social work student cohort with approximately 400 Field Education placements completed each year. The allocation process is complex, intricate and labour intensive and involves a number of Field Education team members. When matching a student to a placement, the allocation officer, in collaboration with the Field Education Coordinators, the GUSS WIL team and the Practice Coordinator, makes their decisions based on the following:
for the nomination process:
- the individual nominations of the students
- AASW’s ASWEAS requirements
- agency criteria (as stipulated on the offer document)
- the program requirements of students across 3 programs (BSW, BSocWork/BSocSci (Psych), MSW)
- students’ learning requirements and needs (i.e. Field Education 1/2, supervision requirements, reasonable adjustments, domestic/international status, location and access to transport, caring needs, availability)
Please note:
RMIT is the only Victorian based university that provides a nomination round, other universities directly match students to placements.
Not all students are placed after this nomination round, for example – some placements receive up to 40 student nominations. We recommend nominating for at least 5-6 placements. Please do not nominate for placements if you do not meet the agency’s criteria – read the placement offers in detail prior to nominating.
Not all placements are available in the nomination round, many agencies confirm they are offering placements after this date and go into the placement pool for direct matching.
direct allocation process is influenced by:
- AASW ASWEAS requirements
- agency criteria (as stipulated on the offer document)
- the program requirements of students across 3 programs (BSW, BSocWork/BSocSci (Psych), MSW)
- students’ learning requirements and needs (such as Field Education 1/2, supervision, reasonable adjustments, domestic/international status, location and access to transport, caring needs, availability)
- the direct allocation process can take several weeks to finalise. If you have any concerns please contact your Field Education coordinator directly
Please note:
Some students may have very specific career interests (fields of practice) and specialisations in mind; this is not something the Field Education team can prioritise in the allocation of placements, our focus is on allocating students based on the above considerations.
- Check your eligibility to enrol into Field Education.
- Enrol into your Field Education course/s.
- Attend the compulsory briefing.
- Complete the pre-placement tasks, including the Personal Planning Form (PPF) and CV.
- Complete your Police Check & Working with Children Check and record the details in InPlace.
- Read the Field Education newsletters
- Participate in process via lnPlace.
- Monitor your student inbox for emails related to an allocation. Students, who are unable to proceed with an allocation, must notify GUSS WIL within one working day from the date of the allocation outcome email and discuss this with their Field Education Course Coordinator.
- Organise an interview with the agency in a timely manner.
Note:
- Students, who were not allocated a placement via the application process, will be directly allocated to a placement based on their PPF, CV, placement availability and criteria by the Field Education team.
- If a student has not been matched to a placement, the GUSS WIL Team will be in contact prior to the census date.
- If successful in obtaining the placement, complete the Student Undertaking via Smartsheet.
- Receive email confirmation from GUSS WIL. Your placement cannot commence until you have received this email.
- Check with the whether you will be required to present copies of your police & Working With Children checks on your first day. Make sure you know who your Field Education Liaison Officer is.
- Make sure you are familiar with PebblePad – access the Resources page on your PebblePad workbook. Start working on your draft Learning and Assessment Report.
- Notify the Field Education Liaison Officer of your draft Learning Plan (PebblePad) before their first visit (approx. day 10). Your Field Education Liaison Officer is your principal contact during placement.
- Participate in your Integrated Learning course (BSWs) or attend your Integrative Seminar (MSWs).
- Keep checking your student emails while on placement.
- Complete a Mid-placement review (approx. day 35).
- Notify GUSS WIL of any possible changes to your placement dates.
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Upon completion of your placement, please notify your Field Education Coordinator of the following tasks submitted in PebblePad:
- Final Review (signed off by all parties)
- Log Sheets (signed off for a total of 500 hours)
- Liaison Visits (recorded by Field Education Liaison Officer)
Pre-placement interview
All students must complete a pre-placement interview with the agency to assess suitability.
Upon allocation, GUSS WIL will send the student the agency contact details. Students must then email the agency with a copy of their CV attached and request an interview. Students need to prepare for the interview by researching the agency and reviewing the placement description.
A placement allocation can only be confirmed and the Undertaking completed if the interview was successful. Completing an interview does not guarantee a student will be placed in that agency. It is expected that the agency interviewer will provide feedback to the student if they were unsuccessful.
Interview Preparation
All Social Work Field Education students will undertake an interview with staff at their potential placement. Be prepared for your interview with the agency. If you have never undergone a workplace interview before, you will need to prepare yourself through the RMIT Careers Toolkit.
Interviews can feel really daunting, but they don't have to be! Pre-placement interviews are a chance for you to interview in a safe and supportive learning environment. While it’s a chance for the agency to find out more about you, it’s also a good opportunity for you to find out more about the placement agency – beyond what you have read from their website and annual reports.
All students must complete a pre-placement interview with the agency to assess suitability.
Upon allocation GUSS WIL will send the student the agency contact details. Students must then email the agency, with a copy of their CV attached, and request an interview. Students need to prepare for the interview by researching the agency and reviewing the placement description.
A placement allocation can only be confirmed and the Student Undertaking completed if the interview was successful. Completing an interview does not guarantee a student will be placed in that agency. It expected that the agency interviewer will provide feedback to the student if they were unsuccessful.
Please be aware that you are entering a professional environment and you are representing both the University and the Social Work profession while you are on placement. We expect students to conduct themselves in a professional manner from the moment you make contact with the agency. Please be aware of your language in written and verbal communication.
Be prepared for the interview! Not enough information on the website? How about their social media presence? Annual reports are a really great way to get a sense of the size and reach of the agency.
1. Most agencies will say their dress code is smart casual. It’s important that you look approachable to clients, but also take pride in your professional appearance. Usually this means: clothing cannot show too many signs of wear, closed in shoes and no slogan clothing. If you are unsure about your dress code once you are on placement – check with your agency supervisor.
2. Ask for feedback! Be prepared to listen to the good and bad. This is a great opportunity to get a sense of how you presented and address anything you might have missed during the interview.
While some placement interviews are quite informal, you should still prepare in the same way as you would a job interview. Here are some example questions to think about:
Why did you choose to study social work?
Why did you decide to do a placement at X Agency?
What do you know about the client group? What skills do you think would be required to work with them?
What social work theories do you think we would use in this setting?
Tell me what you understand about person centred care?
What do you hope to get out of this placement? What are some of your learning goals?
What skills and experience do you have that would be transferable to this placement setting?
What do you think some of the challenges of the placement might be for you?
What would you do in a challenging scenario?
What are your expectations of supervision? What would you bring to the process?
Given the nature of the work, what is your understanding of self care?
Here are some tips for interviewing well:
Speak clearly and enthusiastically about your experiences and skills. Be professional, but don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. Be yourself. Don’t be afraid of short pauses. You may need a few seconds to formulate an answer.
Be positive. The interviewers do not want to hear a litany of excuses or bad feelings about a negative experience. If you are asked about a low grade, a sudden job change, or a weakness in your background, try not to be defensive. Focus instead on the facts (briefly) and emphasise what you learned from the experience.
Be prepared to market your skills and experiences as they relate to the particular placement described. Work at positioning yourself in the mind of the interviewer as a person with a particular set of skills and attributes, or if you don’t have any prior formal work experience, talk about your attitudes, learnings from university classes, theories, discussions, anecdotes and your own life experiences and observations. Work to describe your qualifications, experiences and understandings appropriately.
Research information about the agency before the interview. Some important information to look for includes what activities are carried out by the agency, where their income is from, who their client groups are, whether they are a government agency, non-profit or another type of agency. Come to the interview with an understanding of the agency’s aims, history and current programs. Prepare questions to ask the interviewer about the agency.
Arrive early for the interview. Plan to arrive for your interview 10-15 minutes before the appointed time. Arriving too early confuses the employer and creates an awkward situation. By the same token, arriving late creates a bad first impression. Ask for directions when making arrangements for the interview.
Bring an extra resume and a list of questions you may have. You may refer to your list of questions to be sure you’ve gathered the information you need. Try not to be preoccupied with taking notes during the interview.
After the interview, take time to write down the names and titles (check spelling) of all your interviewers, your impressions, remaining questions and information learned.
If you can agree the placement is going ahead on the day, amazing! Following your pre-placement interview, if you do not hear back from the agency within 5 business days, follow up with them and let us know.
If you are unsuccessful in the pre-placement interview, you must notify GUSS WIL within one working day from the interview. If you cannot proceed with the placement after the interview, you must contact GUSS WIL and your Field Education Coordinator.
Partner Agreement and Student Undertaking
RMIT Social Work does not require completion of the full WIL agreement form (WAF). Instead, students will only be asked to complete the Student Undertaking and schedule via a Smartsheet Update Request form.
RMIT requires completion of a Student Undertaking prior to the commencement of placement. This is also a requirement of the ASWEAS (Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards).
The Student Undertaking is completed by the student, with input from their agency supervisor, and must be submitted in via a Smartsheet Update Request at least two weeks (10 working days) prior to the proposed start date.
If RMIT has not partnered with an agency before, GUSS WIL will contact the agency to establish a Partner Agreement. A Partner Agreement is an overarching agreement that usually applies to all future placements with an agency (or area within the agency). Once a Partner Agreement is in place, the completion of the Student Undertaking is sufficient for future placements.
Placement days undertaken prior to the Student Undertaking being finalised will not be recognised nor included in the student’s approved placement hours.
Once the Student Undertaking has been approved by the School, the GUSS WIL Team confirms the placement in an email to all parties (student, Field Educator/Task Supervisor and Field Education Liaison Officer).
Confirmation of Placement
Once the Student Undertaking has been approved by the School, the GUSS WIL Team confirms the placement in an email to all parties (student, Field Educator/Task Supervisor and Field Education Liaison Officer/External Field Educator), including a copy of the approved Undertaking, and other key documents.
Students cannot begin placement before the start date listed in the finalised Student Undertaking, and must wait to receive the confirmation email before commencing placement. If a change to the start date is required, students must contact GUSS WIL.