July/August 2015Vol. 16, No. 6Webinars on Workforce Development Strategies
The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's (NCWWI's) webinar series Mind the Gap: Addressing Child Welfare Challenges With Workforce Development Strategies highlights specific workforce development strategies that can help professionals and agencies address a variety of issues. The first webinar in the series, launched in 2014, featured the NCWWI Workforce Development Framework (WDF), and subsequent webinars focused on workforce development strategies being implemented in the field that relate to the eight core components of the WDF: job analysis and position requirements; education and professional preparation; recruitment, screening, and selection; incentives and work conditions; professional development and training; organizational environment; community context; and supervision and performance management. The latest webinar in the series highlights strategies related to the third of these core components.
"Mind the Gap #3—Children's Corps: A Dynamic Approach to Child Welfare Worker Recruitment, Screening, and Selection" highlights Children's Corps' (CC's) strategic recruitment and selection practices. Created by Fostering Change for Children and piloted in 2011 in partnership with Columbia School of Social Work, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, and New York City's Administration for Children's Services, CC aims to improve caseworker retention rates, work toward positive child and family outcomes, and help develop future leaders in the field.
CC implemented specific strategies to attract, prepare, and sustain high-quality workers. This webinar session focuses on the first of these topics: how to attract candidates who possess the child welfare competencies necessary to successfully contribute to CC's work and goals. Webinar presenters from both CC and Fostering Change for Children discuss what was involved in developing and implementing this screening process and share strategies, tips, and tools related to the following:
- Attracting a diverse group of candidates
- Providing a realistic portrayal of the work
- Finding individuals who are the "right fit"
- How and where to focus recruitment efforts
- Application requirements, components, and scoring
- Interview design and postinterview processes
- Lessons learned
Access the materials and recording of "Mind the Gap #3—Children's Corps: A Dynamic Approach to Child Welfare Worker Recruitment, Screening, and Selection" via NCWWI website at http://ncwwi.org/index.php/link/225-children-s-corps-a-dynamic-approach-to-child-welfare-worker-recruitment-screening-and-selection.
For more information about the Mind the Gap webinar series, and to learn about future webinars, visit the NCWWI website at http://ncwwi.org/index.php/webinars.
