England Advertises Workers.

Tom Hunt » England Advertises Workers.

A local council in England is advertising jobs for Australian and New Zealand social workers because it cannot find enough British candidates.
 
Essex County Council has hired job search firm Synergy to recruit between 40 and 60 social workers from Australia, New Zealand and Ireland on salaries of between STG27,500 ($A56,859) and STG42,000.
 
Synergy’s website states that the campaign to "bring in around 60 social workers from overseas" would begin this week, and that successful candidates would be offered “generous salaries” as well as relocation allowances, free accommodation for the first four months, a car lease deal and money for a visit back home.
 
It has taken out advertisements in Australian and New Zealand newspapers in an attempt to attract candidates for the jobs.
 
An Essex council spokesman said despite attempts to attract British social workers to fill its vacant jobs, there were not enough applicants.
 
“The reality is that we simply cannot fill social work positions from within the UK,” he told the Daily Mail newspaper.
 
“It is important to also emphasise that any social worker from Australia or New Zealand will be fully qualified, trained and experienced.
 
“We are not offering a backpacker’s holiday.”
 
An official government report released last month found 40 out of 149 councils provided inadequate or the bare minimum of children’s services.