Wow, what a week – it does make me chuckle as a social worker when making a change in my own life that I get anxious and nervous about it. When every day I speak with people and support them through making their own changes.
Looking back though day 1 was the hardest I was truly the new boy on the block. I did enjoy the tricks and the jokes of my new team with ‘the last manager brought us coffee and cakes every day!’ mmm really?
However, you quickly learn that despite a new building, problems with parking and different computer systems that it is the same job. The same dilemmas and same issues popping up, and soon I found myself easing in and offering my thoughts, when I should have just been observing.
Despite all of this I have been made to feel welcome my first three weeks planned out to the hour. An induction to help me hit the ground running and learning everything from legal to placements and everything in between.
And despite the social work haters out there, the discussion is about safeguarding not removing – unless a child needs to be removed to safeguard them. It was good to see and hear of the services working together to keep children within their own families.
I am glad I have made the changes and it looks like I will have a challenge in my new role and I am looking forward to that
hownottodosocialwork 
Good to hear that some local authorities understand the importance of a good induction when so many others evidently do not.
Comments when new to a role are often valid, may need to be sensitively phrased but the advantage of fresh eyes, whether team manager or student, may be hugely beneficial to helping evaluate practice, rather than “we always do it this way”. Just a thought.
It’s very true fresh eyes always bring a different perspective, especially at a time when many changes are being designed and implemented! It is also important to understand how variations in procedures work before suggesting different ways of working! We should all be open to change to continue to challenge out own practise!