Your career in social services

Start your career

One in 13 people in Scotland work in social services. Every day they make a difference to people’s lives.

With opportunities to gain new skills, qualifications and personal fulfilment a job in social services could make a difference to your life too.

It really is #LifeChangingWork

A young support worker talking to an older man in his home. He is also assisting the man to take his inhaler.

NEW toolkit

Resources for employers, careers advisers, teachers, parents and employment support workers

Go to toolkit

Have a question?

We hope you can find the answer in our
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Frequently asked questions

Two smiling young children are finger painting. They have their paint covered hands showing to the camera.

If you can’t find what you're looking for or want to talk to us about this website you can contact us at [email protected]

What’s it really like to work in social services? Find out from current social service professionals in our career stories.

Career stories

Find more career stories in each of the three pathways below.

children and young people

Social services and healthcare

social work

My words of advice for someone who wants a career like mine? Do some voluntary work in the field you are interested in. This will help you see if it’s definitely what you want to do. I’m glad I did my social work training but you can have a great career in social care without it as there are so many other courses available (SVQs and HNCs for example).

Margaret Butler Substance misuse recovery worker

MyLearning website

Learning about social services is a good way to show your committment to employers.

If you want to store your learning and share it with others, including new employers, try using MyLearning. It's a free, smartphone-based app provided by the SSSC.

MyLearning is also used by social service workers to record continuous professional learning.

MyLearning website

A learning website mockop on desktop and mobile

Partners