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Welcome to Dear Social Worker, 
the podcast that prioritises 

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you, the person behind the title
Sounded like an American advert 

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then, right? 
I'm your host, Lisa Ran, and I 

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founded Social Work Coaching 
hub.com to support you with your

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confidence, your emotional and 
leadership skills. 

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I am so excited to bring you 
this brand new episode today 

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where we are turning up the 
energy on this podcast. 

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I know it's all about personal 
development and growth and 

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looking into yourself, but we 
can do that with a bit of spice,

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right? 
So today you're going to be 

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leaving feeling inspired, and 
you're going to leave filling in

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a brand new application to step 
up in social work. 

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In the past week, I've had three
emails from three social workers

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from three different local 
authorities, all expressing 

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their joy and excitement at 
securing a brand new senior 

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level post. 
It's the most wonderful feeling 

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when my coaching clients e-mail 
me and say, guess what? 

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I got the job and I'm sending so
many emojis back because I'm so 

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excited for them. 
And it's amazing what can happen

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when you just take a risk on 
yourself. 

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And I wanted to talk to you 
about that today. 

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It's it's, it's inspired me. 
It's energized me because some 

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of you may be listening to this 
thinking, I'm not sure if I can 

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stay in social work. 
I'm not sure if I can stay in 

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this authority. 
I'm not sure if I want to retire

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as a social worker. 
But my question to you is, are 

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you in the right social work 
position? 

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Do you need to energize yourself
and encourage yourself by 

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stepping up now? 
When my manager turned round to 

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me and said you're going to be 
the next senior practitioner and

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I interviewed, I got the job, 
etcetera. 

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I truly did not want to do it. 
And part of the reason was 

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because when I was training, the
lady I was training with, she 

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was very experienced over 50 
years. 

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And she was still in practice, a
highly respected social worker. 

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And she always said that she 
would never become a manager. 

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And her view about that hadn't 
changed for all those years. 

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And I used to think she really 
must have a reason for this. 

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There's something that I don't 
know, you know, there's 

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something that I need to to 
understand about all of this. 

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Why wouldn't you, after years 
and years have been so respected

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and so effective at your job, 
would you not want to step into 

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a management role Now, each to 
their own, of course. 

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But the other side to that is 
that had an impact on what I 

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wanted for my social work career
and the amount of work, the 

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level of stress that I 
encountered as I began my 

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career, I inadvertently, I would
say, took on that belief that 

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imagine having to manage this at
manager level. 

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That's not possible, but the 
truth is, it is. 

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And I did step up to management 
and it was OK. 

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It's all about how you manage, 
right? 

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How you navigate. 
So when we're talking about the 

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evolving landscape of social 
work and why it's important to 

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continually be advancing in your
career is number one, it gives 

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you confidence. 
You don't grow in your career. 

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You don't sit in the same career
to be there in that same 

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position for 40-50 years. 
Particularly if you're a person 

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who's innovative and you want to
grow, you want to learn, you'll 

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become stagnant and that can 
increase risk to children and 

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families because you're just 
stuck in the same routine. 

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I'm not saying this happens to 
everyone, of course, but there 

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are a good handful of people who
would agree with me on that. 

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The next thing is it's going to 
increase your impact and ability

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to influence change. 
That's the reason why you 

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stepped into social work, right?
You wanted to make a change. 

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You wanted to make a difference 
in people's lives. 

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You wanted to keep children and 
families safe. 

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You want to make sure people 
have got the right intervention 

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plan. 
The other thing is around 

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enhancing your skills and your 
professional growth. 

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You are demonstrating by 
applying for jobs that are more 

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senior than the one you're on. 
You are demonstrating self 

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belief. 
You are showing that yourself. 

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You are showing yourself, more 
importantly, that you have what 

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it takes. 
And I want to share a quote with

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you by Gandhi that says the best
way to find yourself is to lose 

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yourself in the service of 
others. 

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Let that marinate for a moment. 
I'm inviting you my podcast 

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listeners to the first UK 
National Black and Diverse 

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Safeguarding Professionals 
conference. 

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We're coming together to 
network, to collaborate, to 

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create a safe space for each 
other, and to strategize 

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solutions for those from ethnic 
groups who are working in public

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services here in the UK. 
I am so excited to bring you 

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this conference and I want you 
to go to 

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socialworkcoachinghub.com/events
and register to get your ticket.

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I'll see you there. 
When you think about where you 

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are in your social work career, 
I want you to consider this 

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question, What are your next 
steps? 

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Setting goals for your career 
growth plan. 

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It's key to you having some 
milestones as to where you're 

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going. 
Otherwise, what are you doing? 

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You're just going round in 
circles doing the same thing 

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every day. 
And whilst we're supporting 

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families, saving children and 
being super men and super women,

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we still have to think about the
best ways in which we can serve 

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the communities that we support.
And within that, thinking about 

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your career growth and how your 
career growth can best serve the

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communities that you're working 
with. 

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So I want to take a moment for 
you to think about your career 

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plan. 
I want you to think about it 

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from the end point. 
So what is your end point in 

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your social work career? 
Is it being a social work 

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lecturer? 
Is it being a service manager or

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perhaps you just would like to 
stick with being a social work 

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manager? 
What is your end point? 

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What is your end goal with this 
career now? 

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One of the mistakes I made that 
I highly recommend you don't 

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make because I'm telling you now
so you've got no excuse. 

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I stayed in local authority 
social work. 

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I felt as if I couldn't practice
in other areas because I had a 

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commitment to the families and 
the local authority I was 

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working for. 
And whilst I was being effective

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in practice, at the same time I 
could have served other families

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in other areas such as mother 
and baby units, such as working 

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as a parent assessor. 
There are other areas of social 

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work that you can enjoy and 
where you will thrive. 

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So wherever you are right now, 
even if you are a student just 

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heading into your new role, 
don't think that that is the 

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only place that you can be. 
So step #1 when you're thinking 

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about your career plan, what is 
your end point? 

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Where do you want to go? 
Who do you want to serve #2 do 

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your research. 
I've done a podcast episode a 

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few weeks back on the different 
types of paths and social 

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workers you can be. 
Go back and listen to that and 

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consider the different options 
that are available to you. 

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Local authority social work 
isn't for everyone. 

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It's great to get that behind 
you. 

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It's a great starting point, but
it's not the only place you can 

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go #3 networking, build 
relationships with mentors, 

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coaches like myself, colleagues 
who can offer guidance and 

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support. 
Reach out to other workers, 

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other social workers who have 
the role that you would like to 

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have in the future. 
Ask them some questions. 

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Most people love talking about 
themselves. 

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We know this was social workers,
right? 

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Use that. 
Use that to create conversation 

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and learn about someone else's 
role. 

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I want to leave you with this 
quote. 

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A goal without a plan. 
It's just a wish. 

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Very soon I am going to be 
releasing my brand new social 

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work coaching online hub where 
you can access audios, videos 

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and downloadables to support you
with your personal and 

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professional development. 
We're going to be starting a 

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brand new community and I want 
you to be part of it. 

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So stay tuned to future episodes
where I'll share more about 

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that. 
And of course, as always, check 

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out the links in the podcast 
notes. 

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OK? 
Are you feeling like you want to

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step up now? 
If not, I've got two more points

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I want to raise with you and 
then I'm going to be out of your

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way, right? 
Overcoming challenges and 

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staying motivated. 
I'm not going to sit here and 

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list all the challenges that we 
face as social workers, 

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particularly when trying to 
progress your career. 

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It's going to happen. 
We know it exists. 

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We've got a good idea of what 
they look like, what they are. 

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So you have to think ahead of 
time and plan. 

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It's as simple as that. 
What is your self-care plan? 

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What is your work life balance 
plan? 

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That horrible phrase again. 
But there has to be something in

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place, right? 
What are your boundaries? 

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Your work life boundaries? 
Who will be your mentor? 

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Do you need a coach? 
Do you need a counsellor? 

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How are you going to stay 
updated with the latest social 

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care news? 
These are things that are worth 

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considering when you're thinking
about stepping up. 

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Stepping up means you're going 
up to another level of new 

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responsibilities, a new way of 
working, and new challenges. 

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Plan ahead, No need to walk into
it blindly. 

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Not only have you got me, but I 
know for a fact you've got some 

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common sense too. 
We need to just put it all 

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together when we're stepping up,
right? 

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So I want you to think about 
these steps as you walk away 

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from this podcast. 
I want you to walk away. 

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First of all, setting 1 short 
term goal. 

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Now that short term goal could 
be, let me just see what the 

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workforce landscape looks like 
right now. 

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What are managers being paid 
right now? 

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What's the working schedule of a
a social work lecturer at this 

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time of the year? 
Then I want you to think of 1 

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long term career goal. 
Are you going to study to become

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a practice educator? 
Are you going to become ADEI 

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officer? 
Diversity, equality and 

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inclusion officer that stands 
for? 

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Is that what you'd like to do in
social work moving forward? 

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The next thing I've mentioned 
this before, I'm going to 

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mention it again, reaching out 
to a mentor or a professional 

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support group. 
Hey, you could join my online 

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hub. 
It's going to be opening soon 

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and you will have access to a 
range of professionals who'll be

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more than happy to support you. 
Lastly, as I've just mentioned, 

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but it may not relate to DEI, so
I want to make sure I clear this

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up. 
Signing up for a workshop or 

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training that aligns with your 
interests, the interests that 

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align with your career goals, 
your plan. 

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And as you do that, I want to 
wish you the best of luck 

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stepping up, believing in 
yourself, showing yourself that 

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you can do it. 
Because that's all it took for 

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me to step into management all 
those years ago. 

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It's been a pleasure talking to 
you, as always, and I will be 

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back next week with some 
inspiration, education and 

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support. 
As usual. 

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I trust you've enjoyed this 
episode and please share it. 

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Let someone else hear the 
message. 

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Let someone else be inspired. 
I'll see you next week.