Hi,
I noticed its been almost since you posted so not sure you have gone through with submitting your application. But just in case you haven't, just wanted to share my experience and hope it can help a future applicant too.
I'm 30. Switching career paths from law to social work. I am applying to do a masters in social work and have already received 3 interview invites and 1 offer. Don't worry too much about the experience bit. Just like you I
don't have any direct social work experience. To make up for that, in your personal statement you can write about "lived experience" (e.g. you were sick or took care of someone who was sick , if you or you know someone who was in foster care, or if you or someone you know is adopted, what has been your experience in this situation and what you learnt from it).
In the interviews, aside from lived experiences, you can talk about any work experience for instance, if you worked in retail, what skills you gained from there and how you can use them in social work practice or in your
sixth form, what extra curricular activities did you participate in e.g. sports, art, music etc.. have you volunteered for a cause? Talk about this and link it to the question being asked.
My point is on the entry requirements they do ask for social work experience or experience relevant to social
work, the reality is in your application they are really trying to test to see if you understand what social work is all about and you have what it takes to make it in the profession.
As far as interview questions go, this is what I remember being asked:
1.How do you deal with stress?
2.What attributes/qualities do you possess that you are bringing to the profession of social work?
3.How do you deal with an angry/anxious person?
4.Tell me a time when you encountered discrimination and how you dealt with it?
I hope this helps and I wish you all the best!