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1. Overview: Job Responsibilities, Salary, and Common Requirements
2. A Comprehensive Guide to Becoming a Social Worker
3. What Does a Social Worker Do?
4. Signs You Should Consider Becoming a Social Worker
5. How Do You Become a Social Worker?
6. What are the Knowledge and Skills Needed to be a Social Worker?
7. Popular Schools and Colleges in the U.S. for Aspiring Social Workers
8. How to Get a Job as a Social Worker
9. Learn About Geographic and Location Pay Differentials
10. Make Your Resume Stand Out
Social Workers made a median salary of $50,470 in 2019. The best-paid 10 percent made $82,540 that year, while the lowest-paid 10 percent made $31,790.
Health Educators and Community Health Workers
Marriage and Family Therapists
Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
Psychologists
Rehabilitation Counselors
School and Career Counselors
Social and Community Service Managers
Social and Human Service Assistants
Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
Communication
Organization
Social l Skills
Problem-solving
Time management
Emotional Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Social workers are integral members of communities. They ensure that every member of society, especially those who are most in need and most vulnerable, have access to their basic necessities such as housing, healthcare, legal rights, food, and protection. They are employed in both the private and government sectors and make up about 642,000 social workers in total in the US alone.
Social workers help out communities and individuals in need of basic resources like food, shelter, and healthcare. Below are some of their most prominent responsibilities:
The following are examples of types of social workers and their roles and responsibilities:
These social workers focus on children and families who are in need. They assist families in finding appropriate and affordable housing, applying for benefits, and social services. Since they focus on families and children, they handle child abuse, neglect, or endangerment cases and help arrange for adoption, foster care, or relocation to other family members who are eligible to care for child victims. The primary mission of child and family social workers is to protect children and ensure that they have a safe and healthy family life.
These social workers coordinate with education professionals such as teachers, principals, and administrators, as well as parents, in relation to the academic performance of targeted children with identified needs. These children are usually referred to them due to problems such as bullying, aggression, or frequent absences.
Health care social workers work with clients with health conditions who are in need of assistance. They help these patients understand their diagnoses and how they can cope with their condition. They also assist them in transitioning from hospitalization to living at home and provide information regarding healthcare services, support groups, and other resources that help patients manage their illness. They also provide healthcare professionals with valuable information as to how the patient is coping and the effects of the illness on their mental and emotional state. Healthcare social workers can further specialize in specific fields such as geriatrics, physical rehabilitation, hospice care, and medical care.
These social workers provide patients with mental illnesses and addiction the resources to cope with their condition, such as programs and services, support groups, and access to therapy. They can either work in rehabilitation centers for substance abuse, mental health facilities, or even in communities to help clients with mental health issues of substance abuse find the services they need once they are discharged from their facilities and immersed back into the community.
Social workers possess a specific set of traits that make them highly effective and just perfect for the job. If you think you have some or all of these traits, you might want to consider a career in social work and become a social worker.
Helping others should come as naturally as possible to you if you want to consider a social work career. If you feel an urge to help out whenever you come across someone in need, or you are always willing to lend assistance to anyone who might need it, you would indeed make a wonderful social worker. If helping others is your calling in life then you shouldn’t hesitate to start your LCSW career today, there are tons of people who need you to work with them! Feeling a certain satisfaction in helping out a fellow would make this career a fulfilling and meaningful one for you. Your job will immerse you in an environment where most or all of your clients need some form of help. You can either help them directly or assist them by referring them to professionals or resources that could alleviate their situation.
Social workers deal with a lot of needy clients at any given workday. Some of these clients may be uncooperative, emotional, or even aggressive. You need to exhibit patience in order to do your job well. You also need a ton of patience to get you through each day of dealing with individuals and communities who will have varying needs and different personalities. Depending on your field of work, you might be dealing with children, older adults, the chronically ill, or those with substance abuse problems. These people will display different reactions when interacting with you, so you have to be patient with each of them for them to be able to get the help that they need.
You know when someone needs something. You know when someone is in trouble or in pain. You are sensitive and intuitive. Social workers succeed at their jobs because they are able to identify and address a problem early on so that it does not worsen and become untreatable. This not only applies to health concerns, but also psychological, behavioral, financial, and social problems that a client might be facing currently or might face in the near future. You should be able to somewhat foresee and perceive possible problems based on the situation that your client is currently in.
Dealing with a lot of people in distress can cause a lot of stress for someone who does not know how to set boundaries. You need to know how and when to be objective as a social worker if you want to be effective in your job. There is no use being emotional over the state of your clients as this may cloud your judgment and make you vulnerable to making wrong decisions at work or affecting you so much that you would not be able to function at all. Setting limits as to how much you can emotionally immerse yourself means that you can keep a level head, maintain an objective eye, see things from a practical perspective, and know-how to guide your clients to the best possible solution.
Compassion and empathy are the foundations of this sort of career. Although you need to remain composed and rational at all times, you should have a deep desire to make life better for other people burning inside of you, and being empathetic means that you try to understand others’ situations without becoming emotionally imbalanced yourself. Having compassion means seeing the struggles and needs of others and not looking away or ignoring it. It means seeing someone else’s needs and wanting to make things better for them.
If you want to become a social worker but are not sure where to start, here are a few steps to help you out:
To become a social worker, all you really need is to complete a bachelor of social work degree through a social work program from an accredited social work school. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were roughly 500 Bachelor’s degree programs on social work—all of which were accredited by the Council on Social Work Education—the national social work education association in the US. A Bachelor’s program typically takes four years to complete, and graduates can proceed to apply for entry-level administrative positions.
The very first step towards this career is to get a degree, so you cannot go down this path without at least a Bachelor’s degree in an accredited institution. Some social workers in some states even need to have a Master’s degree (Master of social work) and certification from the council on social work in order to practice the profession.
The reason why social workers need to have this level of education is because the profession entails a lot of responsibility towards other people, especially the most vulnerable populations, like those with mental health issues. You need to not only be adept and experienced, but also well-educated about the medical and legal implications that accompany the work.
Some supervised fieldwork or internship is usually included in programs. These programs prepare students for positions that offer direct services like mental health assistants or caseworkers. They include courses that touch on human behavior, mental health, social welfare policies, social work ethics, and population diversity.
If you would like to advance to a clinical social work position, you will be required to obtain a Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW). This sort of degree typically takes two years to complete and will enable you to pick an area to specialize in by developing specialized clinical assessment and management skills.
As with a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree requires to immerse its students in supervised experience or an internship after completion. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Council on Social Work Education accredited over 200 master’s degree programs.
Most states require all social workers to become a licensed professional. This is especially true for clinical social workers. For nonclinical social workers, a BSW with some fieldwork is required before licensing. For clinical social workers, a social work MSW with two years of internship is required.
Licensing requirements differ from state to state. You can check out your state’s licensure requirements at the Association of Social Work Boards.
To become an effective social worker, you need to develop the following skills:
You will be conducting a lot of one-on-one sessions with individuals or face-to-face interactions with families and other professionals, such as healthcare and legal providers. Being able to communicate effectively makes your job a whole lot easier since it allows people to understand you better. When collaborating with other professionals, you should be able to convey information with consistency and precision for the good of your clients. When talking with clients, you should be able to explain in simple terms for them to understand their situation as well as their options to address it.
A huge part of a social worker’s job is to listen to the client’s needs. You need to develop active listening in order to really understand your client’s situation. Learn to ask open-ended questions that encourage your clients to open up more to you and tell you a more in-depth and comprehensive idea of their situation. When you fully understand their challenges is the only time that you will be able to come up with lasting and effective solutions.
You need to be a people-person to succeed at this job. You should be able to foster positive working relationships with colleagues so that you can collaborate easily and work as a team to achieve the goal of making your clients’ lives better. You should also be able to establish enough trust between you and your clients so that they feel comfortable opening up to you about the things that are troubling them.
Paperwork, documentation, treatment plans—these are but a few of the things that a social worker needs to keep up with on a daily basis. You will have to handle a whole host of these because you will most likely be dealing with multiple clients who have varying cases and different planned interventions. Having strong organizational skills helps you keep yourself on top of the paperwork. It will help you work more efficiently since you will not be scrambling to keep up with your files on top of the interactions that you need to have with clients and colleagues.
If you are a social worker, you need to be an effective problem solver. Your clients come to you for help whenever they have problems. They look up to you to provide them with solutions because it is likely that they cannot come up with any. Therefore, you should be innovative and smart enough to come up with something that will effectively put an end to or halt the progress of their problem. On top of that, the solutions you provide should be practical enough for your clients to be able to comfortably comply with them. For example, you should consider the distance, cost, time, and effort that your client will have to spend to avail of a service.
These are the best schools that offer programs in Social Work:
Here are a few things you can do to find job openings for social work positions:
The government is consistently in need of social workers because social welfare is one of its basic responsibilities. Social workers have a fixed demand within the federal government such that according to govloop, there are 8,000 social work-related positions within the government at any given time. You can apply to websites such as USAJOBS or GovernmentJobs.
Private rehab centers, hospitals, and hospice facilities are only a few of the institutions that also employ social workers. You can simply go to your nearby private institution and find out if they need social workers. You can also go directly to their websites and regularly check out their careers or job opportunities page in case of a job opening.
If you want to do a broader search and you don’t really mind whether you are employed by the federal government or a private entity, you can simply go to your favorite job search websites and look for job openings for social workers. The upside in looking for jobs in such sites is that you can upload a resume that is ready for any potential employer to scan through.
Wages for social workers may vary from field to field. It is understandable that clinical social workers earn more than nonclinical social workers because of their specialized job description. However, there are also discrepancies in terms of wages depending on the state that you choose to practice. Below is a table displaying pay differential for social workers across all states:
| State | 2019 Mean Annual Wage |
|---|---|
| Hawaii | $81,520 |
| Rhode Island | $74,520 |
| Massachusetts | $74,390 |
| New Hampshire | $74,160 |
| Georgia | $73,830 |
| Washington | $73,160 |
| Alaska | $72,530 |
| Nevada | $72,450 |
| Maryland | $71,820 |
| Virginia | $71,600 |
| New Jersey | $71,420 |
| California | $71,020 |
| South Dakota | $67,700 |
| New York | $67,580 |
| Vermont | $67,470 |
| Connecticut | $66,060 |
| Illinois | $65,830 |
| West Virginia | $65,510 |
| Idaho | $65,170 |
| Kansas | $64,950 |
| Indiana | $63,010 |
| Minnesota | $62,890 |
| Delaware | $62,630 |
| Nebraska | $62,040 |
| Missouri | $60,770 |
| State | 2019 Mean Annual Wage |
|---|---|
| Arizona | $60,540 |
| Texas | $60,240 |
| Iowa | $60,070 |
| North Dakota | $59,960 |
| Alabama | $59,140 |
| Louisiana | $58,330 |
| Pennsylvania | $58,180 |
| Wyoming | $57,520 |
| New Mexico | $57,500 |
| North Carolina | $57,420 |
| Michigan | $56,150 |
| Colorado | $55,690 |
| Kentucky | $55,690 |
| Wisconsin | $55,390 |
| Oregon | $55,000 |
| Oklahoma | $54,390 |
| Maine | $53,790 |
| Ohio | $53,650 |
| Mississippi | $53,520 |
| Tennessee | $53,000 |
| Florida | $519,80 |
| Utah | $51,720 |
| Arkansas | $49,730 |
| South Carolina | $45,700 |
| Montana | $44,320 |
Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Here are a few things you should remember when crafting a resume:
Social work typically requires an applicant to have accomplished at least a bachelor’s degree in social work. If you are eyeing a clinical position, you will need a master’s degree as well as a license after completing two years of internship. Make sure to complete your educational background for potential employers to fully gauge your capacity and qualification as a social worker.
Internships and supervised fieldwork are an integral part of any social work training program. Typically, an applicant will not be allowed to take a licensure exam without supervised fieldwork or internship. Having done an internship also shows your employers that you have enough experience, even if you are applying for a first job.
If you have had experience in volunteer work such as feeding programs, teaching programs, or peer-support activities, you can add those to your roster of experience. It shows that you have a broad exposure to activities that deal with persons and communities in need.
Communication, teamwork, adaptability, interpersonal skills, and many other soft skills are highly valued in the field of social work. Highlighting any soft skills you have shows that you have the right character that is needed for the job.
These are some of the most common interview questions asked to aspiring social workers:
Try to share how much you think people should value social work. You should know the importance of social work to individuals and communities. Avoid giving a generic answer, instead try to share a personal experience that led you to the field.
The position you are applying for should align with your interest in the field of social work. Explain why it is that you want to work with the specific group of people that their institution caters to, like children, the elderly, immigrants, those recovering from illness or substance abuse, and so on.
Try to answer this question as honestly as possible. If you can, you should definitely prepare for this type of question ahead of time. On top of giving them your weakness, tell them the steps you are taking to improve. And when you tell of your strengths, include the ways in which you think you can do even more.
You are understandably going to face difficult clients—even aggressive ones. Your employer would want to know how you would handle such cases. Make sure that the actions you detail should display your patience and resilience in almost any situation.
When answering this type of question, avoid getting soft and sentimental. You should be able to objectively provide them with facts and data that support your answer. Identifying abuse in vulnerable populations is one of the most crucial responsibilities of a social worker, so it is not to be taken lightly, and you should maintain a level head through it all.
Sharpen your skills in social work by taking these top online courses
Here are several online classes carefully curated by SkillSuccess to help you achieve your goals and thrive in your social work career:
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