Career Options for Those with a Degree in Social Work

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There are many options for those with a Social Work degree. It is one of the most versatile degrees for those who wish to work in the helping field whether it’s health, hospice patient health services, mental health, or legislation.

Types of Jobs Available

This depends to a degree on experience. This is one of the areas of employment in which life experience counts in an interview and on resumes. The types of jobs you qualify for will also depend upon your level of education. A Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work is one of the areas of study that will still qualify you for a fairly good entry-level job. Social work career options can include:

•Working for an agency providing social work/counseling services under the supervision of someone with an LCSW.
•Working as a youth counselor in a setting such as YMCA, Boy’s and Girl’s Club and in Group Home settings.
•Working as an eligibility worker for the Welfare department and for H.U.D. (Housing and Urban Development programs)
•Providing care services for the elderly, infirm or those with physical and developmental disabilities.

Another option for those with a degree in social work can be working for privately or grant funded programs such as rape and suicide prevention hotlines. There are many jobs to do from crisis management to ongoing case management in these areas.

For higher paying Social Work career options typically most people opt for a master’s degree. This opens up your options to work outside of being under constant supervision in areas such as:

•Funeral Director, counseling families in grief and helping them move through the difficult process of caring for the end of life of their loved ones.
•Hospitals employ a great deal of Social Workers to help patients and their families with grief and loss or coming to terms with difficult health diagnoses. They also provide needed assistance with ongoing treatment such as transportation for things like dialysis and cancer treatment.
•Social Workers with Master’s Degrees may also be employed by courts to conduct court mandated mediation, most often in family law, but also in areas such as small claims disputes. There are many jobs for Social Workers in the field of Criminal Justice.
•A Social Work career options for you may be working in the business field, helping management and employees be most productive and exchange information. Or, as an analyst who finds trends for things like sales departments or service needs of employees and consumers.

Higher Paying Jobs

Ultimately, the higher paying and most sought after jobs are going to go to those who have become Licensed Clinical Social Workers. It is a requirement for administrative jobs in all areas of the social work field.

A License in Clinical Social Work or LCSW allows you to open up your own private practice and see clients for counseling services while enabling you to bill most insurance companies for your time.

An LCSW can also supervise both ASW’s and MSW’s and receive payment for doing so either directly from the candidates or from the agency they work with. This is especially a good arrangement for companies as it allows them to hire more people with flexible schedules if they have someone eligible to work for them.

Both an LCSW and an MSW can teach as professors either part time or full at a University or community college. In addition, there are many LCSW’s who currently work in legislation mitigating laws to help provide for all areas of Human Services.

The outlook for employment in the field is excellent. There will always be the need for help and advocacy in our communities, which is a strong focus in Social Work programs. The versatility of the degree makes it flexible so that an individual can switch gears going from therapy to advocacy with minimal training. It is a degree that is highly desirable to employers.