Social Worker Job Description (Skills, Duties, Salary, Education & More)

We have various unsung heroes in our community who are in a complete different fight. This fight is not hurting someone but to rather helping them with their mental conditions and also educating them about various rights that they deserve. For those who are willing to jump into this struggle of their life intentionally with the passion to serve the community are most welcome to this article where will be discussing about various facts and knowledge of this field.

What Is The Role of a Social Worker?

To be a social worker you must keep that in mind that you need to jump on to the field work most often. Their main role is to improve the particular society conditions they are handling. To assist them under various situations. To fight against substance abuse, mental health and also promoting why education is important for all. They have inter-related role to perform both as an advocate and a counselor for the community.

Also, their main struggle is to connect people with the resources which is also part of their job role. They mainly fight for the vulnerable population or individuals who might be suffering from mental health conditions, substance abuse or certain physical disabilities. Some may mainly focus on a certain age group people while others may be serving the whole community. But their main goal is to serve the whole community refusing echelon in the society.

Skills Require To Be a Social Worker

To be a social worker you mainly require two types of skills to suit the temperament of this job profile. Hard & Soft skills are the important two skills required for your job role. Working in this sector and handling the issues of a certain amount of population requires various technical knowledge which falls under the characteristics of hard skills. Some of these hard skills are mentioned below:

1. Crisis intervention techniques.
2. To make reports and also to analyze them.
3. Development of treatment plan.
4. Intake assessments.
5. Electronic Medical Records (EMR).

While, on the other hand soft skills are also required which helps the workers to communicate and handle the population in the community. Certain skills that are most commonly required by almost all the social workers are discussed below:

1. Active listening.
2. Patience.
3. Critical thinking.
4. Instant decision taking abilities.
5. Time management.
6. Accountability.
7. Teamwork.
8. Leadership.
9. Reliability.

Duties To Be Performed As a Social Worker

Being a social worker you need to be a complete devotee of your work. Along with that you must have that clear objective of, “Why to become a social worker?”. This job demands your dedication towards your objective/goal, also challenges your decision with various obstacles in your journey of work. There are various responsibilities or duties that you need to handle being a social worker. Also, it varies from area to area, which age groups or community you are serving; regardless of certain common duties that every social worker needs to handle are discussed below:

1. As you will be dealing with a multiple number of people it is very important to update or maintain clients files.
2. Helping your clients to connect with all the critical services they deserve.
3. Development of treatment plans.
4. It is also necessary to conduct various assessment to understand the requirements and issues of the clients.
5. Also, it is necessary to promote medical services and treatment. Along with that as a social worker you need to convince your clients to visit those treatment centers.
6. Participation on various ongoing programs.
7. Helping your clients by making them understand the importance of education and hygiene.

Salary Of a Social Worker

After understanding the duties and responsibilities of a social worker you must be really excited to know about the rewards. So without wasting anymore time let us discuss that “How much a social worker can expect from services to their clients and community?”. The social worker salary varies on various matters. Mainly the area they are providing their service at can be the reason, or the population on that particular area he is dealing with. Also, it depends on the qualification and experience of the social worker.

But after all this if you still interested to know at least the approximate figures that a social worker makes is almost $50,470 as their median annual salary. Again it differs for the intern or the new-entry level worker in this field which almost goes around $31,790 in a year.

Education or Qualification Levels Required for a Social Worker

As being a social worker requires to handle big responsibilities. It is necessary for all the social workers to educate themselves. Even for entry levels into this field a candidate must have qualified their bachelor’s degree. Also, the candidates in their Bachelor’s degree must mainly focus on subjects like social, work, psychology and sociology. Those candidates who are interested in clinical social worker job role, they must possess a degree in Master in Social Work.

It is also necessary that you must know the laws and guidelines of the state you are interested in working for. Because every state have their own guidelines or rules for the social worker. Interested candidates for this job role must also know the importance of Licensing, certification or registration. In maximum cases if you possess a license only then you will preferred for the job position.

Conclusion

Social workers can be addressed as the real life heroes. They do not get the deserving limelight but they are so much dedicated to their job role that they no more bother of any publicity and unconditionally provide their services. Facing various challenges in the entire journey of your work for justice to the helpless. For those who have found this job appealing from all the above discussed.

References

1. https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-abstract/40/5/1628/1716741
2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lqlfkFEO25cC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=social+worker+job+description&ots=Ezxd7ztZ-P&sig=O94LQI_4wGGHNTIiz4R87D6Nu8A