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I am a social worker in Canada. I graduated with a BSW in 2012. I've intentionally avoided child welfare work and social assistance jobs. I went into my BSW intending to become a counsellor, and I have just finally gained a full time counselling position (though only a one year term) after working a bunch of casual and part time stuff in crisis counselling, street outreach, and mental health programming. I found it surprisingly hard to find full time work in my field (but I was selective about the types of jobs I applied for) and many of my social worker friends found the same, having to piece together terms, part time and casual work. Although, others did find decent employment right out of school. Getting as much experience (paid, volunteer, field placements) as possible doing work as close to your employment objective as possible is the best possible advice I can give you. It's the only way to be competitive and it really helps you get to know if you are cut out for the type of work you are interested in, and of it is rewarding enough to justify the high stress/low pay aspect. I suggest talking to folks working in the field you are in and finding out the pros and cons of the work, as well as the specific details of how they got that position. A BSW is supposed to be a generalist degree, but that this bullshit. You are specialized in whatever area you have experience in and it can be difficult to switch areas. Social work jobs are quite diverse. A big portion of jobs are government, whether hospitals, child protection, or welfare work. These jobs often pay better and have better benefits (i.e health and dental). However from what I hear they tend to be overworked positions and systems/bureaucracy that big are a real pain to work in. There are also many interesting non government jobs, usually with worse pay but often (in my subjective experience) more enjoyable work environments. A MSW is starting to be the standard qualification for a big chunk of jobs in my area, and more so in bigger cities. It certainly seems to open a lot more opportunities. I'd keep that in mind as a goal not too many years post BSW. Or go straight for the MSW if you qualify - experience and a relevant degree (e.g psychology) often get you in to a master's with just one extra year of course work to catch you up. A MSW would also let you eventually go into private practice if you have relevant experience. Many folks I know do that to supplement income. Social work services are covered by insurance in many cases as far as I know. Paperwork is a huge part of any social work job, but I don't particularly mind it, as long as I have adequate time to complete it. I usually enjoy it as downtime. Being self aware and being willing to invest a ton of time and energy into taking care of yourself and the impact of the work is critical. Taking care of yourself is not something you can let slide the way you can in many other careers. A caution: Being a caregiver in your personal life and professional life can be a recipe for burnout. It happened to me and I'm only 27. My "body said no" (reference to a relevant book by Dr. Gabor Mate) and I became extremely ill, often to the point of being unable to work, for over 6 months. I am just now recovering to the point I feel ready for full time work again. Most social workers come in to the field with personal experience in caregiving and /or personal experiences of trauma/adversity. Those can be benefits or barriers, depending on how well and balanced you are in a holistic sense. I think another protective factor against burnout is to become as skilled and knowledgeable as possible in your field, even if it means paying for your own PD beyond what your agency will give you (unless you're lucky to get a great PD budget!) or spending your own time studying. I think it can be an extremely rewarding career but it's worth doing serious research and personal reflection on what you're getting yourself into.
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Aug 14, 2014 04:16
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 17:31 |
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