Job Description Social Worker

Job Title: Human Service/ Social Worker
Agency Name: social service centers; Social Protection Committee, nursing homes, orphanages, etc.
Overall Description: Social worker is an expert who assists and provide help to special groups of people (pensioners, orphans, refugees, etc.). He provides material and household help, moral and legal support for the disabled, single elderly people, mothers of large families, orphans, people suffering from serious illnesses, alcoholics and drug addicts, impoverished citizens in a state of mental depression due to environmental disasters, international conflicts and wars, etc. Social worker must identify those people who need help, determine the nature and extent of necessary assistance. (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011)

Salary Range: Salaries vary, depending on education, experience, and location. The average salary of all social workers in 2008 was about $39000 per year, and the most experienced workers earned more than $60,000 per year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011)
Benefits available: paid holidays and vacations, health insurance, and retirement plans.

Responsibilities and Tasks: The task of such an employee lies social assistance of lonely elderly citizens, the disabled, mothers with many children, orphans, people suffering from incurable diseases, alcoholism and drug addiction. Also social workers provide psychosocial support to people in a state of mental instability caused by both objective (wars, environmental disasters, international conflicts, religious differences), and subjective factors (the tragedy in the family, loss of property).

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: The profession of social work in the first place requires a high level of humanity, developed intuition, the ability to empathize with other’s grief, as well as the ability to understand people in each individual situation and to provide the necessary kind of social assistance according to the circumstances. Personal qualities should include integrity, honesty and selflessness. To obtain the desired results the employee must be highly motivated, hardworking and responsible. Along with this emotional stability, calmness and a pleasant voice will help to gain the trust of people he works with. (National Association of Social Workers)

Depending on the Agency and sphere of work, social worker must have both general sociological knowledge, knowledge of ethics, sociology, economics, law and medicine and some special skills, for example teacher training and skills of work with children. However, in general, it is necessary to get the social and humanities education at high school or university.

Minimum Qualifications (include certification or license, if applicable): For most positions the social worker is required a Master’s or Bachelor’s degrees in social work. But some positions may require other special qualifications, according to the sphere of work: it can be a degree in law, the diploma of a psychologist or medical diploma. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011)
Requirements for licensing, certification, or registration are different. It may be a membership in the Academy of Certified Social Workers, administered by the National Association of Social Workers; certificates of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW), Qualified Clinical Social Worker (QCSW), or Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011)