Social Work Resume Sample

In many industries, you need to focus more on certain aspects of your resume. IT applicants need to emphasize their technical skills, whereas recent college graduates focus on their education.

For social workers however, almost every section is equally important. This is why you have to put an equal amount of time and care into every part, just as you would for each of your clients. These tips will help you create the type of strong resume you need to land a job.

1. Customize the structure of your resume based on the company you are applying for

Depending on the social work organization or company you are applying to, the importance placed on various job requirements will differ. Certain places will be looking for specific certifications, whereas others might care more about your experience or education.

Therefore, it is important that you pay attention to the job description for the role you are applying to, and highlight the aspects they value most.

The ultimate goal is to make it easy for the hiring manager to find what they are looking for. The best way to do this is to place the section emphasized by that organization at the top of your resume.

For example, does the company emphasize the importance of having certain certifications? Then put them before your work history. Don’t be afraid to mix it up, the structure of your resume doesn’t always have to follow the same formula.

If you’re applying to multiple different jobs, make sure you use this strategy and tailor your resume structure to suit each one.

2. Use a professional profile to emphasize your qualifications

To get a job as a social worker, you’ll need a long list of qualifications before a hiring manager will take you seriously. This is why using a professional profile is perfect, because it gives the hiring manager a nice little snapshot of your biggest strengths.

A professional (or resume) profile, is a four bullet point introduction designed to showcase your most relevant qualifications, expertise, skills, and achievements. Take a look at our example to get a better idea:

• Certified MSW with 8+ years of experience helping patients and their families overcome the hardships of substance abuse and stay clean.
• Excel in using person-in-environment perspective to develop effective intervention methods, stopping addiction early on and committing to the step-by-step recovery of clients.
• Possess multiple social work certifications and fluent in both English and Spanish.
• Assisted in the rehabilitation of 90+ addicts to date, with a relapse rate of only 6%.

First Bullet: Qualifications

As you can see, the first bullet point is the real big hitter — the candidate immediately hits three key points that a hiring manager looks for in a social worker: they’re certified, they have a MSW, and they have more than 8 years experience.

By using this method, you can ensure that the hiring manager gets this essential information quickly and easily. The remaining bullet points can then be used as tools to show what you will bring to the job, beyond these necessary qualifications.

Second Bullet: Expertise

The second bullet is also extremely useful, because it highlights your specialization. There are many different types of social work, such as military, health care, education, etc. This bullet allows you to communicate your capability and knowledge in your specialization from the very beginning of your resume.

If you have expertise in various domains, you’ll want to customize this bullet point to highlight the expertise required by the particular role you are applying for. Or, emphasize abilities that are transferable to multiple fields, such as the “person-in-environment perspective” mentioned by our example candidate.

Third Bullet: Skills

This bullet is used to list your strongest applicable skills. If possible, you can also include skills specifically mentioned in the job description, so that the hiring manager immediately knows you have them.

In the example, our candidate states they have multiple certifications — emphasizing their diverse skillset. They also mention their language ability. Language skills are highly sought after in social work, because sometimes you will have clients whose first language is not English.

Fourth Bullet: Achievements

This is where you show off your greatest relevant achievement. This will vary from person to person. Try to think of the most impressive thing you have done in social work, and put it on display.

It could be anything from implementing a successful program, to helping a large number of clients. Just make sure that it’s impressive, as well as related to the job you are applying to.

The combination of these four bullets creates a powerful opening statement that proves you’re the strongest candidate for the job. If you need more help, take a look at our guide on how to craft the perfect resume profile.

3. Use quantification to strengthen your achievements

In the above tips we emphasized the need to make it as easy as possible for the hiring manager to see important information. Quantification allows you to then make that important information as clear and strong as possible.

Quantification is essentially just adding numbers to your achievements. This not only makes your accomplishments seem more impressive, but it also gives the hiring manager a clear idea of your abilities.

Quantification will mainly be used in your work experience section, however it can also be used to strengthen the bullets of the professional profile as well.

Here are some examples from our sample to help you get a better idea of how to quantify your experience:

• Assisted in the rehabilitation of 90+ addicts to date, with a relapse rate of only 6%.
• Assisted caseworker in leading a support group for 14 people who lost family members to drug addiction.
• Manage an average of 7 cases simultaneously, providing equal commitment to the full rehabilitation of all victims of substance abuse, as well as helping them attain emotional and social stability
• Supervise the training and activities of 4 BSW Social Work Assistants, ensuring all social services are performed to the highest degree, and exceed company care standards

If you’re still having trouble, try thinking of the following things:

• Number of clients you work with/have helped?
• Amount of psychosocial assessments you conduct and how often
• Age range of your clients
• Number of support groups/people in each group
• Average number of cases you manage
• Quantity of money donated to your organization because of your efforts
• The success rate of your programs

4. Use your additional skills section to seal the deal

We like to think of the additional skills as the “bonus” section. This is where, after you’ve thoroughly impressed the hiring manager with your experience and qualifications, you really drive home the deal.

For your additional skills section, you want to include either of the following two things:

1. Skills that were specifically mentioned as desired in the job description
2. Skills that will impress and add flair to your resume

As a social worker, you are constantly interacting with other people, so your interpersonal skills are something you can include in this section. You could also include specific social work techniques or practices that you were unable to mention in other sections of your resume.

In the case of our example, the candidate included their abilities in care planning, counseling and crisis intervention — all skills that are extremely useful when it comes to helping and dealing with clients.

By following these tips you will have a solid resume capable of swaying any hiring manager and landing you interviews.

On the other hand, if you’re exhausted after a tiresome day of providing social services to others, let our builder do the hard work for you and create a resume in minutes.