Social Work Resume Example

Social work is a vocation that requires a strong work ethic, incredible interpersonal skills, and a lot of compassion. You’re used to focusing on helping others, but when writing your social work resume it’s time to focus on yourself.

To get the social work job you want, you need to demonstrate to potential employers that your qualifications and values are in alignment with the position.

Here are four tips to help you write a social worker resume that grabs the attention of employers and helps land you a job:

1. Write a social work career objective that highlights your qualifications

It can be difficult to decide exactly how to start your resume, especially if you don’t have much experience in social work yet.

Starting your resume with a career objective gives you a chance to emphasize your most impressive qualities and experience right at the top of the page. That way, hiring managers can instantly see what you bring to the table without having to scan through your entire application.

Here’s an example of a strong resume objective for a social work resume that highlights the candidate’s key skills, expertise, and experience:

Licensed Independent Social Worker, Chemical Dependency Counselor and MSW graduate with 8+ years of experience. Specialize in substance abuse counseling with inpatient and outpatient experience in addiction treatment. Experienced in crisis intervention and providing support for mental health. Seeking to use experience to help clients at Priority Health.

Right away a hiring manager can see the candidate’s relevant credentials, experience and area of expertise. A strong resume objective communicates the highlights of a resume succinctly, convincing potential employers to take a closer look.

2. Use the social worker job description as a writing guide

When you get to the work experience section of your resume, make sure you consider the specific job description of the social work position you’re applying for.

A simple trick to make sure your resume addresses the needs of the employer is to use their job description as your guide. If you look closely enough, you’ll find the keywords that you should include in your professional experience.

For instance, take a look at the job description for a social work position below:

Notice the underlined keywords. Once you’ve identified the target skills that the employer is looking for, the next step is to add those keywords in your professional experience bullet points.

As an example, check out how these bullet points address the employer’s job description above:

Using this method in your experience section is a great way to grab the attention of hiring managers and show them that you have the social work skills needed for the job.

3. Add social work skills

Social work is a field that requires a lot of hands-on experience with people in your community, so it’s critical to demonstrate to employers that you have all the skills needed for the job, such as active listening, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and empathy.

To make the most of the skills you include in your resume, it’s also helpful to use the job description as a guide. Job listings will often contain several key skills and attributes that employers are looking for in candidates.

Make sure to include skills in your resume objective and your work experience section, but put the skills you want to feature most prominently in your skills section.

Here are some essential social worker skills for your resume:

Showing off your social work skills lets hiring managers know that you have what it takes to excel in the position. Using a good mix of hard and soft skills demonstrates your hands-on experience and expertise as well as your values and personality.

4. Emphasize your credentials, advanced practice specialties, and licenses

Aside from degrees and certifications, clinical social workers are legally required to be licensed in every state. For most states, master’s level social workers are licensed regardless of whether they are in clinical practice or not.

When writing a social work resume it’s essential to clearly list your licenses and certifications, because you can’t work without them. You should either add them to your skills section, or a dedicated certifications section if you have more than one.

Here’s an example of how to list a social work license on your resume:

Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW)
Association of Social Work Boards, Ohio

Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
National Board for Certified Counselors

Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor II (LCDC II)
Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board

In order to work with specific clients or in particular areas of specialty, extra licensure or accreditation is often required. For example, an extra license is required to work in substance abuse or child services.

Highlighting any specialty certifications can add to your qualifications and desirability as a candidate.

Social work licensure confirms that social workers have the appropriate education and training in order to provide competent services to the public. This helps protect the public by helping to ensure that social services are carried out in an ethical and effective manner by accredited professionals.