Related Career Categories

• Clergy
• Clinical Psychologist
• Clinical Social Worker
• Community Developer
• Family Social Worker
• Geriatric Social Worker
• Health Social Worker
• Human Service Manager
• Interpreter
• Mental Health Counselor
• School Social Worker
• Social Worker

School and Career Surprises: Tips From People on the Job

Career: "I was surprised to meet so many nice people on welfare who need help. I expected them to be angrier and in more pain."

Career: "I was surprised at how little my education really prepared me for the reality of the work. After I graduated, I took a position as a therapist, and while I felt comfortable with what I was doing, some of my fellow graduates who also became therapists totally felt overwhelmed because they felt that we did not really have any classes which taught us to be therapists. I agree that a good therapist really has to learn how that is done outside of the classroom, and to be a good therapist, you really have to be willing and able to be a therapy client with an experienced therapist. You learn what is helpful and what is not by experiencing it. You also have to do a lot of independent reading and searching out of books on specific types of therapy that you want to do. If you think you want to work with children, that requires a totally different set of skills and perspective than working with adults. I was a very good therapist, when I was doing that, but I only worked with adults, and I would have been terrible working with children. You have to know yourself, and if you are not willing to really find out about who you are, what you believe, and how to be genuine with another human being, you will not do well as a social worker."

Career: "I was surprised by how much paperwork there is involved in social work. I knew there would be a lot. However, I did not realize that half of my time would be spent documenting my work."

School: "I was surprised to learn that instructors and professors at the University of Washington are happy to help you after class ends. I thought I would have a hard time getting in contact with them to ask questions later, but they all have office hours and are responsive to phone calls and email which really helps when you have questions after class."

Career: "I was surprised to learn how attached I would become to my clients. I thought it would be easy to maintain professional distance but I found myself becoming really attached to the clients I work with."

School: "I was surprised at how mathematically based a large portion of the Sociology program at Temple University was. I was required to take several statistics classes and methodology classes that were based heavily on statistical analysis. I think that learning about statistics really helped me to understand and put data into perspective."

Career: "I was truly surprised by how many people that I deal with on a daily basis don't possess even a basic understanding of our social programs work. I meet people that believe that there is no way to help their young children get medical insurance at no cost. At the other end of the spectrum I meet people who believe that you can use EBT cards to purchase items like cigarettes and alcohol. I had a client call me and scream at me for screwing up her paperwork because she wasn't able to buy cigarettes and beer with her EBT card. People like that are the overwhelming minority. I was surprised to find that most people I deal with are literally terrified of any government or formal institution and either have no idea that there is help available to them or are too frightened/embarrassed to initiate the process to get benefits that they need. They can teach you a lot about institutionalized poverty in college, but seeing just how hard many people struggle to keep their families off the streets is shocking. You cannot teach the reality of hardship from the perspective of those that are living it."

School: "I was surprised that people who were clearly not able to competently practice in clinical positions were allowed to go so far through the program before they were eased out. I was also surprised that some of my professors really did not put much effort into teaching things but set up experiential settings and believed that was all that we needed."

Career: "What has surprised me the most is how few resources there really are to help people and how much money is actually spent on documenting what one is doing and making sure that data is collected for myriad reports to show whether the services are actually helping people or not. It often seems that we are spending a lot more time and money on data gathering and documentation than we are actually spending on providing services directly to consumers"

Best & Worst Things About This Career

"The best part of my career is the satisfaction that I receive from helping others. People with developmental disabilities are often marginalized in our society and it brings great satisfaction to provide them with outlets to assert themselves and to gain recognition in our community. The most difficult part of any career in the human services field is the current political climate in light of all the budget cuts being made both on the state and national levels. We are frequently asked to "do more with less" and there are constant fears that people at our company will be laid off."

"Some of the best things about my job are the interactions I have with the clients. I have an opportunity to see people succeed in life and move towards a positive lifestyle. People who I work with are usually very grateful for my services and show their appreciation. I get to witness changes in my community and participate in events and things like fundraisers that create positive change in the area. Some of the difficult things about my job are the times when I have to witness painful and traumatic events in my clients lives. Also, it's difficult to deal with the disappointment that comes when my client's needs cannot be met because of some small detail that changes their situation."

Tips for Succeeding in This Career

"Become involved in as many different projects as possible and volunteer to spearhead new projects in order to make yourself indispensable. This will enable you to meet people in other departments and to demonstrate other abilities and talents that you have. When the time comes for lay-offs or restructuring, you may be eligible to move to a different department instead of being let go. Have a working knowledge of ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis), but remember that the clients are like any other person in that behavioral motives are often complex and multi-layered."

"Volunteer at a local non-profit organization where you can learn as much as possible. Take courses on health, especially public health, and cultural diversity. Do research online about what types of services are offered at different organizations to get a grasp of what the main needs are in your area. Focus on which populations in your area are most in need. This might help narrow down what you will want to study later."