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Job outlook for casework specialists in the United States
Are casework specialist jobs in demand?
Casework specialist job and salary trends over time
Casework specialist jobs over time
Casework specialist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 467 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 450 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 450 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 439 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 420 | 0.00% |
Average casework specialist salary over time
Casework specialist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $40,044 | $19.25 | +2.2% |
| 2025 | $39,184 | $18.84 | +2.4% |
| 2024 | $38,258 | $18.39 | +4.3% |
| 2023 | $36,695 | $17.64 | +2.6% |
| 2022 | $35,761 | $17.19 | +2.1% |
Casework specialist jobs by state
Most common states for casework specialists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 101 | 15% |
| 2 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 707 | 12% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 751 | 11% |
| 4 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 343 | 11% |
| 5 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 84 | 10% |
| 6 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 177 | 9% |
| 7 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 96 | 9% |
| 8 | Delaware | 961,939 | 88 | 9% |
| 9 | Alaska | 739,795 | 67 | 9% |
| 10 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 66 | 9% |
| 11 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 111 | 8% |
| 12 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 47 | 8% |
| 13 | Vermont | 623,657 | 47 | 8% |
| 14 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 501 | 7% |
| 15 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 210 | 7% |
| 16 | Hawaii | 1,427,538 | 107 | 7% |
| 17 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 97 | 7% |
| 18 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 74 | 7% |
| 19 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 599 | 6% |
| 20 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 106 | 6% |
Most common cities for casework specialists
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilkes-Barre | 5 | 12% | $35,171 |
| 2 | Cambridge | 2 | 2% | $40,121 |
| 3 | Dubuque | 1 | 2% | $42,457 |
| 4 | El Cajon | 1 | 1% | $43,402 |
| 5 | Silver Spring | 1 | 1% | $52,532 |
| 6 | Tallahassee | 1 | 1% | $37,690 |
| 7 | Turlock | 1 | 1% | $45,021 |
| 8 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $37,494 |
| 9 | Baltimore | 1 | 0% | $52,948 |
| 10 | Glendale | 1 | 0% | $44,169 |
| 11 | Oakland | 1 | 0% | $45,364 |
| 12 | Sacramento | 1 | 0% | $44,989 |
| 13 | San Diego | 1 | 0% | $43,451 |
| 14 | San Jose | 1 | 0% | $45,332 |
| 15 | Tucson | 1 | 0% | $34,522 |
Casework Specialist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of casework specialist experts
Campbellsville University
Pennsylvania State University
Siena College
Nebraska Christian College
Kennesaw State University
Azusa Pacific University
The University of Texas Permian Basin
University of Nevada - Reno
University of Illinois-Springfield
Northern Kentucky University
Elon University
Campbellsville University
California State University Northridge
Austin Community College
What Casework Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Emily McCave PhD, MSW, LCSW: The need for social workers is high, particularly after the pandemic. A shortage of social workers means that there's an increasing demand in the field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics social work jobs are expected to increase 13% between 2020 and 2030.
What will help Casework Specialists increase their earning potential?
Emily McCave PhD, MSW, LCSW: For clinical positions, which is what most social workers do, daily tasks typically include conducting assessments and providing individual, family, and/or group therapy to children and/or adults, while collaborating with other providers working with the client. There is also daily clinical documentation that needs to be completed.
Dr. Kimberly Mudd-Fegett DSW, MSSW
Associate Professor of Social WorkCampbellsville University
Social Work
What Casework Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Kimberly Mudd-Fegett DSW, MSSW: The best thing about being a Social Worker is the ability to serve, assist and empower other individuals who are facing challenges within their life. Although this can be very overwhelming, at times the rewards this can provide, and self-fulfillment is hard to put into words. One of the greatest challenges of Social Work is maintaining adequate self-care and knowing that you can impact or help all individuals. This can be extremely challenging and overwhelming, particularly for new workers. One must ensure that they have adequate supervision, education, and resources to protect their wellbeing or burnout is highly likely.
What will help Casework Specialists increase their earning potential?
Dr. J. Lendrum PhD: Trust yourself and follow your passions. It is possible to find a meaningful career that aligns with your core interests and values.
What will help Casework Specialists increase their earning potential?
James Andrews LCSW, LICSW, BCD: Completing the MSW and graduating as a professional social worker is exciting and can be overwhelming. There are some general areas of professional development that I would strongly recommend new social workers entering the workforce focus on addressing. The first (and in many ways perhaps the most important) is to actively network. Connect with peers and mentors by building and maintaining professional relationships through joining professional organizations and attending industry events such as conferences and other professional events. Join your state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and become active; don’t just pay your dues every year. Contact the chapter office and volunteer for a committee and run for a volunteer leadership position. Get involved! Next, be adaptable! If the social service field is characterized by any one quality, it is change. Cultivating the ability to grow, adapt to new technologies, methodologies, and work environments will be crucial to one’s career success. Not only does the quality of flexibility makes one a valuable employee and prepares you for unexpected challenges and opportunities, but it is also a central trait needed for those who desire to open their own clinical practices one day. Related to adaptability is the practice of continuous learning. Social work and the larger industry of social services ever evolving, so it is imperative that new graduates embrace the idea that even though they have graduated, they must always be students, ever learning and developing new skills. This involves a commitment to lifelong learning which involves pursuing certifications, workshops attendance, and staying updated with the latest industry trends and technologies through independent reading and research. This not only keeps your skills relevant but also demonstrates your commitment to professional growth. And finally, and too often ignored, is the importance of developing and cultivating what are called “soft skills”. Skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management a(and others) are essential. For the successful social worker. Such soft skills complement one’s technical abilities and are highly valued by employers. And in many ways are what will enable a person to advance in their career.
Elisa Martin Ph.D., MSW
Associate Professor of Social Work, Department Chair & Program DirectorSiena College
Social Sciences
What general advice would you give to a Casework Specialist?
Elisa Martin Ph.D., MSW: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the need for social workers will grow faster than many other professions, which means finding employment upon graduation will not be a problem.
What will help Casework Specialists increase their earning potential?
Elisa Martin Ph.D., MSW: The beauty of the social work profession is that the skills you learn from your degree can be applied in a range of settings and populations. Depending on your interest, you could be working with children, youth, adults, older adults, or in an area of interest like domestic violence, homelessness, child welfare, gerontology. The work you do could be one-on-one, with small groups, running programs within an organization, and/or working in communities.
What Casework Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Cynthia Peters MSW: It is a good profession to enter now, due to the need for social workers in some of the jobs that I mentioned in the previous question. Social Workers can provide a different perspective on service delivery. Meeting the clients where they are at; developing relationships with the community; advocating for client services; writing grants; monitoring grants; brokering services......
Christine Kiewra
Associate Professor of PracticeNebraska Christian College
Human Development, Family Studies, And Related Services
What general advice would you give to a Casework Specialist?
Christine Kiewra: The HDFS program is a flexible degree that offers the “human” element that is necessary but often missing from pre-health and pre-law tracks. The flexibility also allows for students to double major and broaden their learning outcomes.
What will help Casework Specialists increase their earning potential?
Cindy Snell: Working effectively with diverse populations. This includes knowing your own biases, speaking another language, and continually striving for cultural competence. Openness to learning/integrating new technologies and careful consideration of their impact on the services you provide clients. These could include telehealth, record keeping, and the use of AI. Advocacy. Social workers need to advocate for their clients but also for policies that affect their clients and the field of social work. Social workers also need to remember to advocate for themselves and know this is not selfish but often allows them to be more effective social workers.
What general advice would you give to a Casework Specialist?
Camille Coleman: Do your research within the state and or country, and or agency you are seeking potential employment. Look up the laws, compare them to other states, don't be afraid to look at all careers within the social work field, for example research in social work gets overlooked, facilitation, curriculum development, etc. Future social workers should seek reciprocity in multiple states to practice counseling services after obtaining one's licensure, if wanting to provide therapeutic services. This will give one leverage to negotiate higher salary requests.
What general advice would you give to a Casework Specialist?
Dr. Aimée Vadnais Psy.D, LMFT: Keep in touch with your professors and classmates. They will be able to provide you with letters of recommendations in the future, connect you with job leads, and can make introductions to you to people in the field. Keep your resume current with any trainings or seminars that you attend and include additional certifications you obtain. Keep educating yourself by taking continuing education to learn more about certain topics, theories, interventions, or populations you are interested in learning more about. Network through CAMFT or AAMFT by attending their local chapter events, where you can meet others in the field in your area. Lastly, create a Linked In page so you can advertise about yourself and form local connections with others in your field.
What Casework Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Andrew Schoolnik: Dialogue and compromise. There are many apparatuses in today's society which are designed to pull people apart. Cable news and online news sites are famous examples of this. Add to this the echo chambers of social media where people largely associate with like-minded people while looking negatively at those with a different world view. This silo-ing of society is the antithesis of dialogue and compromise. Instead, it creates a class system of those who agree (the favored class) and those who disagree (the unfavored class).
On a macro level, the more the social worker dialogues with all stakeholders (those in favor and those opposed) the more that person gains knowledge and goodwill. This is at the heart of compromise - winning being defined as doing the most good for the most people.
On a clinical level, social workers work mutually with their clients. Learning about a client's values begins with dialogue (even when our values are different) and creating treatment plans is often-based on compromise (agency policy/goals, and client goals).
What Casework Specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Alexis Henderson M.S., OTR/L, CLT, OCC: Never take the first salary offer but also do not get hung up on salary right out of the gate. Remember that helping professions are about more than money. Take every single continuing education and training opportunity that comes your way or that you can find. Training and becoming a master at your craft is how you increase your salary most productively!
Sam Terrazas Ph.D.
Professor and Academic Chair Department of Social WorkThe University of Texas Permian Basin
Department of Social Work
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Sam Terrazas Ph.D.: Social work is a profession rooted in professional ethics and requires a wide range of skills that vary depending upon the role a social worker holds in an organization. In general, social work skills that stand out on a resume are skills gained through specialized training and certifications, skills in culturally responsive practice, proficiency in languages, and skills in assessment and evaluation.
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Sam Terrazas Ph.D.: Social workers need to be skillful in documentation in writing case notes, assessments, and good managers of their time. Managing a client's case requires social workers to be diligent and ensure that all required documentation is completed on time and within professional standards. Social workers must also be effective communicators understanding their own power and the multiple professional roles they hold.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Casework Specialists?
Sam Terrazas Ph.D.: Social workers practice in various areas of practice and organizational auspices that may differ in the hard/technical skills that are most important. In general, the hard/technical skills most important can be categorized based on the level of education-BSW (Bachelors of Social Work) versus MSW (Masters of Social Work).
BSW's practice in a range of organizations providing various types of services; however, in general practice in the realm of case management that requires that ability to demonstrate cultural responsiveness, develop an alliance with clients, apply NASW and a state's ethics and professional standards of practice, conduct assessments, and to develop plans to meet a client's goals.
MSW's practice in many areas such as administration, clinical, public policy and advocacy, child welfare, public safety, and health care. Each of these practice areas requires specific technical skills; however, in general, MSW's are trained to assess individuals, families, groups, and communities. To that end, MSW's must understand the cultural context and how socio/economic local, state, federal policies impact social welfare problems such as poverty, intimate partner violence, and mental illness. MSW's must possess strong engagement skills/therapeutic alliance-building, diagnostic/evaluation skills, ethical application of interventions and therapeutic approaches, and advocacy skills.
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.
Associate DeanUniversity of Nevada - Reno
School of Social Work
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: Social workers are at the forefront of providing health and mental health services in the nation. There are many specializations that social workers can work in, and the skills that stand out on a resume are dependent on the type of social worker. For example, for a clinician, some top skills to include would be:
-clinical experience (therapeutic skills)
-ability to work with individuals, families, and groups from different ethnicities and backgrounds.
-case management
-resource management
-advocacy
-documentation
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: Social workers need to be prepared to work in integrated health and multidisciplinary settings and act as change agents across systems of care. They work with various communities and people, and therefore soft skills are very important to their success. Some of the most important soft skills include:
-Teamwork. ...
-Communication Skills
-Problem-Solving Skills
-Ethics
-Flexibility/Adaptability
-Leadership skills
What hard/technical skills are most important for Casework Specialists?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: Social workers often develop community-based partnerships, including partnerships with activist organizations to implement reform towards racial and social justice; advance equity policies for BIPOC and LGBTQ populations. The top technical skills that are required of a social worker to be successful include
-grant writing
-program evaluation
-writing skills
-project management
What skills will help Casework Specialists earn the most?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: Social work salaries range greatly depending on the type of social work you do and where you are located. In general, the skills that can help increase your earnings in the social work profession include:
-clinical skills
-program evaluation/grant writing
-supervisory skills
-leadership
At the School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Reno, we aim to elevate our students and their profession. Social workers make great leaders because they're directed by their code of ethics and multidisciplinary education. More than ever, health and social services organizations need leaders who are oriented by professional values. Social work values are universal: social justice, service, integrity, competence, human relations, and dignity. These are the values that orient social workers in their decision-making, which makes them great leaders.
What general advice would you give to a Casework Specialist?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: A master's degree in social work maximizes the potential of social workers salaries and their level of expertise to provide needed services. Programs offered by CSWE accredited programs like the University of Nevada Reno, School of Social Work can maximize the potential of a social worker's career.
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: I believe that interpersonal skills (e.g., communication) are the most important skills. Human services professionals work with people from diverse backgrounds. They play an important role in the lives of those in need, between parties (e.g., court systems and agency), and make positive changes in a broader context as an advocate. To be able to do so, communication skills are essential. These skills include but are not limited to active listening, responding with influence, showing empathy and respect, knowing how to say no when there are boundaries, expressing the needs of the client in a professional manner, sending and responding to emails in a professional manner, using various communication methods properly, and using both verbal and nonverbal languages appropriately.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Casework Specialists?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: There are so many to name given that human services professionals should be versatile, but if I have to pick one, I would say assessment skills. One of the important tasks that human services professionals take on is to help their client's needs be met. If you don't know how to accurately assess the client's needs, how can you help them effectively? How can you help meet their needs? Based on the accurate and thorough assessment, human services professionals are able to develop treatment plans and implement best practices in the field.
What skills will help Casework Specialists earn the most?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: Self-care skills. It is imperative for human services professionals to practice self-care regularly. Human services jobs are emotionally and physically draining and challenging, although they are rewarding. If you do not know how to take care of yourself and your needs, how can you take care of others? If you do not practice self-care regularly, you are likely to experience burnout - no resilience to go back to your highest ability to help others. Many helping professionals put their client's needs first and neglect their needs, but in the long run, this is not a smart thing to do.
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: In general, I think there are three things that will help job seekers in the field stand out on their resume, including (1) experiences, (2) practical skills, and (3) flexibility. First, let's talk about the experience. As a helping professional, your experience in the field helps you deal with a challenging situation smoothly. There are many unexpected situations where you do not know what to do. Such situations commonly occur in the field as working with your clients (e.g., your client talks about suicidal ideation). You can't experience everything, particularly if you are a student, but both direct and indirect experiences will benefit you. Direct experiences may be gained through previous jobs and internships while pursuing a degree. Indirect experiences may be gained through learning from co-workers, interacting with classmates who are already in the field, and reading and learning while in your degree program. Second, practical skills are important in many ways. Human services professionals' tasks vary by what agency they work for and clients they work with. To be able to complete given tasks, practical skills are helpful; they are not necessarily fancy or difficult-to-achieve, but something that can be practiced and gained if willing to learn. For example, they include but are not limited to documentation, computer skills (e.g., setting up online sessions), knowledge about professional ethics, assessment and intervention, communication skills, referral skills, and knowledge about resources in the communities. Finally, flexibility may help you survive in the field. For example, Covid-19 circumstances, as you may already know, have brought many unprecedented changes and challenges in our lives and the field. Many case workers in the field have been meeting their clients online, and ways of helping their clients had to be changed due to the ongoing pandemic. These changes occurred so quickly, which requires helping professionals in the field to find ways of meeting their client's needs as quickly as possible. In such situations, if helping professionals are not flexible, they would not be able to effectively assist their clients.
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.
Associate Professor, MSW Program Director, School of Social WorkNorthern Kentucky University
College of Health and Human Services
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.: We look for social work applicants who strongly demonstrate their experience and their skill set. This involves highlighting experience with diverse populations and experience working in a variety of practice settings. For new graduates, this can come in the form of highlighting their practicum experiences. It is also important for individuals to emphasize their knowledge, understanding, and experience with relevant issues that take precedence in the world right now. This includes experience and training in diversity and inclusion efforts, experience providing telehealth services during the pandemic, and experience with trauma-informed care and working with trauma patients (to name a few). If applicants possess expertise or additional training with specific populations (e.g., older adults, domestic violence victims, refugees), they should demonstrate this expertise and highlight the corresponding skill sets they have developed as a result of working with these populations. We also encourage exhibiting areas of interventional expertise and training (e.g., training in cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, etc....).
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.: Regarding soft skills, we look for skills that are essential foundational skills within the profession. These include empathy, active listening, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, to name a few. These are essential for effective alliance-building with our clients and for making unbiased and ethical decisions. As social workers, we are often in the business of communication. Rarely do we work in isolation, as much of our work involves collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and individuals in other professional domains. As such, effective communication, organization, time management, and collaborative skills are necessary.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Casework Specialists?
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.: We are a dynamic evidence-based profession that requires specialized skills in order to effectively complete the demanding work that our profession entails. The soft skills described above are all intertwined with the hard skills required in the social work profession. Below are examples of hard skills required in the social work profession (note, this list is not exhaustive):
a. Client Evaluation Skills-All social workers, regardless of practice setting, must possess competency in client evaluation. This requires the ability to complete thorough and accurate assessments of our clients and their environment.
b. Diagnosis-While not all social workers will go on to diagnose, those who obtain full licensure often do. Having the ability to diagnose has many lifelong implications for the clients we work with, so it is vital that social workers possess the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking required to provide accurate diagnoses.
c. Intervention- This is often at the heart of what we do as social workers, and this will look different for each client. Social workers need to be skilled in providing evidence-based interventions for patients. This requires sufficient education and training in various evidence-based techniques. Intervention can also come in the form of connecting clients to necessary resources and collaborating with other professionals to help meet the unique needs of clients.
d. Crisis Management- All social workers will likely encounter a crisis situation at some point. We must possess the skills to respond accordingly by making swift and ethical decisions while simultaneously collaborating with other professionals involved.
e. Cultural Competency -Social workers will encounter clients from diverse backgrounds, and therefore need to be mindful and educated about various cultural beliefs and practices. We must also be willing to self-examine our own beliefs and biases and acknowledge what we have yet to learn.
f. Advocacy: All social workers uphold social justice and work to empower our clients and communities through advocacy efforts. Possessing advocacy skills allows us to support our clients, especially vulnerable populations, and ensure they have the opportunities and resources they need.
g. Documentation- Sound and professional documentation is critical in social work. Each encounter we have with a client needs to be documented to ensure accuracy and to ensure appropriate services and interventions. I tell my students to always document as if their records would one day be read aloud in a courtroom.
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Monica Burney: Human Service professionals are glad to see skills such as grant writing, new presentation and database technology, a strong background in diversity/equity training when hiring. They also feel more confident about candidates with prior experience in internships or jobs that involve direct contact with clients and professional communication.
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Monica Burney: Skilled Human Services professionals demonstrate strong self-awareness and are quick to reflect on how their interactions affect others. They also establish rapport well, ask open-ended questions, and frame conversations with verbal and non-verbal techniques that make people feel comfortable in communication. They are often great collaborators who assess and navigate team dynamics well.
Dr. Dianna Cooper
Associate ProfessorCampbellsville University
Carver School of Social Work
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Dr. Dianna Cooper: Several things stand out on a social worker's resume. First, social workers should highlight that they graduated from a CSWE accredited program. This tells the world that they have been trained in the nine competencies that serve as the foundation of social work. It also means that the social worker has completed training in multiple areas, including theory, policy, research, diversity and inclusion, practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, and field experience. The field experience part of social work education integrates practice in a real social work setting, so students graduate with experience to show on the resume.
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Dr. Dianna Cooper: The "change theory" used in social work practice follows several steps, including engaging, assessing, planning, intervening, evaluating, terminating, and following up. Soft skills are most likely to occur in engagement, intervention, and termination. Social workers are trained to "start wherever the client is," understanding that clients can be individuals, families, groups, communities, or organizations. Social workers are trained to respect the client as the expert in their needs, honor self-determination, use a strengths-based approach, and respect difference while using inclusion. The training turns into soft skills such as being empathetic, warm, genuine, and respectful. Social workers also develop skills in knowing when to listen and when to nudge the client toward action. Social workers are trained to intervene and, when change is completed, to terminate. Helping clients know when to end services also requires soft skills of talking about hard topics, seeing a brighter future and setting goals, recognizing when change is happening, and saying goodbye respectfully.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Casework Specialists?
Dr. Dianna Cooper: Hard or technical skills are most likely to occur in the stages of assessing, planning, intervening, and evaluating change theory. Social workers are trained to gather lots of information and then analyze strengths and needs. Social workers present their assessments to clients and work together to create goals and the steps that reach goals when executed. The process involves using the client's vision of what "better" looks like. Social workers then use evidence-based techniques to move the client toward the goal and define measures to know when the goal is met. The technical skills used in this process include analyzing many types of information repeatedly, knowing what resources exist and how to refer, knowing how to design effective goals and steps to achieve goals, researching current evidence-based practices, defining and measuring progress, and setting limits and timeframes.
What skills will help Casework Specialists earn the most?
Dr. Dianna Cooper: Individuals who complete a master's degree in social work (MSW) are likely to earn higher pay than individuals with a bachelor's degree (BSW). MSWs are also desirable in many settings, including hospitals and medical settings, schools, mental health counseling centers, police departments, probation offices, in-home therapeutic service agencies, and private practice. Most states now require social workers to be licensed. MSWs who want to bill insurances for direct service to clients must be licensed at the clinic level where they practice to credential with insurance companies.
Alejandra Acuna Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorCalifornia State University Northridge
Department of Social Work
What experience really stands out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Alejandra Acuna Ph.D.: Experience is valued in social work. Taking advantage of opportunities like internships and volunteer work is smart. Training and certification in an evidence-based program/practice (EBP), curricula, or intervention is a plus, although if there is a particular EBP used by a hiring agency, the agency usually pays for the time and cost of the training once a social worker is hired. Any additional skills relevant to the specific job- software skills, electronic recordkeeping, language proficiency - are worthy of highlighting in a resume. Grant writing skills also add value to resumes.
The reason most industries advertise with the statement, "will train the right person" is that we know (based on research conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center) that interpersonal and intrapersonal communication skills (so-called "soft skills") make up 85% of job success and only 15% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge. Interpersonal skills can probably be highlighted best in the cover letter and in the interview. Show up and let them see who you are - your warm, authentic, and empathic essence.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Casework Specialists?
Alejandra Acuna Ph.D.: The coronavirus epidemic completely changed the work environment for social workers. While some were considered essential workers and continued in-person services, most had to shift to virtual services and become proficient in various online platforms as well as understand and work within the legal and ethical parameters surrounding telehealth (that is, the provision of health/mental health services remotely employing telecommunications technology). Further, building trusting relationships and creating caring communities is what social workers do and are the foundation of providing quality services, so finding creative ways to remotely connect to clients - individuals, families, groups, and communities - has been paramount.
Social workers are trained to create trauma- and resilience-informed systems (e.g., an organizational culture, structure, and treatment framework built on understanding, recognizing, and responding to all kinds of trauma) and practices (e.g., safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness, and empowerment). Now more than ever, these skills are valuable since everyone has been impacted by the double pandemic of racial discrimination amid coronavirus disease. The opportunity in this crisis is that we are moving away from pre-contemplation ("not thinking about it") and contemplation ("thinking about it") to preparation ("planning to make change") and action ("taking steps to make change"). These are exciting steps forward based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change (stages of change). While managing these stages, we can anticipate the stages that come later, which are maintenance ("maintaining the change") and relapse ("falling back into former patterns of behavior").
It is evident that front-line workers, like social workers, are intensely impacted by consistently responding to clients and patients who are affected by trauma. Building resilience is critical at the individual, family, community, institutional, and professional levels. We all need it now. Social work is sustainable in that our efforts to care for others are balanced with caring for ourselves, where no one is neglected or left behind.
Michelle Kelley Shuler Ph.D.
Department Chair: Human ServicesAustin Community College
Human Services Department
What soft skills should all Casework Specialists possess?
Michelle Kelley Shuler Ph.D.: I would refer to this skill set as "essential" and consist of compassion, empathy, teamwork, the ability to listen, a sense of humor, and most importantly, the ability to practice self-care. I include self-care in this list because working in the human service field can be exhausting and emotionally overwhelming. Taking care of ourselves helps to prevent burnout and possibly leaving the profession.
What skills stand out on Casework Specialist resumes?
Michelle Kelley Shuler Ph.D.: a. Service to the community such as volunteer work at a food bank or camp counselor for those with physical or mental exceptionalities.
b. Consumer or customer service experience is essential, and experience dealing with the retail industry, food industry, and case management definitely stand out.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Casework Specialists?
Michelle Kelley Shuler Ph.D.: a. Must have strong basic computer skills and knowledge of software such as excel spreadsheets, google docs, etc. Most, if not all, agencies use electronic health records and treatment planning, so it is necessary to be competent in this area.
b. A degree and additional certifications will assist you in seeking employment. It will also increase your level of competency and diversify the communities you serve. For example, at Austin Community College, we offer our students a chance to complete a certification in Mental Health First Aid Training. This increases their marketability and skill level.