How To Become A Geriatric Social Worker: What It Is and Career Path

What is a geriatric social worker and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Virginia Schwindt

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a geriatric social worker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.91 an hour? That's $53,890 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 64,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Geriatric Social Worker?

Virginia Schwindt

MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University

Take the licensing test as soon as you are able to, and be open to where you work. It is great to want a specific population or employer, but being open to other experiences may be where God wants you to be. Don't limit yourself because, as a social worker, you can do so many different things.

ScoreGeriatric Social WorkerUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,890

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.4

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.60%

Asian 3.32%

Black or African American 19.92%

Hispanic or Latino 12.27%

Unknown 5.43%

White 58.45%

Gender

female 85.25%

male 14.75%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

9.4

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.5

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a geriatric social worker

Explore geriatric social worker education requirements

Most common geriatric social worker degrees

Bachelor's

53.5 %

Master's

39.4 %

Associate

5.0 %

Start to develop specific geriatric social worker skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	33.04%
Patients	23.31%
Discharge Planning	10.61%
Community Resources	10.44%
Group Therapy	5.09%

Complete relevant geriatric social worker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New geriatric social workers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a geriatric social worker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real geriatric social worker resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed geriatric social worker usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed geriatric social worker in most of states. 32 states require geriatric social workers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License Url
Kansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Master Social Worker
Alabama	Degree required	State exam required	Licensed Bachelor Social Worker (LBSW)
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Certified Social Worker
Hawaii	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Social Worker
Idaho	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Social Workers

Research geriatric social worker duties and responsibilities

Counsele patients and families, provide discharge planning and follow-up services and maintain relevant information regarding ancillary services and referrals.
Work with relatives of hospitalize patients to accept and cope with patients physical and mental challenges resulting from hospitalization.
Coordinate care with community providers for follow up if patient are discharged, prepare documentation for admission to inpatient psychiatry unit.
Complete Medicaid and Medicare applications as needed.

Prepare your geriatric social worker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your geriatric social worker resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a geriatric social worker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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