How to hire a psychiatric social worker

Psychiatric social worker hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring psychiatric social workers in the United States:

The median cost to hire a psychiatric social worker is $1,633.
It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
Small businesses spend $1,105 per psychiatric social worker on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
There are a total of 164,667 psychiatric social workers in the US, and there are currently 57,284 job openings in this field.
New York, NY, has the highest demand for psychiatric social workers, with 25 job openings.

How to hire a psychiatric social worker, step by step

To hire a psychiatric social worker, you should clearly understand the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, and allocate a budget for the position. You will also need to post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a psychiatric social worker:

Here's a step-by-step psychiatric social worker hiring guide:

Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
Step 3: Make a budget
Step 4: Write a psychiatric social worker job description
Step 5: Post your job
Step 6: Interview candidates
Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new psychiatric social worker
Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a psychiatric social worker do?

A psychiatric social worker specializes in providing mental health treatments and other services to patients and their families, referring them to other agencies and programs as needed. They conduct assessments and interviews to determine the condition of patients, devise specific treatment and care plans, update and maintain patient records, conduct regular counseling sessions, and monitor the progress of every patient to ensure their health and welfare. They may also provide interventions, train junior psychiatric social workers, and conduct reviews and evaluations on existing care plans.

Learn more about the specifics of what a psychiatric social worker does

Post a psychiatric social worker job for free, promote it for a fee

Identify your hiring needs

Before you post your psychiatric social worker job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a psychiatric social worker for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

Determine employee vs contractor status

Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

A psychiatric social worker's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, psychiatric social workers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

The following list breaks down different types of psychiatric social workers and their corresponding salaries.

Type of Psychiatric Social Worker	Description	Hourly rate
Psychiatric Social Worker	Social workers help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives. One group of social workers—clinical social workers—also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues.	$20-37
Family Therapist	A Family Therapist works with couples and families to help ameliorate marital and family issues. They can work in hospitals, treatment programs, government agencies, health organizations, and private practices.	$17-32
Family Counselor	A Family Counselor treats married couples or family members in order to help them overcome mental or emotional problems. They provide effective treatment measures to help the family members resolve their issues.	$12-29

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- Social Work
- Patients
- Crisis Intervention
- Rehabilitation
- Discharge Planning
- Mental Health
- Psychosocial Assessments
- Community Agencies
- Community Resources
- Group Therapy Sessions
- Mental Illness
- Patient Care
- Family Therapy
- Social Services
Check all skills
Responsibilities:
- Screen, identify, diagnose using DSM nomenclature, treat and manage mental health and/or substance abuse problems.
- Provide clinical supervision and oversight to MSW intern who provide assessments and treatment.
- Participate in weekly hospital social services meetings, weekly individual supervision, and facilitate change strategies for patients.
- Guide, mentore, and tutor both BSW and MSW students in internship programs.
- Assist individual in developing and practicing the skills define on their psychiatric rehabilitation plans.
- Follow patients throughout hospitalization, working closely with attending psychiatrist; involve in family, individual and group treatment.
More psychiatric social worker duties

Make a budget

Including a salary range in your psychiatric social worker job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A psychiatric social worker salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

For example, the average salary for a psychiatric social worker in North Carolina may be lower than in California, and an entry-level psychiatric social worker usually earns less than a senior-level psychiatric social worker. Additionally, a psychiatric social worker with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

Average psychiatric social worker salary

$59,144yearly

$28.43 hourly rate

Entry-level psychiatric social worker salary

$43,000 yearly salary

Updated December 30, 2025

Average psychiatric social worker salary by state

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	California	$93,575	$45
2	Oregon	$72,980	$35
3	New Jersey	$69,091	$33
4	Washington	$68,959	$33
5	Connecticut	$67,712	$33
6	Indiana	$62,146	$30
7	Pennsylvania	$61,599	$30
8	Michigan	$57,821	$28
9	Maryland	$57,477	$28
10	Arizona	$56,626	$27
11	Massachusetts	$55,970	$27
12	New York	$53,655	$26
13	Wisconsin	$49,203	$24

Average psychiatric social worker salary by company

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
1	Highmark	$81,303	$39.09	72
2	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$71,698	$34.47	43
3	Community Health Systems	$70,090	$33.70	43
4	Hunt Regional Healthcare	$69,427	$33.38
5	Boston Medical Center	$67,967	$32.68	20
6	Medcom	$66,672	$32.05
7	Tenet Healthcare	$66,156	$31.81	48
8	Acacia Network	$65,094	$31.30	3
9	Ellis Medicine	$65,055	$31.28	1
10	Dignity Health	$63,806	$30.68	62
11	Washington State University	$63,656	$30.60	1
12	Washington County	$62,491	$30.04	2
13	University of Maryland Medical System	$62,450	$30.02	46
14	University of Massachusetts Boston	$62,335	$29.97
15	RWJBarnabas Health	$62,259	$29.93	22
16	St. Luke's Health System	$61,481	$29.56	24
17	Chime	$61,448	$29.54	6
18	Yale New Haven Health	$60,478	$29.08	16
19	Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center	$60,110	$28.90	5
20	Milwaukee County	$60,034	$28.86

Writing a psychiatric social worker job description
A good psychiatric social worker job description should include a few things:
- Summary of the role
- List of responsibilities
- Required skills and experience
Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a psychiatric social worker job description:
Psychiatric social worker job description example
What You Will Do:

Psychaiatric Social Worker
University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center
PRN
Glen Burnie, Maryland

The Right Choice. Right Here.

We're looking for talented professionals to join our unique and Talented Team at UM Baltimore Washington Medical Center - named a Top Workplace in the Baltimore area by the Baltimore Sun in 2019 .

As a member of our team, you'll experience:
- A supportive and collaborative work environment
- A comprehensive benefits package including health, vision and dental coverage including prescription drug coverage - Tax-Free Savings Plans, Tuition Reimbursement and more!
- Work Life Balance: You'll accrue paid time off; we offer dependent care reimbursement, short/long term disability and an employee assistance program.
- Educational Assistance: We support your continuing education and career advancement by offering tuition reimbursement & continuing education options.
- Free parking onsite
General Summary

Under limited supervision, the Psychiatric Social Worker is responsible for assessment of the patient's psychosocial needs including the development of treatment goals and discharge plan. The social worker interprets and performs complex patient care assessments specific to psychiatric care and treatment. Social workers are members of the Treatment Team and have accountability to function as a team facilitator to accomplish patient outcomes identified on the treatment plan.
The Psychiatric Social Worker is a professional member of the interdisciplinary team and provides individual and group therapy interventions. The social worker provides care to those patients via therapeutic use of self, the social work process, and the environment of car. The social worker collaborates with other team members, according to established standards. Patients served include late adolescence, Adult and Adult-Geriatric.
Mission
All employees are responsible for extending the mission and values of Baltimore Washington Medical Center by dedicating oneself to providing the highest quality healthcare services to the communities we serve.

What You Need to Be Successful:

Qualifications
Master's degree from accredited school of social work required. Currently licensed in the State of Maryland required. Previous psychiatric or healthcare experience required. Knowledge of DSM-IV-TR required. Basic computer skills preferred.

We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Post your job
There are a few common ways to find psychiatric social workers for your business:
- Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
- Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
Post your job online:
- Post your psychiatric social worker job on Zippia to find and recruit psychiatric social worker candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
Recruiting psychiatric social workers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.
Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new psychiatric social worker
Once you have selected a candidate for the psychiatric social worker position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.
It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.
Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new psychiatric social worker. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.
Go through the hiring process checklist
- Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
- Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
- Define job responsibilities and requirements
- Establish budget and timeline
- Determine hiring decision makers for the role
- Write job description
- Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
- Promote the job internally
- Process applications through applicant tracking system
- Review resumes and cover letters
- Shortlist candidates for screening
- Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
- Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
- Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
- Conduct background checks on top candidates
- Check references of top candidates
- Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
- Extend offer to top candidate(s)
- Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
- Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
- Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
- Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a psychiatric social worker?

Before you start to hire psychiatric social workers, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire psychiatric social workers pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

The median annual salary for psychiatric social workers is $59,144 in the US. However, the cost of psychiatric social worker hiring can vary a lot depending on location. Additionally, hiring a psychiatric social worker for contract work or on a per-project basis typically costs between $20 and $37 an hour.

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Updated December 30, 2025

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How to hire a psychiatric social worker