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Social services assistant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
Quoted experts
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.,
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.
Social services assistant example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical social services assistant skills. We ranked the top skills for social services assistants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.9% of social services assistant resumes contained social work as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a social services assistant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 social services assistant skills for your resume and career

1. Social Work

Here's how social services assistants use social work:
  • Support Social Workers in collecting all necessary information and completing resident files, while simultaneously maintaining utmost confidentiality.
  • Provide administrative and clerical support to intake and investigative social workers, supervisors and unit coordinators.

2. Patients

Here's how social services assistants use patients:
  • Worked to resolve patients concerns, provided medical professionals with alternative and suggestions to resolve issues accurately and timely.
  • Establish, maintain and generate military and community contacts structured to address various services available to respective patients.

3. Rehabilitation

Here's how social services assistants use rehabilitation:
  • Developed, organized and conducted programs to prevent and resolve problems relevant to substance abuse, human relationships and rehabilitation.
  • Provide Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling and residential administration for 16-24 at-risk youth coming from distressed backgrounds.

4. Discharge Planning

Here's how social services assistants use discharge planning:
  • Provided quality admission assessments and education to potential patients and families with excellent case management and discharge planning coordination.
  • Assist Social Services Director with Resident discharge planning and coordinating post discharge needs including scheduling transportation.

5. Term Care

Here's how social services assistants use term care:
  • Identified the need for medically-related social services for residents primarily in long-term care residents at a skilled nursing facility.
  • Provided therapeutic interventions to assist residents with their transition and adjustment to a long-term care facility.

6. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how social services assistants use community resources:
  • Developed, maintained and utilized a listing of current community resources that were useful to residents and their families/significant others.
  • Served as a representative/advocate for seniors seeking public, private and community resources/programs.

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7. Community Agencies

Community agencies stand for the organizations operated to provide human service in the community.

Here's how social services assistants use community agencies:
  • Maintained effective working relationships with clients, staff and representatives from other community agencies.
  • Maintained and worked efficiently and effectively with outside agencies and referring community agencies.

8. Admission Process

Here's how social services assistants use admission process:
  • Manage the admission process for the center (100% internal marketing).
  • Assist with the admission process; Interview potential residents and family members.

9. Mental Health

Mental health is the state of wellbeing in which an individual can cope with the regular stresses and tensions of life, and can work productively without having any emotional or psychological breakdown. Mental health is essential for a person of any age and helps them make the right decisions in their life.

Here's how social services assistants use mental health:
  • Performed case management services and support credentialed providers addressing treatment issues with specific patient populations in mental health settings.
  • Provided recommendations and testimony in court regarding clients' mental health/addictive diseases needs.

10. Room Changes

Here's how social services assistants use room changes:
  • Run errands for residents weekly, make room changes when need, daily AHT computer work, and room visits daily.
  • Assisted residents and families with adjustment to changes, including room changes, physician changes, etc.

11. Compassion

Here's how social services assistants use compassion:
  • Provided medical, spiritual/emotional care, encompassing quality, dignity, compassion and confidentiality.
  • Show compassion and empathy to an ethnically diverse population.

12. Home Health

Here's how social services assistants use home health:
  • Perform clerical and administrative work by scanning, copying and faxing reports to home health care, insurance, and physician.
  • Referred for ancillary services, psychiatric and psychological consults, hospice, placement, transportation, home health, medical equipment.

13. Psychosocial Assessments

Here's how social services assistants use psychosocial assessments:
  • Complete psychosocial assessments, advance directives and cognitive testing.
  • Conducted psychosocial assessments and determined clients' specific needs.

14. Social History

Here's how social services assistants use social history:
  • Conducted intake interviews and periodic Mini Mental Status Examinations to test cognitive ability and evaluate social history.
  • Collected social history information from residents or family members.

15. Federal Regulations

Federal regulations refer to the set of rules, both general and permanent that are published in the Federal Register by the agencies of the federal government and the executive departments. Federal regulations are the large body of rules that govern federal practice. Examples of these laws include taxes and financial regulation, discrimination law, wages law, and so on.

Here's how social services assistants use federal regulations:
  • Review facility policies and procedures as part of the facility s interdisciplinary team to assure compliance with state and federal regulations.
  • Perform weekly audits to remain in compliance with state and federal regulations while maintaining documentation for monthly Quality Assurance meetings.
top-skills

What skills help Social Services Assistants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on social services assistant resumes?

Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.

Associate Dean, University of Nevada - Reno

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 social services assistants possess?

Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.

Associate Dean, University of Nevada - Reno

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 social services assistants?

Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.

Associate Dean, University of Nevada - Reno

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 social services assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Emily McCave PhD, MSW, LCSW

Professor of Social Work, Website

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 type of skills will young social services assistants need?

Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Indeed, the way we work is changing. The skills that young graduates will need are diverse. Transferable skills and soft skills will certainly be marketable. These include traditional crafts such as communication, but I also think the world expects more empathy from its employees. Young graduates with an understanding of racism, sexism, and environmental responsibility will become increasingly important.

What technical skills for a social services assistant stand out to employers?

Dr. T. Thao Pham Ph.D.Dr. T. Thao Pham Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor, MSW Program Director, California University of Pennsylvania

Agencies are looking for graduates with leadership skills, collaborative skills, grant-writing skills, clinical skills, and good organization skills. Graduates are expected to meet high expectations from employers early on and those who may find themselves moving quickly in the organization as administrators. We have many recent graduates who are now managers, supervisors, and coordinators within 3 years of graduating.

List of social services assistant skills to add to your resume

Social services assistant skills

The most important skills for a social services assistant resume and required skills for a social services assistant to have include:

  • Social Work
  • Patients
  • Rehabilitation
  • Discharge Planning
  • Term Care
  • Community Resources
  • Community Agencies
  • Admission Process
  • Mental Health
  • Room Changes
  • Compassion
  • Home Health
  • Psychosocial Assessments
  • Social History
  • Federal Regulations
  • Minimum Data Set
  • Social Care
  • Patient Care
  • Dementia Care
  • Medicare
  • Medicaid
  • Substance Abuse
  • Admission Paperwork
  • Financial Assistance
  • Support Services
  • Resident Assessments
  • Care Plan
  • Care Conferences
  • Community Services
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Discharge Process
  • Provide Emotional Support
  • Durable Medical Equipment
  • Hippa
  • Veterans
  • Advocacy Program
  • Ancillary Services
  • Scheduling Appointments
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Alzheimer
  • Emotional Support
  • IDT
  • Client Service
  • Medical Appointments
  • HIPAA
  • Bims
  • Domestic Violence
  • Employability
  • Doctor Appointments

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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