How to hire a social services manager

How to hire a social services manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step social services manager hiring guide:

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

What does a social services manager do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The social services manager hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect social services manager also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of social services managers.

   Type of Social Services Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Social Services Manager	Social and human service assistants provide client services, including support for families, in a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation, and social work. They assist other workers, such as social workers, and they help clients find benefits or community services.	$17-38
   Program Coordinator	Program coordinators are mid-level employees who are assigned to work on a program of a specific department. They handle the communications between their department and any other department that they may need to collaborate with... Show more	$14-30
   Volunteer	Volunteers are usually unpaid individuals who render their service to a company or organization. Most of the time, volunteers are skilled in specific areas needed by the organization but prefer to provide free service... Show more	$11-19

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Social Work
   • Patients
   • Discharge Planning
   • Mental Health
   • Crisis Intervention
   • Psychosocial Assessments
   • Provide Emotional Support
   • Community Resources
   • Rehabilitation
   • Financial Assistance
   • Emotional Support
   • Facebook
   • Patient Care
   • Long-Term Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the MSW staff and coordinate all social service and select patient service activities.
   • Research community services for patient care and coordinate transportation for patients to external organizations for short and long-term treatment.
   • Provide case-management for patients in a rehabilitation setting, assisting with referrals to appropriate agencies and resources in their local area.
   • Assist with Medicaid applications and insurance problems.
   • Process payroll information in an accurate and timely manner.
   • Help residents with their advance directives, assist in filing Medicaid applications and file and investigate grievances.

   More social services manager duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the social services manager job description is a good way to get more applicants. A social services manager salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a social services manager in Minnesota may be lower than in Nevada, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level social services manager. Additionally, a social services manager with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average social services manager salary

   $55,773yearly

   $26.81 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level social services manager salary

   $37,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

   Average social services manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$80,924	$39
   2	New York	$72,272	$35
   3	California	$72,246	$35
   4	Connecticut	$70,830	$34
   5	New Jersey	$67,043	$32
   6	Virginia	$63,517	$31
   7	Pennsylvania	$62,946	$30
   8	Colorado	$58,185	$28
   9	Washington	$55,542	$27
   10	Massachusetts	$53,904	$26
   11	Texas	$53,232	$26
   12	Florida	$53,011	$25
   13	North Dakota	$51,644	$25
   14	Oregon	$50,398	$24
   15	Illinois	$50,114	$24
   16	North Carolina	$48,963	$24
   17	Ohio	$47,834	$23
   18	Utah	$47,794	$23
   19	Georgia	$43,520	$21

   Average social services manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Cloudflare	$95,486	$45.91
   2	Wpp Us Holdings Inc	$75,414	$36.26	19
   3	Ketchum	$73,592	$35.38	15
   4	Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego	$68,734	$33.05
   5	Wpromote	$68,341	$32.86	1
   6	Bayer	$67,916	$32.65	4
   7	Dignity Health	$67,711	$32.55	95
   8	French Park Care Center	$67,282	$32.35
   9	Consulate Health Care	$66,663	$32.05
   10	San Bernardino County	$66,123	$31.79
   11	Fresenius Medical Care North America Holdings Limited Partnership	$66,112	$31.78	88
   12	Berkshire Healthcare	$65,023	$31.26	24
   13	Creative Associates International	$64,861	$31.18
   14	Highmark	$64,114	$30.82	111
   15	Southern Healthcare	$63,629	$30.59
   16	Graduate School USA	$63,543	$30.55
   17	TaxSlayer	$62,422	$30.01
   18	World Economic Forum	$62,373	$29.99
   19	Beaumont Health	$60,802	$29.23	1
   20	The reThink Group	$60,509	$29.09

4. Writing a social services manager job description

   A good social services manager 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 social services manager job description:

   Social services manager job description example

   The Manager is the day-to-day steward of social media campaign development, activation and innovation. This person will work closely with the media strategy and client teams to translate high-level marketing goals and media objectives into impactful paid media campaigns on social networks. The Manager is responsible for day-to-day management of a team of Analysts/Sr. Analysts including both project management to ensure timely delivery of all tasks and career development.
   
   This position is both strategic and tactical in scope and requires the ability to apply detailed paid social knowledge to actionable insights and recommendations. This person will assist the Associate Media Director and Director in driving strategic paid social expertise within the team as well as helping to develop innovative strategies to meet and exceed client business objectives.
   Role Objectives:
   
   Direct and manage the daily workflow of all paid social campaigns, including proposal development, campaign activation & maintenance, and post-buy recaps
   
   Interface with Investment, Strategy, and Activation media teams to respond to client briefs, build strategic campaign plans, communicate service offerings, and to identify and deliver new solutions in a collaborative fashion
   
   Assist in training, mentoring, and developing team members
   
   Compile data across several social media platforms and work in collaboration with the Analytics team to create weekly/monthly reports, including analysis for insights, optimizations and future strategy development
   
   Adopt established account management standards and enhance campaign best practices
   
   Monitor the latest trends in social media, including advertising formats, channels and technologies in order to improve campaign performance and provide recommendations on how clients can best leverage new tools and services
   
   Champion and facilitate communication and collaboration within the team and the agency
   
   Participate in regular knowledge share sessions to present and learn new strategies for optimizing and enhancing campaign performance
   
   Develop action plans for achieving and measuring social media success, including setting key metrics, measurement and optimization strategies
   
   Advocate the value of social media and help educate clients, partners and internal teams on the latest developments and capabilities in this fast-growing media channel
   
   Provide oversight and direction to team of dedicated social media buyers
   
   Lead regular check-ins on campaign performance and track against KPIs
   
   Provide direction as needed for improving campaign performance through optimization and/or implementing new features and strategies
   
   Create and deliver presentations to both clients and internal teams showcasing campaign strategy and performance results
   
   Develop points of view on new technologies, trends and opportunities in the social media marketplace

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right social services manager for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with social services managers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit social services managers who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your social services manager job on Zippia to find and recruit social services manager candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit social services managers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you 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.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new social services manager

   Once you've found the social services manager candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new social services manager. 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.

8. 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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