What does a social work administrator do?
Social work administrator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real social work administrator resumes:
- Collaborate with partners including public and private agencies to achieve permanency for children.
- Have worked with private insurances as well Medicare, Medicaid and all Medicaid HMO's.
- Advise hundreds of disable, retire, and transitioning veterans about VA, disability, education, and state benefits.
- Provide therapeutic interventions for veterans and their families.
- Handle patients' qualification & maintain application document securely.
- Assist patients with community resource planning-promotion of community centered services including education, advocacy, referral and linkage.
- Lead and develop the technical strategy for improving architectural and design elements of SharePoint to enhance utilization and drive user functionality.
- Advocate for youth at IEP and court meetings.
- Facilitate individual and group therapy, using evidence-base practices for persons with PTSD, and dual-diagnosis including substance abuse disorders.
Social work administrator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 33% of Social Work Administrators are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Mental Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Emotional skills, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Social Work Administrators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 33%
Supervised a Social Work team of 22 and initiated programs that substantially increased program accountability.
- Patients, 19%
Assisted patients with community resource planning-promotion of community centered services including education, advocacy, referral and linkage.
- Mental Health, 11%
Maintain an average caseload of fifteen children who may have extensive mental health and/or behavioral challenges.
- Community Resources, 5%
Assessed participants and family members psychological needs and provided limited counseling and referrals to appropriate community resources.
- Social Services, 4%
Provide social services for residents and their loved ones.
- Crisis Intervention, 4%
Provided crisis intervention responding to critical incidents including behavior management and emergency hospitalization.
"social work," "patients," and "mental health" are among the most common skills that social work administrators use at work. You can find even more social work administrator responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform social work administrator duties is interpersonal skills. Social work administrators responsibilities require that "social workers must be able to work with different groups of people." Social work administrators also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "utilized interpersonal skills to facilitate group and individual therapy sessions to support to clientele. "
Organizational skills. social work administrators are also known for organizational skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to social work administrator responsibilities, because "social workers must help and manage multiple clients, often assisting with their paperwork or documenting their treatment." A social work administrator resume example shows how organizational skills is used in the workplace: "redesign organizational chart for social work department. "
Communication skills. A big part of what social work administrators do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to social work administrator responsibilities because "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical social work administrator tasks: "maintained communication with treatment teams consisting of parents, therapists, teachers and other social workers. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for social work administrator responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of social work administrators all the time, as "social workers must analyze their clients’ complex situations and develop practical solutions." An excerpt from a real social work administrator resume shows how this skill is central to what a social work administrator does: "provided individual therapy to adult clients utilizing a variety of treatment modalities, including problem-solving therapy and motivational interviewing. "
Compassion. While "compassion" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to social work administrator responsibilities. Much of what a social work administrator does relies on this skill, seeing as "social workers often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of social work administrators: "assisted with the preparation of the 1st annual compassion fatigue symposium.administrative director managed all office operations including office and field staff. "
The three companies that hire the most social work administrators are:
- Saint Vincent Hospital5 social work administrators jobs
- Tenet Healthcare2 social work administrators jobs
- Hargrove Engineers + Constructors2 social work administrators jobs
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Compare different social work administrators
Social work administrator vs. Group home manager
As a group home manager, your job responsibility is to oversee the daily operations of the establishment. Depending on the organization, you may be in charge of the hiring and training of staff and developing budgets. You may also be tasked with the implementation of programs and scheduling of employees in the care facility.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, social work administrator responsibilities require skills like "patients," "social services," "discharge planning," and "child abuse." Meanwhile a typical group home manager has skills in areas such as "developmental disabilities," "medication administration," "direct supervision," and "behavioral issues." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Group home managers tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $35,712. In contrast, social work administrators make the biggest average salary, $64,181, in the health care industry.group home managers tend to reach lower levels of education than social work administrators. In fact, group home managers are 7.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Social work administrator vs. Volunteer leader
Student managers are executives who assist in coaching staff with practice management and games. They are employed to ensure the efficient and safe operation of the organizations. Their responsibilities include chasing work for the excluded students, student monitoring, positive role models, supporting students in need, and assisting with the transition. This job's necessary skills include effective communication, knowledge of external agencies, and the right education level with passing grades in math and English.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that social work administrator responsibilities requires skills like "social work," "patients," "mental health," and "community resources." But a volunteer leader might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "leadership," "community outreach," "ministry," and "role model."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Volunteer leaders tend to reach lower levels of education than social work administrators. In fact, they're 7.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for social work administrators in the next 3-5 years?
Debra Minsky-Kelly
Director of Field Education / Clinical Assistant Professor of Social Work, Carthage College
Social work administrator vs. Member/volunteer
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a social work administrator is likely to be skilled in "social work," "patients," "mental health," and "community resources," while a typical member/volunteer is skilled in "community outreach," "emergency calls," "cpr," and "non-profit organization."
Most member/volunteers achieve a lower degree level compared to social work administrators. For example, they're 5.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Social work administrator vs. Student manager
Even though a few skill sets overlap between social work administrators and student managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a social work administrator might have more use for skills like "social work," "patients," "mental health," and "community resources." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of student managers require skills like "customer service," "food safety," "food service," and "alumni. "
In general, student managers earn the most working in the education industry, with an average salary of $50,101. The highest-paying industry for a social work administrator is the health care industry.student managers reach lower levels of education compared to social work administrators, in general. The difference is that they're 10.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of social work administrator
Updated January 8, 2025
