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What does a social work associate do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Virginia Schwindt

Social work associates are entry-level professionals who assist licensed clinical social workers in their day-to-day duties. The associates assist people in need and offer mental health services such as psychotherapy and counseling. They help social workers with gathering and maintaining client case files, weekly supervisory sessions, and provide referrals to clients who require additional assistance. They need to desire to help others and display a caring, compassionate, and friendly attitude. Also, they should be able to multitask, be well-organized, and have excellent time management and problem-solving skills.

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Social work associate responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real social work associate resumes:

  • Collaborate with partners including public and private agencies to achieve permanency for children.
  • Provide additional services for patients and families including travel arrangements, financial entitlements, and community resources.
  • Provide anonymous counseling and testing services for the HIV for clients.
  • Produce all contracts, prepare the work breakdown, train staff and clients, do payroll and reporting for compliance
  • Assist nurses in recovering post-operative patients.
  • Coordinate weekly payroll and confidential personnel records.
  • Provide supportive counseling to enhance coping skills and provide education to enhance veterans understands of medical conditions and disease management requirements.
  • Utilize SharePoint to update pertinent information for co-workers as well as ensure confidentiality and HIPAA guidelines are follow.

Social work associate skills and personality traits

We calculated that 27% of Social Work Associates are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Facebook. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.

We break down the percentage of Social Work Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Social Work, 27%

    Provided individual and group cognitive-behavioral therapy supervised by licensed clinical social worker.

  • Patients, 14%

    Provided additional services for patients and families including travel arrangements, financial entitlements, and community resources.

  • Facebook, 12%

    Managed campaign builds and optimizations on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter in an assortment of client verticals.

  • Social Services, 11%

    Provided social services to those at risk of being placed in a nursing home.

  • Community Resources, 6%

    Researched and became knowledgeable about community resources and other governmental agencies to make appropriate recommendations for referrals to services.

  • Patient Care, 4%

    Served on Patient Care Committee and Utilization Management Sub-Committee.

Most social work associates use their skills in "social work," "patients," and "facebook" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential social work associate responsibilities here:

Compassion. The most essential soft skill for a social work associate to carry out their responsibilities is compassion. This skill is important for the role because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Additionally, a social work associate resume shows how their duties depend on compassion: "provided compassionate emotional support to patients and families analyzed patient requirements for community resources and recreational activities. "

Time-management skills. Another essential skill to perform social work associate duties is time-management skills. Social work associates responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." Social work associates also use time-management skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provide consultation time for social workers involved in a placement of hispanic/latino children in non-hispanic foster care homes. "

Communication skills. social work associates are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to social work associate responsibilities, because "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." A social work associate resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "assisted in improving and strengthening the community outreach program by gathering resources for a communication brochure. "

Interpersonal skills. social work associate responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." This resume example shows what social work associates do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "administered trauma-informed clinical interventions utilizing interpersonal therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and equine assisted therapy. "

Organizational skills. Another common skill required for social work associate responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of social work associates all the time, as "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." An excerpt from a real social work associate resume shows how this skill is central to what a social work associate does: "researched and developed organizational policy regarding child abuse and neglect. "

Problem-solving skills. Lastly, "problem-solving skills" is an important element of what a social work associate does. Social work associate responsibilities require this skill because "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." This resume example highlights how social work associate duties rely on this skill: "responded to referrals by performing in-home child abuse and neglect assessments that utilize solution-focused and motivational interviewing skills. "

Most common social work associate skills

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Compare different social work associates

Social work associate vs. 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. They may be employed in another organization, but they lend their time and talent to another organization or company to give back to the community. They raise funds, create awareness, and work on the ground. Volunteers usually choose a cause or advocacy close to their heart, such as teaching children, taking care of the elderly, coaching sports teams, cleaning up communities, and caring for animals.

The annual salary of volunteers is $12,270 lower than the average salary of social work associates.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between social work associates and volunteers are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like patient care, community services, and emotional support.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a social work associate are more likely to require skills like "social work," "patients," "facebook," and "social services." On the other hand, a job as a volunteer requires skills like "patient charts," "front desk," "community outreach," and "mathematics." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Volunteers tend to reach lower levels of education than social work associates. In fact, volunteers are 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Social work associate vs. Liaison

A liaison is a middle person responsible for collaborating different institutes, managing professional relationships to create benefiting results that would help a business' meet its goals and objectives. Duties of a liaison include facilitating communications, establishing partnership contract plans and procedures, managing conflicts, providing immediate resolution for concerns, and evaluating collaboration parameters. A liaison must be highly knowledgeable about the subject matters of the represented organization, handling inquiries, and coming up with strategic solutions to make the project successful.

On average, liaisons earn a $10,240 higher salary than social work associates a year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both social work associates and liaisons have skills such as "social work," "patients," and "facebook. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, social work associate responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "social services," "excellent organizational," "substance abuse," and "child abuse." Meanwhile, a liaison has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "home health," "rehabilitation," and "veterans." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

On average, liaisons earn a higher salary than social work associates. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, liaisons earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $77,941. Whereas social work associates have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $45,535.In general, liaisons achieve similar levels of education than social work associates. They're 0.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for social work associates in the next 3-5 years?

Virginia SchwindtVirginia Schwindt LinkedIn profile

MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University

Telehealth and the internet. Suppose the Pandemic has taught us one thing, that is that we can still meet people and their needs through the online environment. In my opinion, it is not the best way, but it is a way to meet with people and to be able to assist them, rather than people sitting alone and without assistance.

Social work associate vs. Case aide

A case aide is responsible for supporting the community operations and projects to provide high-quality services for the citizens and assist them with the resources for their daily needs. Case aides are also employed in a health care institution or private households to look for patients and monitor their conditions. They coordinate with other institutions in requesting fundings and sponsorships for community programs to help the citizens, especially for financial support. A case aide must have excellent communication and organizational skills in processing paperwork and sorting files for service reference.

An average case aide eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of social work associates. The difference in salaries amounts to case aides earning a $10,570 lower average salary than social work associates.By looking over several social work associates and case aides resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "social work," "patients," and "social services." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

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 associate is likely to be skilled in "facebook," "patient care," "excellent organizational," and "discharge planning," while a typical case aide is skilled in "foster care," "mental health," "phone calls," and "foster children."

Case aides earn the best pay in the government industry, where they command an average salary of $34,543. Social work associates earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $45,535.When it comes to education, case aides tend to earn lower degree levels compared to social work associates. In fact, they're 6.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Social work associate vs. Advocate

An advocate is a voice for the voiceless. It is their responsibility to speak on behalf of an individual or a particular cause. Most of the duties will vary depending on the line of organization or duty involved; however, an advocate must have extensive knowledge or background on the subject matter. Furthermore, an advocate must be present at gatherings regarding the cause, assist in the negotiation and mediation processes involving contracts and legal documentation, provide or convey accurate information, and defend what they represent.

Advocates average a lower salary than the annual salary of social work associates. The difference is about $4,000 per year.While both social work associates and advocates complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like patients, social services, and community resources, the two careers vary in some skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap between social work associates and advocates, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a social work associate might have more use for skills like "social work," "facebook," "excellent organizational," and "discharge planning." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of advocates require skills like "cpr," "customer service," "cleanliness," and "safety planning. "

Advocates enjoy the best pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $40,536. For comparison, social work associates earn the highest salary in the health care industry.advocates reach similar levels of education compared to social work associates, in general. The difference is that they're 2.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of social work associate

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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