Social Work Resume: Downloadable Sample & Guide

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With a job so heavily revolving around dozens of soft skills, being able to write a good resume may be at the bottom of many future social workers’ talents.  

That’s where we come in! 

If you’ve been asking yourself how to write a resume for days on end, then this guide is for you. 

With an expected job growth rate of 9% between 2021 and 2031 according to the BLS, there are more opportunities for you to make your mark in the social work sector, which motivated us even more to put together this thorough guide. 

So take out your pen and pad and let’s crack the best social work resume code together!

“First we read, then we write,” said Emerson (but also every Career Counselor to their applicants when writing their social work resumes). 

Usually, career counselors notice the way an applicant presents their skills, experiences, and employees’ abilities. In many cases, flowery language in a resume often ends up in the trash due to a lack of professionalism (depends on where you’re applying) or simply because of the dull over-explaining. 

Another common resume error is being too general and leaving out the specific details and metrics needed. 

So, before you write your resume, there are several points you must cover properly. 

To point you in the right direction, read through our complete social work resume sample first, and then we’ll break down each part of the resume to give you a greater understanding.

Resume Example

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[Olivia Lewinski]

[Licensed Clinical Social Worker]

[32 Mc Daniel St SW 30303 | 855-280-7877 | oli.lewinski@gmail.com]

Summary

LCSW with 5+ years of experience. Aiming to teach the young generation at New York University about the coping mechanism of autistic people and exceed their goals according to a pre-planned development schedule. At Children’s Healthcare Atlanta conducted 50 treatment plans for 40 children with 80% success in two trimesters.

Experience 

LCSW 

Marcus Autism Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 2018-present

• Conducted Treatment Plans and Assessment for autistic children
• Conducted special cognitive activities through games with 85% success.
• Organized outdoor events to develop the adjustment skills earlier.

LCSW

New York-Presbyterian Hospital, 2016-2018

• Provided special development of treatment plans for autistic adults. Managed a case load of 45-50 per month
• Offered parental counseling on autism
• Successfully evaluated and intervenes in crisis situations with autistic episodes.
• Collaborated with colleagues to develop special programs as pandemic coping mechanisms.

Social Worker

US Veterans Health Administration, 2015-2016

• Provided psychotherapy services to approximately 60 individuals each month
• Launched events for patients suffering from mental health illnesses
• Offered counseling for closest relatives of severely depressed patients

Education 

Master’s Degree

Columbia University

2015-2016

• Thesis: Appropriate Care for Autistic Adults – acknowledged by the New York Times.

Bachelor’s Degree

New York University

2011-2015

• Graduated with honors
• Participated in student conferences
• Conducted a workshop with creative ideas for autistic children

Skills

• Crisis Intervention
• Evaluation
• Psychosocial Assessing
• Developing Treatment Plans

• Active Listening
• Emotional Intelligence
• Evaluation
• Collaboration

Certifications

• Academy of Certified Social Workers Credential (ACSW)
• Certified School Social Work Specialist (C-SSWS)
• Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA)

Pubblications

• Article on Assessing Post-COVID PTSD published in Oxford Academic
• Spoke at Social Work Discoveries podcast about enhanced empathy during the pandemic

Additional Activities

• Part-time counselor at US Veterans Health Administration
• Member of American Cancer Society
• Weekly creative activities as fuel for clearer organization, assessments, and developing treatment plans.

Also, if you’re really struggling to write your resume, check out our already designed social work resume templates.  

There are multiple resume templates you could use, but one specific format works like a charm with social workers. 

According to career counselors, and HR experts, the best resume format for a social worker is the reverse-chronological format. 

As the name suggests, your social work resume will begin with the latest career information and detail your career backward. 

Although it might seem unconventional for a social work position, this resume type proved as the most readable template for two core reasons. 

1. Practicality – points out the most relevant information about the applicant, which is helpful, since the hiring managers will instantly know whether you have or don’t have the needed experience for their opening.
2. Vividness – it shows employees’ progressive skill development and the overall development into more demanding roles. So, in reverse, applicants’ social work resume skills get a better perspective.

Social Work Resume: Tips for a Perfect Reverse-Chronological Format

When writing your social work resume in reverse-chronological format, you should consider several factors.

Add a Resume Objective or Summary 

Essentially, resume objectives are mostly recommended for inexperienced candidates.

On the other hand, a summary is more fitting for experienced social work applicants who want to detail all relevant workplace accomplishments and past responsibilities in their resumes. 

Mention Your Qualifying Skills 

The social work skills you list on your resume must correspond to the job description and requirements. Don’t overstuff this section, but add other hard or soft skills you consider useful for the job.

Use Bullet Points to Break Brick Type Resume 

You don’t want the hiring manager to fall asleep halfway through your stellar career because of narrative writing, do you? Separate your cornerstones, and bullet point them.

Include Former Education, Licenses, Training 

Neatly organize and describe your educational experience from most recent to oldest. Ideally, licenses should always be listed first. 

Feature Your Published Projects

It’s always an advantage to have had some of your works published, or acknowledged by, meaningful media.

Mention Personal Interests Outside the Job

When describing your hobbies and interests this section, go for something professional or relevant to the job, not only hanging out with colleagues at the pub!

Do a Grammar Check

This is a no-brainer, but always double-check your resume for grammar errors or illogical sentences.

Also, remember to save your  resume as a PDF! The reason we say this is because PDFs are machine-readable and are more ATS (Applicant Tracking System) friendly. 

Social workers are a broad term with various fields of specialization.

You must specify your applicability for the job position with solid arguments, and statistics.

Check out how to write a social worker resume summary or objective that will bring you leaps and  bounds closer to the job you want.

Social Work Resume Summary Example 

The problem with this summary is that the 90s called, and they want their template back. 

It’s not that it doesn’t work, but it’s dated and unspecified. You must be sharper and clearer in how you present yourself as a match for the job you’re applying for. 

This summary will get you interviews because it’s sharp and self-explanatory.

The applicant immediately presents themselves as a licensed social worker that gets on their goals at the position they’re applying for.

Lastly, they support themselves with their achievements, mainly through facts and stats. No sugarcoating, no romanticizing the profession—just facts and objectives.

Remember, every time you take on a new position, you’ll need to update your resume, and your summary will need to reflect these change.

How to Write an Entry Level Social Work Resume Objective

In a nutshell, objectives are optional, and they’re recommended for entry-level social workers or those who are on the first ladder in their careers. 

Generally speaking, when writing their entry level social work resume objective, applicants can get creative and focus on their dream-job narrative.

Career counselors blame their eagerness and passion to start working, but that’s not an excuse.

As you’ll see shortly, passion is always a plus, but that’s not the determinant for you getting the job. To get it, you don’t write, but document your skills, knowledge, progress, and passion. 

So, check out our entry level social worker resume sample to see how it’s properly done.

Entry Level Social Work Resume Objectives  

Being passionate is awesome, and it’s always worth it. But, the chances of getting a job without showing evidence of any experience whatsoever are in the low percentiles.

Low, but not impossible because there’s a way to raise the odds of getting noticed, even if you don’t have direct work experience.

Check out a much-improved example below which includes volunteer work and research.

The experience section of your resume is the main determinant that will either get you the job or not.

Namely, this section must mirror your abilities, skills, and achievements. 

By that, we mean clear and straight to the point facts. Be as specific as possible to the job description you’re applying for.

The expert’s tip is to follow the job description as your guide. Because on a second look, you’ll notice the keywords that the employer will be looking for.

As you’ve seen in the example above, the experience section is organized in bullet points, which, combined with a professional font, make it easy to read.

It’s worth noting that HR experts advise pointing out only the most relevant activities you performed. 

Over the years, applicants used to elaborate too much on their past duties while unconsciously breaking the purpose of their resume. So, make your professional social work resume a concise, bullet-point summary of your experience, achievements and training, not an essay on past duties.

LCSW 

Marcus Autism Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 2018-present

• Conducted Treatment Plans and assessments for autistic children
• Carried out special cognitive activities through games which resulted in notable behavioural improvements and child stress levels halved.
• Organized outdoor events to develop the adjustment skills earlier.

Entry-Level Social Work Resume: Experience Section

If you don’t have the exact experience needed for the job, it’s time to spruce up your resume with experience that you can relate in some way.

Here, resume experts advise you can capitalize on your volunteering and internships that you have completed, relating them to the role you are applying for.

In doing so, you must add specific skills and accomplishments (if any) that will qualify you for the job, not simply list your duties. 

Therefore, if you’ve volunteered, assisted in interventions, got a scholarship from a social work company – feel free to add them all!

Check our promising entry-level experience section for a Social Worker:

Social Worker

Manhattan, NYC

• Offered psychosocial counseling, in assistance to Dr. Morris at New York University.
• Conducted treatment planning, and crisis therapy sessions for 50-70 patients per month.
• Collaborated with colleagues, and participated in psychological conferences to improve the treatment program for clients.
• Successfully conducted run events with 60 people under the mentorship of Dr. Jixon at US Veteran Hospital.

Take a look too at our Caregiver resume guide, if you have experience in that related sector that you might add to this section.

The social work profession is always a busy one for people looking to make a change in society. 

In a nutshell, social workers help communities by nurturing empathy and support. 

Currently, social workers can specialize in family relations, dealing with elders, dealing with the marginalized population, mental health issues, refugees, LGBTQ community—the list goes on.

If you want to train to be a social worker, there are several stages:

1. Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or similar field
2. Master’s Degree in Social Work or MSW-Equivalent Program
3. Finished Fieldwork Requirements
4. Finished ASWB Exam
5. Social Work License

Career experts advise that for each education entry you need to include:

1. Title earned
2. Name and location of the institution or college
3. Date completed

Below this information, add the achievements that will fit your application like coursework, projects, a high GPA (of 3.50 or above), thesis titles, etc. 

Master of Social Work (MSW)

New York University

2015–2016

• Graduated with honors.
• Volunteered in pandemic counseling, and researched post-pandemic depression.
• Published the work under the mentorship of the leading professor.

Bachelor of Social Work

New York University

2011–2015

• Outstanding performances and knowledge in dealing with crisis classes.
• Tutored younger colleagues
• Organized student meetings to normalize several stigmas and develop empathy in people.

Applicants often second-guess the importance of the skills section in their social worker resumes, and focus on adding more educational degrees. However, it’s the professional skills that weigh the most when looking for a related job. 

If you want to get the social work job you want, you have to enlist the best skills you have that can make you a more fitting choice.

To do so, you must read and re-read the job requirements. 

You’ll find certain keywords in the description, and it is wise to use them as part of your skills section. 

To emphasize your abilities, whether they be organizational skills, management skills, teaching, counselling, etc. it is best to use the given keywords as bullet points.

Below, we list some of the skills that all professional social workers should have.

Check them out to make your resume more concise:

• Intervention
• Psychopathology
• Critical Thinking
• Policy Awareness
• Empathy
• Organization
• Human Behavior
• Perceptiveness
• Counseling
• Persuasion
• Crisis Intervention
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Active Learning
• Active Listening
• Developing Treatment Plans
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
• Assessment
• Research
• Evaluation

While creating your skills bullet points, don’t copy-paste this list. Instead, make sure the list is tailor-made to you, and has been customized and adjusted to more accurately describe where you will excel in this job role. Don’t lie on your resume about the skills you possess, it never pays off!

For pointers, check out how we tackled the job requirement section!

Required Skills

1. Developing Treatment Plans
2. Assessment
3. Organization

With this in mind, your skills section should look something like this:

1. Developed Treatment Plans for 70 children at Children’s Healthcare Atlanta.
2. Provided assessment for 40 children per week.
3. Organized the needed documents as part of the job at Children’s Healthcare Atlanta.
4. High Persuasive skills

As you can see, apart from the needed job requirements for your social worker resume, we added yet another skill that we considered relevant enough to be included in your social worker resume.

Don’t blindly follow the job requirements and the important keywords for your resume. If there’s something you consider useful to have, don’t hesitate to add it in here, in this section.

Often applicants dismiss the Other Section as irrelevant. 

However, this part has a significant purpose, where you add more information about your career and personal life.

Essentially, the section should contain concise information other than the needed job requirements. 

Therefore, take this section as your final say why the employers should hire you. 

Think of your final arguments to convince the hiring managers, and add them to your resume. 

It can be a conference, publications, volunteering, related hobbies etc. Such information proves you’re a dynamic employee, and a potential member of the team you’re applying for.

Now let’s see how you should or shouldn’t write this section.

Social Work Resume Sample “Other” Sections

The Other section in a resume should offer a grasp on your personal activities, accomplishments, extra languages you speak, volunteering projects, hobbies and interests, and more. 

If there’s one thing you shouldn’t do with the Other resume section, it is this:

OTHER 

• Enjoys swimming
• Reading novels
• Hanging out with friends

This is a big no-no. Your employer appreciates your hobbies and activities as they are part of an interview, but in writing, or in your social work resume you have to be more specific, and relevant. 

Moreover, you should convince them you’re not a passive person. Instead, go for something like this:

Conferences

• 2021 Post-Pandemic Mental Health Conference – spoke about the coping mechanisms at New York University
• 2019 International Federation of Social Workers – Volunteered
• 2017 NASW Conference – Volunteer

Publications

• Article on Assessing Post-COVID PTSD published in Oxford Academic
• Spoke at Social Work Discoveries podcast about enhanced empathy during the pandemic

Additional Activities

• Part-time demonstrator at New York University 
• Member of American Cancer Society
• Weekly creative activities as fuel for clearer organization, assessments, and developing treatment plans.

The difference is more than obvious, and you take advantage of the other section as the final say to maximize your hiring chances.

Use the reverse-chronological template, as it points out your skills and abilities the best. 

When describing your goals and experience, avoid flowery language and stick to action verbs only. Using a correct action verb to replace three adjectives makes your resume neat and professional. 

Don’t forget to use bullet points. Read the job description and find the keywords that will make fine key points, but also mind supporting them with facts and stats.

Lastly, write one section at a time. Also, after writing each section, go back to our guide to check if you’re on the right path and that your section is following the guidelines we’ve set out in this social work resume guide. 

And of course, reread your resume at the end to ensure you have avoided any grammatical errors and that your social work resume is accurate and engaging.   

We hope you found our ResumeGiants guide helpful—now, go and write a knockout social work resume and start doing awesome work in your community!