What Does a Graduate Social Worker Do? Specialty "Social work": who to work with? Choice of profession

Social workers provide comprehensive assistance to people, interacting mainly with vulnerable categories of citizens. They work with refugees, orphans, pensioners, helping them to get social, legal and material support. The profession is suitable for those who have no interest in school subjects (see choosing a profession for interest in school subjects).

Short description

The profession is very ancient, several hundred years ago such specialists were called philanthropists, missionaries. Part of the social duties were assigned to the monks and nuns, who provided shelter, food and a minimum level of education to the poor people. Today everything has changed, and this work is being done authorized representatives social services, which are attached to each person or family in need of state aid and support. Mostly the specialist leads the following groups of citizens:

pensioners and people with disabilities;
children and adolescents suffering from congenital and acquired diseases, family violence and other problems;
women who are victims of any kind of violence;
dependent citizens;
people who lost their homes, were injured, lost loved ones during disasters;
large families and others.

The social worker is in direct contact with the population, checking the conditions in which children are kept, how the funds allocated by the state for a newborn are distributed. They carry products to sick people and pensioners, provide emotional support to citizens suffering from addictions (alcohol, drugs, gambling, and others). The work is not easy and dangerous, because a specialist never knows what awaits him behind the closed door of an apartment. Social workers do not receive very high salaries, traditionally this profession is chosen by women who are more prone to compassion than men.

Features of the profession

A social worker must love people. This is the first requirement that is tacitly put forward to specialists. The duties of such an employee include the following list of mandatory work:

analysis of the entrusted site, selection of people in need of social assistance and protection (temporarily or permanently);
work with complaints and appeals of the population, verification of information, decision-making on each individual application;
provision of all kinds social services informing citizens about their rights and obligations;
assistance in obtaining legal and other types of advice;
home delivery of food, drinking water, medicines, and other goods. A social worker can keep order in the house of people to whom he is attached, cook or heat food, deliver prepared food from relatives or from special canteens, pay bills;
assistance in processing applications and petitions for social assistance, preferential vouchers, services;
communication with socially unprotected citizens and their relatives;
rendering additional services: first health care, psychological support and others;
maintaining accounting and reporting documentation.

A social worker must have minimal knowledge of medicine, be an excellent psychologist, because his work combines the main features of these professions. The segment is characterized by high staff turnover, so employees are always needed. The specialist interacts with representatives of law enforcement, volunteer organizations, different groups teachers and doctors.

Pros and cons of the profession

pros

Huge social significance professions, because every day such specialists perform complex and important work improving the quality of life for many people.
Official employment and a solid number of vacancies.
Specialists are in demand in every major and small town Russia.
You can get a job without higher education.
Stable learning and development.
A large number of budget places in universities, the opportunity to get an education at full-time, part-time or part-time faculty.
The work will be an ideal solution for the humanities.

Minuses

Low paying job.
Constant contact with different segments of the population, whose representatives are not always friendly, honest.
Interaction with sick, dependent people can lead to infection with infectious and other types of diseases.
Labor is underestimated in the CIS countries.
The specialist spends a lot of time on his feet, is forced to perform a large amount of work.
The schedule may be irregular.
Social workers are often confronted with egregious cases of human cruelty, which can have a devastating effect on morale.

Important Personal Qualities

Emotional stability and calmness are two essential qualities which must be present in the character of a good social worker. This specialist must have an excellent speech, inspire trust and respect, be able to listen and understand people. Other qualities are also important:

philanthropy;
tolerance;
resourcefulness;
self-control;
propensity to work in a team;
heightened sense of justice;
parity;
involvement in social processes.

In the character of a specialist there should be no pride, as well as greed, disgust.

Social worker training

master this difficult profession It is possible both in high school and in college. Entering a university, it is worth choosing the direction of preparation " Social work”, passing exams in the Russian language, history and social science, the training period is 5-6 years. It is also recommended to consider the following programs:

"Social work with youth";
"Social work in the system of social protection".

After the 9th or 11th grade, you can apply to college by choosing the faculty of social work. The term of study is 2-3 years, which depends on the basic training of the applicant and the chosen educational institution. Some colleges allow you to get admission based on your GPA without taking any exams.

Russian Institute vocational education"IPO" - recruits students to receive a specialty through a distance program professional retraining and advanced training. Studying at the IPO is a convenient and fast way to receive distance education. 200+ training courses. 8000+ graduates from 200 cities. Short deadlines for paperwork and external training, interest-free installments from the institute and individual discounts. Contact us!

Verity Educational Center

A wide range of various training programs that help improve the skills of people working in the field of social assistance. Classes are provided for individual employees as well as for entire teams. You can get knowledge in person or remotely. The programs include innovative development methods for children, rules for interacting with teenagers, labor protection and no less topical issues.

Colleges of Social Workers

St. Petersburg GBOU SPO "Polytechnic College of Urban Economy".
College for the training of social workers ("College No. 16"), Moscow.
Economic-Technological College of KIBT.

Higher education Social workers

Russian State Social University.
Moscow Pedagogical State University.
Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry A. I. Evdokimova.
First Moscow State Medical University. I. M. Sechenov.
Moscow Socio-Economic Institute.
Russian New University.
Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University.
St. Petersburg State University.
Saint Petersburg State University industrial technologies and design.
Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University.
Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University. V. P. Astafieva.
Yelets State University I. A. Bunina.
Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics.
Tula State Pedagogical University. L. N. Tolstoy.

Place of work

Social workers can find vacancies in state structures(social inspector), developing and correctional centers, employment services. Often these specialists are involved in volunteer activities, they can cooperate with the Red Cross and other public charitable organizations.

Social worker salary

Salary as of 11/19/2019

Russia 20000—55000 ₽

Moscow 30000—82165 ₽

Professional knowledge

Basic knowledge of psychology, medicine, social pedagogy, correctional work, conflict resolution.
Types and rules for the provision of social services.
Main ethical standards social work.
The rights and obligations of citizens who are provided with social protection and assistance.
Fundamentals of volunteering.
Methods of development of different age groups children.
Ways to restore psychological balance.
Fundamentals of planning activities, programs for bookkeeping and accounting, databases.

Whom to work on graduation from the university? In fact, it is very difficult to answer this question. After all, even many teachers cannot unambiguously answer students what lies ahead for them. Nevertheless, for some, building a career in this field is quite interesting and even successful. Unfortunately, there are few alternatives here. Here is such a cruel specialty "Social work". Where to work after graduation? Let's try to figure this out as soon as possible. After all, there are not so many vacancies offered, although the positions are, as a rule, constantly empty.

Social worker

Of course, the first place that can only be advised is - The thing is that this vacancy is not very popular in Russia, although it plays an important role for society.

You graduated with a degree in Social Work. Who to work? As already mentioned - a social worker. What to do here? You will have to help people in need as well as identify and register them. In other words, to be in the public service for "surveillance" of social development population.

A social worker is not the most promising position. This has been shown in practice. After all, becoming a boss will not work - for this you must have connections. But everyone can become an "ordinary" employee. Only the level of salaries, taking into account responsibility and emotional burden, is very, very small.

Politics

Work can also be in politics. The thing is that many graduates of this specialty have great prospects for personal growth. And this, like nothing else, will help them achieve success in politics.

In practice, to be honest, this situation is very rare. After all, the standard description of the specialty does not include any mention of political activity. As a rule, graduates are told that they will be able to get a job only as an ordinary social worker at some enterprise and work there almost all their lives.

So, do not think that "Social Work" is a sentence. You can easily become a successful politician. Only for this you will have to make a lot of effort. But the result will be able to please you in every sense.

teacher

Such a vacancy as a social teacher is very common today. To be honest, this position is most often found in kindergartens. There, graduates of the specialty "Social work" often become educators. Why is it so?

The thing is that such employees, as a rule, very quickly determine social problems in babies and their parents. And if necessary, they are registered as a dysfunctional family. This, in turn, helps eliminate problems and improve the atmosphere. And, of course, it has a positive effect on the child.

But social work with children is not particularly popular among graduates and young employees. The thing is that here you will not be able to receive high wages. Yes, and with career growth, things are very tight. Thus, only those who "have a soul" for this profession are able to work as a (social) teacher.

Nurse

You graduated with a degree in Social Work. Who to work after graduation? For example, such graduates have the opportunity to work as a professional nurse for the disabled. The prospect is not the most radiant, but this vacancy is almost always empty.

However, not everyone agrees to work as a nurse. Especially when you consider that, again, you will receive low wages, but during the working day you will have to give all your best. Often, nurses look like a squeezed lemon by the end of the week.

Therefore, young graduates are not particularly interested in this vacancy. They are more interested in the vacancy "dormitory teacher". Only in practice, people with a huge life experience. Usually this vacancy is occupied exclusively by women after 50 years. So young graduates have very little chance of getting this job.

Psychologist

A sociologist-psychologist is another place that is available to graduates. But here things are a little better than with previous vacancies. The thing is that you can work as a sociologist-psychologist both in public institution as well as in private. In the first case, you will be in the civil service, but wage you will be miserable. And there is a lot of work.

In the second case, you will not public service in experience, but the level of wages will be several times higher. In addition, the clientele is also different in these two places. In the first case, you will most likely have to work with disadvantaged families, and in the second, you will serve elite clients.

Of course, everyone chooses what is best for him. Only now, in practice, it has been proven that a sociologist-psychologist is quite often chosen as private work than the state. And this is understandable - for young employees it is very important career, as well as the level of wages, which do not meet in public institutions.

The medicine

You have a specialty "Social work" written in your diploma. Who to work? For example, in addition to all the listed vacancies, you can also work in medical institutions. And here there are several options for the development of events. Which ones? Let's figure it out.

For example, graduates of our today's specialty can work as a so-called social medical worker. This vacancy implies support and assistance to sick people. For example, work with alcohol and drug addicts, as well as with people with disabilities of various categories. This is far from the best place for young and promising university graduates to work.

You can also work as a psychologist in a medical institution. It's over a good place. Usually it is for this position that employees are hired for whom it is important to work in medicine, but at the same time have a degree in sociology.

Conclusion

Today we figured out what kind of specialty "Social work", who to work with, and also what places are chosen by graduates most often. To be honest, in practice it turns out that very few people work with a diploma in this area.

Often it is enough just to get at least some higher education in order to work in one place or another. For example, sociologists are very often found as managers, waiters and cashiers. That is, with this diploma, you can find a job wherever you want. But in most cases, only an ordinary employee.

Profession Social worker

The main duties of a social worker include conducting surveys of the country's population for being in a difficult material, domestic, and legal situation, after which the worker determines the amount of necessary assistance and conducts the procedure for its provision.

The origin and development of the profession took place in parallel with the development of the main types of professions. At present, with the unbalanced development of the state, economic instability, as well as a protracted period of crisis, the profession of a social worker is becoming more and more relevant every day.…

The merit of such an employee is to assist in the distribution and receipt different kind support, in most cases material or legal, from state social services and guardianship authorities. Social assistance is mainly needed by lonely elderly citizens, the disabled, mothers of many children, orphans, people suffering from incurable diseases, alcoholism, and drug addiction. Moreover, social workers provide psychological support to people who are in a state of mental instability caused by both objective (wars, environmental disasters, international conflicts, religious differences) and subjective factors (tragedies in the family, loss of property).

The profession of a social worker primarily requires high level humanity, developed intuition, the ability to empathize with someone else's grief, as well as the ability to delve into each specific situation and, based on the circumstances, engage in the individual provision of the necessary types of social assistance. Personal qualities should also include decency, honesty, disinterestedness. To obtain the desired results, the employee must be purposeful, hardworking and responsible. Along with this, emotional stability, calmness and a pleasant voice will help to gain the trust of people in need of help.

The main disadvantage of the profession is represented by an insufficient level of wages.

Depending on the scope, the employee must have both general sociological knowledge and some applied knowledge, including knowledge of ethics, sociology, economics, law, and medicine. When working with children, pedagogical education becomes mandatory. However, in general, the key to success is the receipt of social and humanitarian education in educational institutions of various degrees of accreditation.

Social work has come a long way from monastic charity to an academic specialty. Today it is an opportunity to combine knowledge, professional methods and personal qualities - becoming someone who supports, comforts, teaches, restores faith in oneself and helps to change life, whether it is the life of one person or a whole group.

Average salary: 15000 rubles per month

Demand

Payability

Competition

entry barrier

prospects

Help evolution

People began to help each other since ancient times, because not everyone can hunt mammoths! The ability to feel empathy for another is inherent in human nature. Yes, and world religions teach to help each other and encourage mutual assistance.

To help means to support on an emotional, material and social level. Over time, groups of people have emerged who need help more than others. A person can fall into such a group from birth (congenital disability) or end up in it unexpectedly (survivor after a disaster).

With the development of mankind and the humanization of the ideas guiding them, views on how, how much and to whom to help were repeatedly revised. So, if once in England poverty was considered a crime and one could get into a workhouse as punishment for it, now it is a phenomenon that can be successfully combated, and many countries create entire programs to combat poverty (but not with the poor).

Social work is traditionally a women's profession and continues to be not very well paid. However, this is gradually changing, and today men are happy to join the ranks of professional assistants.

Requirements and contraindications

It's hard to do when you're young. Draw in your mind a picture of "I'm at work." How do you see yourself? If high earnings are at the forefront for you, if you think that “every man for himself”, that “everyone has what he deserves in life”, if it is easier for you to work with a computer than with people, then it will not be easy for you to adapt to the requirements of this profession.

It is difficult for a social worker without the following qualities:

the ability to sincerely sympathize with other people;
faith in social justice;
desire to influence the life of their country;
ability to work in a team;
interest in personal and social processes;
ability to work in a crisis situation;
ability to use criticism effectively;
belief that words can change a lot.

But I consider racism, chauvinism or any other views that allow intolerance or discrimination to be absolutely unacceptable in a social worker. You can belong to any confession, but you must be able to respect those who belong to another, even alien or incomprehensible to you. At the same time, I do not believe that it is possible to be a good specialist not loving your job. Childfree will have a hard time working at a school, and an anti-abortionist will work hard at a family planning center for young people.

Therefore, it is very good that social work includes a very wide range of activities. Social workers in Russia are employed in various areas- This:

social Security;
work with children, adolescents and their families;
work with disabled people, both adults and children;
work with drug and alcohol addicts.

Such a wide range of opportunities in social work is one of the main advantages of this profession. In it, everyone can find something to their liking.

Admission and study

Enrollment in the university is carried out according to USE results. Requirements for admission to the budget stream, evening and correspondence departments may vary. It all depends on the particular educational institution.

The profession of a social worker in Russia is still young: academic training in this specialty started in 1991. The curriculum is standardized with respect to foreign methods adopted in Europe, the USA, Israel - so it makes sense to immediately start studying where such education has a longer tradition, especially if in the future you do not exclude the possibility of continuing your studies abroad. And if it was not possible to enter the day department, enter the evening or correspondence department. Then you can transfer - and you will not spend a whole year waiting.

The theoretical part of the training includes compulsory subjects - mathematics, national history, foreign language- and profile disciplines. The future social worker studies psychology, sociology, pedagogy, juvenology, the basics of counseling work with an individual and a group, etc., depending on the chosen specialization.

Every student is required to complete an internship. There are educational, industrial and research practices; the number of hours required for working out is determined by the university. The student finds a place for internship himself, but in the educational part he will most likely be provided with a list of organizations cooperating with the faculty.

For me, for example, practice was the most important part of my studies. After all, what are lectures and seminars? Listened, read, learned and passed. Some of the teachers teach the subject in an interesting way, some not so much, and as a result - a column of numbers in the student's record book.

Practice is another matter. There you deal with living people, and not only do you learn to work with them, but you are also evaluated and checked from all sides. Check and management, and colleagues, and customers. A formal test in practice does not yet mean that it was a success. After all, this is a real chance to check: do I find a common language with this category of the population, do I cope with work, do I learn from my mistakes, can I think creatively, how do I get out of crisis situations? And the most important question - do I see myself working in such an organization after receiving a diploma?

I remember how upset I was when I received a referral to practice in the geriatric department. I did not want to work with mentally ill elderly people at all. I wanted to go to the barricades - to the center for helping drug addicts or victims of violence. But, at the end of the practice, when we said goodbye to our wards and listened to their wishes for success and words of gratitude, I did not feel either boredom or irritation. And now I have a completely different attitude to working with older people. I hope someday I will have the opportunity to participate in an interesting project in this area. Therefore, do not forget that practice teaches what you yourself are ready to learn.

Employment and colleagues

The main difficulty that all graduates face when applying for a job is the lack of experience. But do not rush to despair.

It is important to remember that social work is an area where your personal talents are critical. The main tool in the work is not even your knowledge, but you yourself. Your communication skills, emotional intelligence, the ability to act responsibly in your own way, the ability to resolve conflicts, think creatively - these are your main assets. When writing a resume, keep in mind that such facts as participation in various student projects and volunteer activities work for you - all this increases your value in the eyes of a potential employer.

One of the easiest ways to get a job after graduation is to apply to the place where you did your internship (assuming you liked it there, of course). There is every chance that the management will prefer a person who is already familiar with the specifics of the work and the team to someone from the outside.

In general, in this area it is necessary to be able to communicate with colleagues, maintain connections that will come in handy later. Suddenly you have a professional supervision? Keep in mind that a roommate can give valuable advice, and a casual acquaintance at a conference can give an idea for a whole project. In social work, colleagues are not the same as colleagues in the office. law firm or at the factory. Here you can't work together and not know what's going on with your roommate - and when you find out, you can't help but react to it.

And if you ran away from an alcoholic in a dysfunctional area together, called security together to calm a raging visitor, and sat silently together after your client committed suicide, this is not forgotten - and often this relationship lasts a lifetime.

Clients

You are trying to get the person to do something new. For example, do not beat your children. Naturally, he perceives this as a gross interference in his family life and expresses dissatisfaction in every possible way. As a result, you ... may be called to court to testify or for an examination.

The law restricts you. You cannot take any action if your client does not agree to it. For example, a 10-year-old girl, usually active and cheerful, begins to come to school in warm, out-of-season clothes, with dirty hair, behaves stiffly, and does not participate in games. This behavior may be a symptom of domestic sexual abuse. But until she says that someone did something bad to her, nothing can be investigated. Even if you understand how it will be better and what needs to be done for this or that family, you can only offer. To offer a woman to leave her husband who beats her. Encourage the alcoholic to go to treatment. Offer to transfer a hard-to-learn child to a specialized class.

Among your duties may be playing with mentally retarded children, visiting disadvantaged areas, communicating with officials from the city hall, policemen, psychiatrists and teachers ... The main disappointment is when you realize that those whom you so wanted to save and support are not welcome at all. They treat you with suspicion and sometimes with anger. In their eyes, you are a representative of the state, and they have a lot of claims against this state (otherwise they would not be among those in need of social protection). An orphan may well steal a thing from your bag, and a retired veteran may swear. This does not mean that they do not need help, quite the contrary ... But just try to make them accept it!

People will always be dissatisfied with the material aspect of assistance - simply because any figure, no matter how large it is, is not the largest. In this area, you can operate within a certain budget, which, most likely, was not approved by you, and which, of course, is not enough. Therefore, your main capital in work is something that cannot be measured by numbers: respect, sympathy, support, sincere interest.

Like any person, a social worker is pleased with success. When you work on something for a long time, hard, tedious, and suddenly - once! - and the poor fellow, who was injured in the terrorist attack and was afraid to ride the bus, can already drive 3 stops. Or a single mother does not buy a fifth gold bracelet for benefits, but pays for a circle at school for her child. When you are involved in changes in the lives of other people, and these changes are for the better for them, this is success. When you feel that you have helped someone, “gnawed through” a difficult conflict, supported, comforted - in general, did the job - this is the best emotional “dope”.

***

And friends and acquaintances are also pleasing, who at first did not believe that words could change something, but now they know for sure (from me) and tell others. And none of them will say that a social worker is an unnecessary profession. By the way, it is developing rapidly. Even the commercial sector is beginning to understand the importance of such specialists and employ them in the field of organizational consulting. The value of social capital is gradually beginning to be understood all over the world. Promoting its growth in your own country is not an easy, but honorable, and most importantly, exciting task.

The social worker profession is noble, but often thankless. Only a psychologically stable person who is ready to do good for a very a modest fee.

What are the responsibilities of such a specialist? Where can he go to work? Is there any specific training required for him?

How to become a social worker

To get this profession, it is not at all necessary to graduate from a university or technical school. The competition among applicants in this field of activity is small, and employers are usually happy to accept those who wish to work in the state without qualifying "crusts".

In such circumstances, training is limited to short courses, less often to several weeks of internship under the supervision of an experienced curator.

You need to contact either state organizations(local comprehensive centers for social services population, centers for helping families and children), or to some structures.

Sometimes a social worker can find a relatively good job in private house elderly, paid hospice.

Of course, you can learn if you want. This specialization is available in some medical academies, in humanitarian universities

Responsibilities of a social worker

Responsibilities are determined by the institution in which the person works and what position he has.

The most common case is social work with home visits to clients. Can act as a client old man, not capable of full self-service, or a family in which a disabled child is brought up.

Social workers for pensioners and adults with disabilities:

bring products to order;
tidy up the apartment;
prepare or deliver hot food;
help to get and take the necessary medicines;
pay utility bills.

A specialist helps parents of children with disabilities not so much by participating in household chores as by giving recommendations. Trained employees give the children therapeutic massage, conduct developmental classes for them.

Social workers who do not go home are responsible for the implementation of any programs directly on the basis of the center - for example, they run interest clubs for the elderly, are responsible for the art therapy program, and organize a school for parents of children with mental disabilities.

The most important advantage of the profession is its humanistic value. A social worker can confidently say that his life is serving people, and not meaningless earning and eating money. However, few people manage to endure such hard work.

Not everyone knows how to overcome disgust (ask yourself if you are able to change diapers for a bedridden paraplegic or wipe the saliva of a child with severe cerebral palsy).

Not every social worker has enough physical strength to regularly shuttle between supermarkets and deliver heavy bags of groceries to different parts of the city.

Social work involves constant stress.

Sick and weak clients are sometimes capricious. They do not always say a heartfelt "thank you" for help.