28 Jobs You Can Get With a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work

Careers in social work can be rewarding because they offer you an opportunity to engage in social change and to help others. There are several types of jobs in the field of social work, many of which require a bachelor's degree. If you're considering a career in this field, learning the types of jobs you can pursue with a bachelor's degree can help you choose one that best suits your interests and goals.

In this article, we explore 28 bachelor's degrees in social work jobs you can consider pursuing.

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Why should you pursue a career in social work?

Here are some benefits of pursuing social work:

• Helping others: No matter your specific job, a career in social work allows you to help others and make a lasting impact. Performing tasks that help others can help you find greater fulfillment in your career.

• Diverse groups: When you pursue a career in social work, you can help a variety of different people, such as couples going through a divorce, people with mental health issues or people with terminal illnesses. Having this variety and being able to change specialties can help you stay engaged in this field.

• Job openings: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, social workers can expect an employment growth of 12% by 2030. This job growth gives you a greater chance of finding a role in this industry.

Related: 15 Types of Social Work Jobs

18 jobs you can pursue with a bachelor's degree in social work

Here are some jobs you can pursue with this degree. Click on the salary links for the most up-to-date salary information from Indeed.

1. Health educator

National average salary: $34,091 per year

Primary duties: A health educator teaches groups and communities how to prioritize health in their everyday lives. Health educators can develop programs that inform people about the importance of maintaining their health, conduct research on new methods for taking care of health and lead classes at middle and high schools to introduce young students to various health concepts. A health educator can also find jobs in hospitals, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.

2. Habilitation specialist

National average salary: $38,065 per year

Primary duties: A habilitation specialist works with patients receiving medical or mental health care who have disabilities. Their job may involve helping clients develop and practice effective social skills, teaching them how to live independently and visiting caregiving facilities to meet with people who need assistance in their daily lives. While habilitation specialists can work with clients individually, they can also meet with groups of people who live with similar challenges to lead seminars and therapeutic group activities.

3. Outreach worker

National average salary: $46,214 per year

Primary duties: An outreach worker connects people in need with the resources that can help them improve their lives. Outreach workers can facilitate communication between service organizations and the people they help, organize youth centers programs to support young people in a community and educate the people they help about public health and safety. An outreach worker can also specialize in a particular area of outreach, such as community outreach or working with the elderly.

4. Research assistant

National average salary: $46,891 per year

Primary duties: A research assistant helps scientists and other formal researchers complete projects about a particular subject. Research assistants with backgrounds in social work can have responsibilities like conducting surveys to learn about specific populations, helping researchers conduct experiments on different forms of human behavior and organizing reports that can share their findings with the public.

5. Social work intern

National average salary: $47,190 per year

Primary duties: A social work intern works under the supervision of an established social worker to learn about the industry and develop their social work skills. Social work interns may help social workers prepare their daily schedules, meet with field instructors to learn about different aspects of the industry and share ideas with their supervisors about how they might respond to particular clients or challenges. A social work intern can find employment in many places, such as social service organizations, hospitals and government agencies.

6. Program specialist

National average salary: $47,316 per year

Primary duties: A program specialist develops and implements new programs within an organization. In social work, program specialists guide team members through developing social services programs, creating budgets to ensure their programs remain funded and overseeing a program's implementation to ensure it's successful. A program specialist can also research existing social services programs to identify effective techniques to use in their own programs.

7. Case manager

National average salary: $49,931 per year

Primary duties: A case manager develops care plans for people who live with mental and physical health conditions. Case managers can have many responsibilities, like identifying and recommending the best care options for patients, informing clients about the treatment options they can pursue and meeting with clients regularly to review their treatments and track their progress. A case manager can also work with organizations in social services to secure treatment for patients who need extra resources.

Related: Learn About Being a Case Manager

8. Probation officer

National average salary: $50,921 per year

Primary duties: A probation officer helps people who are serving probation sentences. Probation officers meet with probationers to discuss goals and requirements, set appointments for probationers to attend job interviews and counseling sessions and maintain detailed reports on probationers' progress over time. A probation officer can also recommend adjustments to a probationer's sentence, especially when they make exceptional progress in short periods.

Read more: Learn About Being a Probation Officer

9. Child welfare specialist

National average salary: $51,259 per year

Primary duties: A child welfare specialist ensures children are safe and receive the care they need. Child welfare specialists may visit children at their homes to verify living conditions are safe, write reports on any concerning events they observe while investigating their clients' homes and offer counseling services to children and their families when they experience hardships. A child welfare specialist can also assess potential adoptive or foster families to determine whether their home is suitable for children.

10. Director of social services

National average salary: $51,740 per year

Primary duties: A director of social services develops programs that can help people in need and finds candidates who might benefit from these programs. Social services directors can serve a particular community by assessing its members' challenges, fundraising to secure funding for the programs they create and recommending programs to people who might benefit from extra help. A director of social services can also facilitate communication between an organization and the people it helps to ensure everyone receives the support they require.

11. Eligibility worker

National average salary: $52,834 per year

Primary duties: An eligibility worker meets with clients to ensure they can remain enrolled in social services programs, such as unemployment, housing assistance and food stamps. Eligibility workers review their client's personal and financial information to ensure they report all details accurately, offer resources that can help them apply for social services and maintain communication to help them stay enrolled in programs. An eligibility worker can also identify the benefits a person can receive based on the information in their application.

12. Activities director

National average salary: $56,684 per year

Primary duties: An activities director oversees the programs and activities at an organization or facility. Activities directors may design workshops and programs that offer enrichment to patients, lead group activities to help patients build and practice social skills and use seminars and workshops to address challenges within a community or facility. In social work, activities directors often work at rehabilitation centers, specialized schools or mental health care facilities.

13. Caseworker

National average salary: $57,705 per year

Primary duties: A caseworker helps people who experience challenges like living in unsafe situations or needing mental health services. Caseworkers may meet with their clients in their homes to learn about their living conditions, perform psychosocial evaluations on clients to determine whether they can safely live in society and provide their clients with resources to help them improve their lives. A caseworker can also offer counseling to clients that can help their mental health and teach them how to care for themselves.

Read more: Learn About Being a Caseworker

14. Substance abuse counselor

National average salary: $59,443 per year

Primary duties: A substance abuse counselor helps people who live with conditions that result in addiction, such as alcoholism and eating disorders. Substance abuse counselors can meet with clients to assess their conditions and identify potential triggers. They provide their clients with healthy coping mechanisms and response techniques for challenging situations and develop plans for ways their clients can maintain their recovery after counseling ends. A substance abuse counselor can also offer group therapy to patients in rehabilitation centers and mental health care facilities.

15. Social services assistant

National average salary: $62,093 per year

Primary duties: A social services assistant offers help and services to people who experience homelessness and other similar challenges. Social services assistants can find resources for clients to help them perform daily activities like bathing and eating, refer clients to other professionals and specialists when they need extensive care and inform clients about the services they can qualify for, such as food stamps and public health insurance. A social services assistant can also guide clients through completing assistance and welfare programs applications.

16. Social worker

National average salary: $64,487 per year

Primary duties: A social worker provides various services to individual clients and families who experience hardships, such as traumatic injuries, addiction or terminal illness. Social workers regularly meet with clients to discuss their needs and situations, develop action plans for clients that can help them work toward their goals and offer therapy to clients who ask for counseling. A social worker can also work with medical professionals and therapists to secure treatments for clients who need extra care.

Read more: Learn About Being a Social Worker

17. Behavioral health professional

National average salary: $69,631 per year

Primary duties: A behavioral health professional helps patients who engage in abnormal or potentially dangerous behaviors. Behavioral health professionals can assess the behavior of patients to reach mental health diagnoses, administer therapy to patients that can help them understand and correct abnormal behaviors and recommend other specialists to patients who might need additional care. A behavioral health professional who works in a school can provide specific instruction and help to students who live with behavioral challenges or disabilities.

18. Mental health technician

National average salary: $90,601 per year

Primary duties: A mental health technician works with patients receiving care in mental health centers, including inpatient and outpatient facilities. Mental health technicians can help new patients complete admittance forms when they arrive, lead groups during therapeutic activities and keep track of patients' behaviors and vital signs to ensure their safety. A mental health technician can also provide emotional support to patients who need to talk to someone.

10 additional bachelor's degrees in social work jobs

Here are 10 more jobs that require a bachelor's degree in social work:

1. Family service worker

2. Mental health assistant

3. Residential case manager

4. School social worker

5. Behavioral management aide

6. Juvenile court liaison

7. Rehabilitation caseworker

8. Geriatric social worker

9. Correctional treatment specialist

10. Substance abuse social worker