Social Worker CV Guide + Tips + Example
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So, you want a job as a social worker. A well-written CV is a great place to start! Our guide to crafting an effective social worker CV will help you make the most of your crisis intervention and interpersonal skills, so you can get the job you want.
Get started by editing this social worker CV sample template, or peruse our 40+ CV templates to find the best one for you.
Social worker CV example (text version)
Stephanie Kellogg
Atlanta, GA 30310
(555) 555-5555
example@example.com
Summary Statement
Dedicated social worker with experience working with women and children who are fleeing domestic violence. Expert in handling cases associated with disabilities and special needs. Managed the cases of a dozen women from Malaysia rescued from a sex worker’s ring and brought to the United States for rehabilitation. Adept at establishing a strong rapport with individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Core Qualifications
- Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIP)
- Case management
- Therapeutic modalities
- Healthcare procedures
- Casewatch Millennium software
- Conflict resolution
- Critical thinking
- Time management
Education
- Georgia State University Atlanta, GA
Master of Social Work Social Work - Georgia State University Atlanta, GA
Bachelor of Social Work Social Work
Work Experience
November 2018 – Current
Elevance Health – Atlanta,GA
Social Worker
- Help an average of 50 clients monthly adjust to life changes and empower them to stabilize their own circumstances.
- Refer clients to resources in the community, including food stamp programs, housing assistance and employment options.
- Consult related agencies to gather necessary information.
- Evaluate clients’ living situations to verify the availability of basic needs and safe surroundings, reducing risks by 95%.
- Supervise visitation sessions between spouses, parents and children to maintain nurturing, productive circumstances.
- Communicate with various parties associated with clients, such as legal personnel, housing authorities, law enforcement experts and language translators.
September 2015 – October 2018
UnitedHealth Group – Atlanta, GA
Care Worker
- Provided emotional and mental support to an average of 40 women recovering from domestic violence issues.
- Performed preliminary research about legal options for women who wanted to take action against allegedly abusive partners.
- Accompanied clients to court proceedings and offered moral support.
- Led a campaign to reduce stigmas associated with domestic violence.
June 2011 – August 2015
Grady Health System – Atlanta,GA
Social Worker Assistant
- Interviewed clients, families or groups to assess situations, limitations and issues and implement services to address needs.
- Completed home wellness checks three times per week under the supervision of a licensed social worker to verify client-well being in a healthy and stable environment.
- Supported patient intake assessments and interviewed 100 families to gather psychiatric histories and collaborated in the development of treatment plans.
- Maintained regular contact with clients by scheduling meetings and monthly phone calls.
Research Experience
- Developed research statements and ran surveys and interviews as
- Research Assistant in “Social Work and Cross-Cultural Approaches” (2017) Georgia State University
- Explore and analyzed ethics, boundaries and protocols in domestic violence cases “The Role of the Social Worker in Domestic Violence Cases ” (2015) Georgia State University
Conference Presentations
- Our New Reality: Rethinking and Redefining the Profession – (2022)
- The Important Role of Social Workers During the Pandemic, Online Summit – (2021)
- Social Work and Health Systems, Social Conference, Orlando FL – (2021)
Conference Attendance
- Narcissism and Emotional Abuse in Couples, Virtual – (2023)
- Millennial Social Work Conference 2022, Atlanta, GA – (2022)
- Case Management Society Annual Conference, Orlando, FL- (2022)
- Healing a Traumatized World: Clinical Social Work at Its Best, Annual Conference, Miami FL – (2022)
- Mental Health Summit, Atlanta, GA – (2021)
Professional Affiliations and Memberships
- Georgia Society of Clinical Social Workers – (2021)
- Society for Social Work Leadership in Healthcare (SSWLHC) – (2019)
- National Association of Social Work – (2017)
Certifications and Licenses
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) – (Updated 2022)
- Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW) – (2021)
- Academy of Certified Social Workers Credential (ACSW) – (2019)
Training
- Integrated Primary Care/ Behavioral Healthcare Certificate Program – (2022)
- Engaging and Working with the Hard-to-Reach Client, Social Work Online Institute – (2021)
- Cross-Cultural Issues in Integrated Health Care Services: A Social
- Work Perspective, Social Work Online Institute – (2019)
Profession Relevant Skills
- Able to quickly put people at ease, particularly when they feel stressed, scared and uncertain about future prospects.
- Frequent and competent user of both Macintosh and Windows-based computer platforms.
- Excellent communicator, even when interacting with non-English speakers.
- Skilled transcriber of spoken words, both in workplace and courtroom environments.
- Proficient with Medicare and Medicaid applications and dependency investigation units.
Languages
- English
Native or Bilingual - Spanish
Full Professional - German
Full Professional
Hobbies and Interests
On a regular basis, I voluntarily tutor adults and children who are learning English as a second language. Many of the participants have a very limited grasp of the language, which requires using significant amounts of gestures and other forms of non-verbal communication.
5 essentials of a top social worker CV
Contact details
Without contact information, hiring managers cannot ask you for an interview. Create a section at the top of your CV for your contact information. Display your contact information as follows: Your full name, then your city, state and ZIP code, followed by your phone number and professional email address. If you have a LinkedIn profile and professional website, add those as well.
Personal statement
A personal statement, also called a professional summary, is your chance to shine. It’s where you introduce yourself to the hiring manager and pitch your best technical and soft skills and relevant work experience. A social worker CV personal statement should include one or two of your most notable professional accomplishments to grab the hiring manager’s attention.
Skills
Hiring managers want to know if your skills match their needs. Show them you have what it takes by creating a separate section and using bullet points to display your top hard and soft skills — from program development and crisis intervention to empathy — as demonstrated by our social worker CV sample. If you are applying for your first job, include transferable skills, which are soft skills, such as communication, that you can use in any job.
Work history
Your CV must have a detailed employment history section, even if you don’t have work experience as a social worker. List current and previous employers in reverse-chronological order and provide organization names, locations and the dates you worked for each. Add three bullet points of measurable achievements for every job you list. If you don’t have work experience in the field or if this is your first job application, display extracurricular activities, volunteer experience, community service, professional and personal projects — anything that shows you have relevant work experience.
Education
In your CV for a social worker job, add all the educational institutions you’ve attended after high school. Use bullet points for each school and display the name of the school and the year you graduated unless it was more than 10 years ago. List your high school information and any post-high school classes taken if you did not attend college.
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Action words for a stand-out social worker CV
Action words convey confidence and strengthen CVs because they tell the hiring manager exactly what you did. Combine them with numbers to really make an impact!
Here’s a short list of perfect action words for a social worker CV:
- Provide
- Lead
- Create
- Prepare
- Write
- Manage
- Ensure
- Council
- Conduct
- Plan
- Establish
- Evaluate
- Inspire
- Communicate
- Consult
- Supervise
- Facilitate
- Maintain
Need a great CV for a social worker job now? Our CV Maker has all the tools you need to create a professional CV in minutes. You can make edits on the fly, download your CV, and save it as a PDF, .doc or plain text when you’re finished. Yes, it really is that easy!
Want more inspiration? Explore our library of 300+ CV examples.
Top skills for a social worker CV
Review the job description carefully and match the required skills to your skills and traits.
Your skills might include:
- Written communication
- Verbal communication
- Time management
- Flexibility
- Critical thinking
- Empathy
- Conflict resolution
- Patience
- Ethics
- Planning
- Sexual assault counseling
- Program development and management
- Therapeutic modalities
- Medicare and Medicaid applications
- Dependency investigation units
- Referrals and networking
Certifications for a social worker CV
There are many types of social work certifications available, such as:
- Academy of Certified Social Workers Credential (ACSW)
- Functional Aging Specialty Certification
- Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW)
- Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC)
Pair your CV with a matching cover letter
Social worker CV FAQ
1. What’s the best format for a social worker CV?
A CV for a social worker job can be in any format that fits the industry, job and your work experience and goals. For instance, if you’re applying for your first social worker job or are changing careers, it’s best to use a CV format that emphasizes your education or skills. However, if you have a steady career as a social worker and have progressed through the ranks, you might want to showcase your work experience.
2. How can I create an excellent social worker CV?
A social worker CV provides a comprehensive look at your career. Include everything that can help you stand out from the pool of candidates.
For example:
- Create a section for each: extra training, certifications, awards and honors.
- Include a section for projects you’ve collaborated on and state what you accomplished.
- Add a section focused on community initiatives and volunteer work.
- In the skills section, create subcategories to divide your skills by group. For example, soft skills, hard skills, interpersonal skills and so on.
Do’s and don’ts for building a social worker CV
- Use measurable achievements to describe your social worker skills and experience.
- Use action words to make an impact on your social worker CV.
- Tailor your CV to your target social worker job.
- Use keywords from the job description throughout your social worker CV.
- Format your social worker CV so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
- Lie about your social worker job experience and skills.
- Boast about your “incomparable” social worker abilities.
- Include irrelevant personal information such as your ethnicity and age.
- Add skills and experience that do not pertain to social work.
- Forget to proofread. A social worker CV with errors is unprofessional.
Top 4 tips for acing a social worker interview
Learn about the school or institution before your interview.
Learning about the organization or company’s history, goals, values and people before the interview is important. It shows real interest, dedication and commitment — traits that hiring managers look for in top job candidates. Plus, having a glimpse of the school before you arrive will give you an idea of what to expect on arrival so that you can feel confident.
Practice!
A little practice now will go a long way during your interview. To practice for your interview, start by reviewing the most common interview questions, such as:
- Why Did you Choose This Career?
- Describe a Time When You Needed to Cope With a Stressful Scenario.
- Describe a Situation Where You Had to Arrive at a Compromise or Lead Others to a Compromise.
Ask a friend to interview you so you can get comfortable with the questions and imprint the answers in your mind. Ask them for feedback on your performance and answers, and write down their suggestions that resonate with you. You’ll feel confident and ready when it’s time for the real thing.
Be proactive and ask questions.
Your interviewer will ask if you have any questions at the end of your session. You should always have at least three questions ready to ask; job candidates who don’t ask questions are not as likely to get hired because hiring managers assume they aren’t interested in the role or won’t put much thought into it.
Some questions you might ask for a social worker job are:
- What do you expect from someone in this position during the first 30 days?
- What is your management style?
- What do you like most about working here?
Have references ready.
Having professional references before your interview will prepare you in case the hiring manager decides to move forward. Create a list of two former colleagues and a former manager willing to speak to your abilities to perform the social worker job and who you know will give you a stellar review. Even better if they write a letter of recommendation for you.
If you are applying for your first full-time job and don’t have former colleagues or a manager for reference, it’s acceptable to get references from a former instructor, volunteer coordinator, internship manager, classmate or community leader who will provide a positive review about your ability to perform the job.
Resume examples for the next step in your social services career
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- Child Protection Social Worker Resume
- Domestic Violence Counselor Resume
- Social Worker Resume
- Behavioral Therapist Resume
- Case Manager Resume
- Juvenile Probation Officer Resume
- Life Coach Resume
- Community Service Coordinator Resume
- Counselor Resume
- Volunteer Resume
- Behavior Technician Resume
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Social Worker CV Example
Kellie is the content strategist for My Perfect Resume. She has more than 20 years of experience in digital media and is passionate about helping job seekers navigate their careers. She has a B.A. in English and writing from Temple University.