6 Non-Traditional Jobs for Social Workers

Written Originally for the publisher Wiley’s client: https://www.socialworkdegrees.org/

Social work is a career path with many highly viable avenues.

The reason social work is so applicable to many jobs is right in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s definition of a social worker. "Social workers help people and cope with problems in their everyday lives."

Each day, people encounter problems they have never experienced before. And each day, many people fall due to these new challenges and need help getting back up.

Whether social, psychological, financial, occupational, or communal, social workers help people face the challenges of life head-on, so they can stand back up and live their lives.

Traditional jobs for social workers include being a social worker aiding clients with mental health issues or working in a hospital as a medical social worker assisting patients with post-operative needs they may not understand.

Another traditional path social workers take is community social work, where, by engaging with local community leaders, their tasks are to promote organizational soundness and overall wellness within a community.

In each of these traditional roles, many sub-roles are popular. For instance, many social workers that are therapists prefer taking on child or adolescent clients exclusively because that is what they focused on during their master’s degree in social work.

But what are non-traditional jobs for social workers?

Social workers are trained, in many ways, as generalists, so they can work in corporate jobs, consulting jobs, business analyst jobs, animal-assisted social work, unique avenues of therapeutic social work, and many others!

Here are the top non-traditional jobs to consider if you are a social worker or are interested in becoming a social worker.

1. Corporate Social Working Jobs

Social workers can find work throughout the corporate world.

The corporate world encompasses the bulk of all workers and must also contain many human problems. Social workers are needed where there are human problems because it is their job to help fix them!

Social workers frequently hold administrative and human resources jobs in corporate environments. As more corporations become keener on supporting employee mental health, there might even be a place for in-house social worker therapists in some offices.

Social responsibility is becoming increasingly important to corporations, and more jobs with the title “corporate social worker” are becoming available.

Many social workers, for example, spearhead or otherwise practically support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in corporations. Others do the same for environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) policies.

Human-centered leadership is increasingly more common in corporate America, so it will become an increasingly good place for social workers to find jobs in the coming years.

Likewise, corporate consultants and policy analysts are both prevalent positions in the corporate world that are non-traditional jobs for social workers.

BLS Estimated Average Salary: $50,390

2. Animal-Assisted Social Worker 

Social workers who are mental health practitioners or therapists can benefit their practice and their clients greatly by becoming animal-assisted social workers.

One of the many sub-specialties of social work students can focus on during their master's degree in animal-assisted social work, which teaches social workers how to incorporate animals into their social work.

Animal-assisted social work is one of the more interesting non-traditional jobs for social workers because it involves learning how to train animals, such as cats and dogs, during a master’s degree to aid in helping solve human problems.

Emotional support animals are used in therapeutic settings to help clients feel a sense of ease, such that it is easier to work through challenging hurdles in the psychological recovery process.

Animal-assisted social workers also learn how to pick suitable animals for the right clients, as not all clients will appreciate a cat or a dog equally and for relevant reasons –e.g., previous trauma from getting attacked by a dog.

Many animal-assisted social workers take advantage of this opportunity to work with their favorite animals to start unique businesses. It would sure be the amazing therapist that could successfully incorporate pigs or donkeys into the therapeutic process.

One of the most common animals used for this purpose is horses, who are often trained to develop close bonds with humans with mental health conditions for the sake of recovery.

3. Social Work Therapy

Being a therapist is often synonymous with being a social worker, but this isn't true.

And while it is a traditional path for social workers to take, therapy as a social worker involves many non-traditional pathways.

For example, many therapists specialize in treating LGBTQ+ youth by providing gender-affirming care, which has traditionally been neglected by the mental health profession and, by extension, social work.

Likewise, social workers can do everything a therapist can. Still, more –therapists can only treat mental health conditions. In contrast, social workers can help clients resolve practical, financial, and other major life problems.

They can do this well because social workers are uniquely equipped to handle a broad spectrum of general human problems. Unlike a therapist with a psychology degree, they are not narrowly focused on mental health.

BLS Estimated Average Salary: $48,520

4. Medical Social Work

While being a medical social worker is a traditional route for many, non-traditional jobs for social workers exist within the medical world.

Social workers in hospitals and doctors' offices provide patients with after-care counseling exclusively. Other social workers in similar settings provide psychosocial counseling exclusively.

In general, however, helping families cope with illness –whether on their own or that of a loved one– is the primary role a medical social worker has in healthcare settings.

Social workers may go to specialty care units and nursing homes if they are interested in medical social work for the especially needy.

BLS Estimated Average Salary: $62,310

5. Researcher

Graduate school is a must for any social worker interested in a career as a social worker.

All graduate students learn to conduct research in academic, medical, and scientific journals because graduate degrees have qualifying exams and papers that need deep research support.

Social workers make great researchers for this very reason. As far as non-traditional jobs for social workers go, research is uniquely palatable for social workers because social workers are generally knowledgeable and resourceful.

This generality, as opposed to narrowness, makes social workers highly capable of researching multiple topics instead of just on social work.

BLS Estimated Average Salary: $59,740.

6. Entrepreneur

Lastly, becoming an entrepreneur is one of the best non-traditional jobs for social workers.

Often, social workers start businesses simply doing social work, but independently!

Suppose social worker wants to separate themselves as animal-assisted social worker. In that case, they can do that by creating a business where that is their competitive edge.

In contrast, if a social worker is more interested in consulting, this is especially well-suited for entrepreneurship, as businesses and other organizational entities need knowledgeable and resourceful advice chronically.

Most social workers that are also entrepreneurs tend to go the route of setting up a therapy business, but because social work is such a broad field, the possibilities for interaction are truly endless, making social work one of the best degrees for entrepreneurs out there!

BLS Estimated Salary: $65,000

Why a Master’s Degree in Social Work is Needed

The responsibility social workers are tasked with is immense, making social work the definitive career path of the "essential worker." Without social workers, many of the worst of humanity's problems would immediately exacerbate.

Social workers are so well-equipped to help humanity with its practical, psychological, and myriad other problems because they are highly educated on how to do so.

But how can one become so educated as to help others as a social worker? First, one must obtain a master's degree in social work.

One does not require a master's degree in all states to function as a social worker. However, to obtain one's LCSW (Licensed Social Worker) credential, a master's degree is required.

Why become an LCSW? Because it brings legitimacy to one's practice. Picture, by analogy, going to a doctor without an M.D. –the same feeling of unease and skepticism indeed arises when seeing an unlicenced social worker!

These points are especially pertinent if one is interested in the six non-traditional jobs for social workers as their future occupational path. All of the paths mentioned in this article become more viable if the social worker pursuing them has a master’s degree in social work. Not only does an MSW better equip you for the job, but it shows this to prospective employers on your resume.

Being an animal-assisted social worker sounds like the perfect way to attract clients to a social worker's business. Still, if that social worker is not an official social worker, such a business will fail. And because animal-assisted social workers need a master's in social work, social workers cannot achieve that entrepreneurial avenue without an MSW.

If you are interested in pursuing any of these six non-traditional jobs for social workers, click here to learn more about master’s degrees in social work (MSW).