Professional Networking in Social Work
Written Originally for Publisher Wiley’s Client: socialworkdegrees.org
Why Networking is So Important for Success in Social Work
Networking is essential to success in the modern workforce, and this does not exclude social workers. Social workers need to network to build professional relationships, gain knowledge, and acquire the new skills necessary to excel as clinical social workers.
How are you going to succeed in a field you have little or no colleagues in? Who will hire a social worker who cannot get references or is ignorant of the latest research in social work?
Social workers, therefore, cannot risk undervaluing the importance of networking. And not just during and before schooling, but additionally throughout a social working career, the salience of networking will be significant –make-or-break significant!
How to network as a social worker
Social workers have various networking avenues at all points in their careers. Whether through your university or through professional and even personal connections, most social workers are more than happy to connect with those interested in pursuing social work.
University Networking
To become a licensed social worker, you need a master’s degree in social work (MSW). However, some students may also major in social work during their bachelor’s degrees.
In both cases, professors in social work departments are themselves, social workers.
Being an outstanding student in these programs will inevitably confer references from the professors you reach out to for them.
Likewise, undergraduates who are not social work majors typically have access to social workers through their university. Most wellness departments in American universities have social workers readily helping students through personal, professional, and academic problems.
Professional Networking
Social workers can also be found in the corporate world. Often administrative and human resource workers are social workers –and human resource workers who are not social workers often have the resources to point employees in the direction of one.
You’d be surprised at work to find out how many people –including coworkers and employers– are social workers.
Linkedin is the digitized strategy for finding social workers in a professional environment but asking around your office if anyone knows a social worker is also an ideal method.
Personal Networking
A friend or family member that is a social worker can help guide you in the right direction concerning applying to schools and finding work after school. It can even connect you to their professional connections.
Finding out who a social worker in your social circle is may not be as difficult as you think.
One strategy includes putting a story on your Instagram or Snapchat and asking all social worker followers to DM you.
Networking Events and Conventions
Lastly, places and events are designed explicitly to network in social work.
For example, the National Association of Social Workers has social work networking conferences and events yearly, as well as many seminars and talks across American cities on social work.
Tips and Tricks on Networking for Social Workers
However, knowing where to go or who to go to is only the tip of the iceberg in successful networking.
Let’s say you compile a list of impressive contacts who do not find you unique. Perhaps you have a network, but not one that reflects built and maintained relationships with said network.
Thus, here are some tips and tricks on networking for social workers –ones that emphasize the indispensable importance of building networks and maintaining good relations with those in them, as opposed to merely acquiring a contact list.
Have an elevator pitch
When meeting new people, it is good to know how to introduce yourself. Think to yourself, “who am I, and what do I do?” Try to give an honest answer to that question –one that neither embellishes nor self-deprecates.
The reason for this is that networking events will almost always involve having to answer these questions from other people. They are quite basic questions, but it is exceedingly common to find oneself incapable of answering them without some considerable thought.
Ask Thoughtful Questions
Ideally, who you are is at least someone that is deeply interested in social work. And on the basis of that interest, genuine questions will inevitably arise.
Conversing with experts can be intimidating, but they want to hear those questions. While being shy at first will not deter your career prospects, asking thoughtful questions is guaranteed to improve them.
Be Confident and Professional
Further, assuming you’ve come to know yourself and that this self-knowledge means you ask the questions of an inquisitive social worker, this tip isn’t for you!
But not everyone is at that stage yet.
It is okay to lack confidence for some period of time –in fact, it would be inappropriate to be confident for a lack of abilities.
Thus, the best way to boost your confidence is to give yourself reasons to be confident during networking opportunities by working toward upskilling in social work.
A further way to improve networking confidence is by considering what it is you’re trying to get out of networking –a clear and honest intention, whether it is for improving job prospects or for acquiring recommendations for graduate school, is a clear guide to successful action.
MSW programs and their profound networking potential
Networking opportunities for social work are optimized by improving one’s knowledge base in social work and, in doing so, gaining the confidence to speak with authority and self-sufficiency in the presence of experts.
Of all the options listed earlier, MSW programs are arguably the best places for networking in social work because social work professors have to help their students as their primary task.
In most cases elsewhere, that level of dedication will not be a readily available resource. Social workers interested in cultivating future social workers are most reliably found in MSW programs, as that is their literal job!