Careers in social work
Career options for social work graduates
Employment outcomes
Employment prospects and outlook
Salaries
Find out more
Career options for social work graduates
Compared with many other graduate groups, social workers boast some lofty career goals: enhancing the quality of life of others, working to change policy and improve services. Some social work methods involve working at the coalface with groups or individuals, others focus on administration, or advocacy and lobbying. As a graduate you can choose to pursue any of these roles in a range of different practice areas.
Employment outcomes
The Australian Government JobSearch website reports that the vast majority— over 90%— of accredited social workers are employed in either the health and community services or the government administration and defence sectors.
The dominance of these two sectors in the profession explains the large number of social work graduates who move straight from university into the public sector. According to The Good Universities Guide 2008, 85% of recent graduates were employed in the public sector—the second highest percentage of any graduate group.
There is no shortage of rewarding job opportunities in public departments. In fact, the range of career options available to social work graduates is as broad as the range of community services on offer throughout the country. These include:
- hospitals
- nursing homes
- mental health services
- drug and alcohol services
- family health and counselling services
- Indigenous services.
Employment prospects and outlook
According to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ Australian jobs 2007 job prospects for social workers are currently good, and unemployment is average. Future jobs growth to 2011–12 is expected to be strong.
Salaries
The salaries of social work graduates are around average compared with those of graduates in other fields. However, the average weekly salary of all practising social workers (around $1000) compares well with those of related occupational groups including psychologists,
counsellors and welfare workers.
Find out more
Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), www.aasw.asn.au