Is A Career in Social Services Right for You?

If you’re someone who’s considering a career change or perhaps just looking for their first job, why don’t you think about working in social services? This is a line of work that involves helping others and providing services that benefit different people. Sometimes, these services could be provided by the government, meaning you could work for a government agency.

Jobs in social services are usually well paid there’s room to climb the career ladder. No matter which way you look at it, a career in social services could be a very good move. Of course, it all depends on the type of person you are and whether or not you’re suited to this career.

So, this article will aim to help you figure this out. Below, you will find various social services jobs to give you an idea as to whether or not they suit you. You’ll also find some questions you should ask yourself if you’re considering this career move.

Top Social Services Jobs

I think it’s best to take a look at the different jobs this career path offers to see if you like the sound of any of them. It makes sense to do this rather than just rushing into a career you know very little about. Here are some of the top and most common social services jobs:

Social Worker

When you think of social services, you inevitably think of social workers. This job will require you to have a fairly close relationship with people in the community. You’ll be on hand to provide advice and guidance to families or individuals going through rough times. It’s not an easy job, and you’ll have to study to become a Doctor of social work before you find a job. However, it’s very rewarding as you get to work with people that are perhaps less fortunate than you and you can play a huge role in turning their fortunes around and improving negative situations.

Care Worker

Car workers have very important jobs as they look after people in the community that need extra help. Unlike social workers, you don’t necessarily need a degree, and you will mainly focus on care work. This involves looking after elderly people that need help getting out of bed each morning or need someone to come and make them dinner every evening. You’re on hand to care for the health of those that can’t physically care for themselves anymore. It doesn’t just refer to elderly people, it could be young people with physical issues or disabilities that need extra help too.

Education Welfare Worker

This job involves working alongside schools in your community to tackle all sorts of problems. You get together with principals, teachers, and parents, to see what’s going on in school. This could mean you talk about attendance issues or problems revolving around bullying. Essentially, it’s your job to work for the well-being of the school. You want to come up with solutions to ensure the schools in your community are all as great as they can be.

Youth Worker

This is a very important career as it involves working with the youth of today. You can help young people that are struggling for various reasons, and make them feel worthwhile and looked after. This could include setting up youth workshops to get delinquents off the streets. It can mean providing career advice or just being a shoulder to cry on.

These are the most common and popular careers in social services these days. Now that you’ve seen what jobs you can find in this sector, it’s time to ask yourself a few questions to see if you’d fit in:

Do You Like Working With People?

If you don’t like working with people, then this isn’t the career path for you. No matter what job you take in social services, they’ll all require you to work closely with others. You have to develop relationships with people in your community or else you’ll never be able to work properly.

Are You Compassionate?

You need to be compassionate if you’re working in social services. Every job available revolves around this ability to sympathize with other people. All the work in social services is geared towards improving the lives of other people in a community. If you don’t care about this and can’t show any compassion, there’s no point pursuing this career.

Hopefully, this post has shown you if you’re suited to a career in social services or not. Yes, it’s a very rewarding career path to journey down. However, you have to know what you’re in for before you get started. It’s not for everyone, so bear that in mind.

Photos: Opening photo by Pixabay

Contributed posts are advertisements written by third parties who have paid Woman Around Town for publication.