Social Worker Hub
The career go-to guide for Social Workers working in Australia.
SOCIAL WORKERS IN AUSTRALIA
Degree
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Social workers address barriers, inequality or injustice faced by people from all walks of life, particularly the marginalised, abused or socially excluded.
To become a Social Worker, you need to complete a Bachelor of Social Work as an Undergraduate degree. This is the equivalent of 4 years of full-time education (FTE). There are placements throughout the Undergraduate degree in a variety of social work settings.
Depending on the university, postgraduate qualifications to study a Master of Social Work take 1.5 to 2.5 years of FTE equivalent.
To become a Mental Health Accredited Social Worker, you will be required to undertake further study after completing your Bachelor of Social Work.
The ATAR requirements to study Social Work are 75+ and depend on the University. The Guaranteed ATAR as per the Universities Admissions Centre to study Social Work is 80.
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” – Malcolm Forbes
Professional Body
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AASW: The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) is the professional body for social workers in Australia. As well as representing and supporting social workers in their essential work, we set the benchmarks for professional education and practice in social work. – www.aasw.asn.net.au
“Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” – William Yeats
Career Paths
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Social workers contribute to the greater social good across a range of sectors and work with people of all ages. They work in:
- hospitals,
- schools,
- federal and state government departments,
- non-government organisations,
- community services and
- in private practice.
Fields of social work practice can include:
- mental health
- health
- disability
- child protection
- family support
- schools and education
- domestic and family violence
- addiction
- gambling
- alcohol and other drugs
- sexual violence
- academia
- housing and homelessness
- income support
- leadership and management
- refugee and asylum seeker advocacy
- veterans’ affairs
- palliative care
- social injustice and discrimination
“Nature has given us all the pieces required to achieve exceptional wellness and health, but has left it to us to put these pieces together.”—Diane McLaren
Work Arrangement
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As a Social Worker, you can work:
- Full-time,
- Part-time
- as a contractor.
Your role could be:
- Community-based
- Office-based
- FIFO
- Work from home
- a combination of these
Face-to-face and Telehealth options are available in most roles. This offers Social Workers the flexibility to schedule work around their life, as opposed to the other way around.
Locations
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As a Social Worker, you can work anywhere in Australia. You are in exceptionally high demand in:
- metro,
- rural,
- regional or
- remote locations Australia-wide.
Check out some of our jobs available for Social Workers right now.
Social Work is a universal degree – most countries in the world recognise Social Workers and their skills as professionals. Not only does this ensure that your skills are current, it means that you are adding value to peoples lives no matter where you go.
We highly recommend you make sure to check what the requirements are to practise in each country.
Salary Indicators
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- Graduates: $60,000 – $70,000 base + super
- 1-2 years’: $70,000 – $80,000 base + super
- 3-5 years’: $80,000 – $95,000 base + super
- 5+ years experience: $95,000 base + super and above. This is when Specialist, Team Leader or Management level roles start to appear as well.
Keep in mind that the above are general indicators. Factors that influence your salary include:
- specialisations,
- location,
- industry,
- role depth,
- employer salary band-widths,
- work arrangement
If you would like to discuss your salary, feel free to contact us.
“I think it’s possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary” – Elon Musk
Work perks offered to Social Workers
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Our Social Workers are offered and/or we negotiate a range of benefits for them.
Financial Benefits:
- Regular Salary Reviews
- Performance Bonus
- Extra Superannuation Contributions
- Salary sacrifice or Salary Packaging arrangements
- Corporate Discounts
Tools of Trade:
- Mobile
- Laptop
- Tablet
- Speech to Text Software
Admin & Reception Support: Free up time by dictating your reports and let the admin team do the rest
Travel:
- Pool Car Access
- Novated Lease
- Per Km reimbursement
- GoGet Car Access
- Set amount per timeframe
- Petrol Card
Knowledge & Assessment Suitcase:
- Subscriptions, both hard- and soft-copy
- Professional development contribution
- Comprehensive induction
- On-going mentoring
- In-services by subject matter experts
Extra Leave: One of our clients give their staff 7 weeks’ leave. Other clients give their staff reservist leave, doona days, volunteer, pet and birthday leave.
Parental Leave: Some employers give their staff the difference between their wage and the government mandated parental leave subsidy for the full 16 weeks. Pretty good!
Social and team building: Paid for by the company. One of our clients paid for their whole team to do axe-throwing and a cooking class – not on the same day…
“Sometimes I spend the whole meeting wondering how they got the big meeting table through the door.” ~ Anonymous
Health, Wellness & EAP:
- Pool, yoga or gym access or contribution
- Confidential EAP
Career Mapping: Our clients spend a lot of time and money training and supporting you. They would like to see you mutually thrive. Your success and growth = their success and growth.
“It’s pretty clear: If you don’t ask, you usually don’t get what you deserve.” ― Suze Orman
Advantages of being a Social Worker
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Longevity: You’ve got a career for life as a Social Worker. For example, you can work as a Disability Support worker while you study and transition into a Child Welfare Officer role upon graduation. From there, you may choose to move into a role working in the NDIS with a population with a disability or as a Case Manager for injured workers in Occupational rehab. From there, you could move into a specialist area of SW or move into a Team Leader or Management based roles or work at a final employer as part of their RTW Coordinator team. You have options galore!
Location flexibility: Your role allows you to work anywhere in Australia and in many countries all over the world.
Pay: The salary and benefits offered by employers to attract Social Workers are generous and varied. Graduates straight out of Uni can get a starting salary of $60,000 – $70,000 base + super depending on the role, industry and location.
There are also many other perks such as a phone, car, NFP benefits, performance bonuses, CPD and training contributions etc.
Work Flexibility: You can work full-time, part-time, as a contractor, in the Community, WFH, from an office, via telehealth or face to face. As your life changes, you can keep your skills current and customise your work around your needs.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” — The Lorax by Dr. Seuss,
Challenges of being a Social Worker
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These are anecdotal observations based on our conversations with many Social Workers.
KPIs: Some Social Workers find the idea of billable targets challenging as it associates their work with a dollar amount.
Too specialised: Some Social Workers would like to be able to apply their skills in more industries or in more roles within existing industries. For example, there aren’t many roles for Social Workers in Occupational Rehab.
Burnout: The ongoing demands on Social Workers can lead to burnout at work. Social Workers who work in confronting or challenging roles such as child sexual abuse or domestic violence arenas need support and empathy from their employers.
Access to EAP support services can help with burnout.
“Be gentle with yourself, you’re doing the best you can” – Unknown
International Social Workers
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“If you are migrating to Australia and seeking recognition as an internationally qualified social worker for migration and/or employment purposes, we can help you.
On behalf of the Australian Government, as a nominated assessing authority, we assess academic social work qualifications by assessing your qualification for migration purposes.” – www.aasw.asn.au
Read the details on the process on the AASW website.
Medijobs Australia highly recommends commencing your Social Work accreditation process early in your migration journey so that you have plenty of time to get through your accreditation requirements.
LATEST SOCIAL WORKER JOBS
The future
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. – Barack Obama
Our team at Medijobs Australia would love to have a chat with you if you’re considering studying Social Work as a degree, are studying to be a Social Worker right now or are about to Graduate or are a Social Worker at any stage of your career.
We’re here to add value to your career journey – all you have to do is reach out.