- A person who practices social work is called a social worker.
- Social work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and subjective well-being of individuals, groups, and communities through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, crisis intervention, and teaching for the benefit of those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, mental and physical illness or disability, and social injustice, including violations of their civil liberties and human rights.
Eligibility:
- After completing 10+2 one can enter the career field by doing bachelor’s degree in Social work (B.S.W./ B.A). Duration of course is 3 years and after completing bachelor’s degree you can apply for Masters degree course in Social work (M.S.W./ M.A) which is of 2 year duration.
- Specialization in MSW includes Human resource management, Criminology and correctional administration, medical and psychiatric social work, family and child welfare, rural and urban community development, and schools social work.
- A masters degree in Social work is necessary for positions in the mental health field and general supervisory positions. For higher studies in this field, one could do the doctoral and research programs like M.Phil. and Ph.D. These higher degrees are usually required for teaching and some research and administrative jobs.
Job prospects:
- Enormous employment opportunities are available for social workers in private as well as public sector companies. Career opportunities in this field would depend on an individual’s area of specialisation.
- Social workers who specialize in the area of human resource management can get jobs in the Personnel, HRM, Welfare departments of factories and commercial organizations, as executive officers, trainee officers, welfare officers and social security officers.
- Trained professionals can get executive card jobs in government, semi-government undertakings, private organizations as labor welfare officers, welfare officers, social workers etc.
- There are also Non-Government Organisations (NGO) and institutes providing services to different sections in the society. NGO’s need trained social workers to work in various fields. Social workers can also take up teaching assignments.
