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I don't think you understand the local dynamics. Physicians are always welcome. But most jobs go to a brother or cousin, because nepotism rules supreme here. If your're related, you got a job.
Last edited by leilaniguy; 03-23-2016 at 11:37 PM..
I don't think you understand the local dynamics. Physicians are always welcome. But most jobs go to a brother or cousin, because nepotism rules supreme here. If your're related, you got a job.
See other thread where woman JUST moved her 4 days ago, and got a job.
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If I could venture to say so, although the OP has not written back since the first post, the Florida Keys might be a better fit. There is a great need for social workers here, and there seem to constantly be several positions open and unfilled throughout the county. The Keys do not have the same cultural challenges, and might be more easily relatable to someone from Baltimore. They are very different from Hawaii in numerous ways, but if you are looking for a tropical island lifestyle while serving serious needs of mentally ill and homeless people, they are an excellent choice.
There is an affordable housing crisis, and some wariness of hiring people who have not already located (which makes things hard because it's hard to get a rental without proof of a local job). However, if you are willing to live in a house with roommates, you would likely do just fine.
We really do need good, dedicated people down here, and might be more apt to appreciate your presence than communities in Hawaii. This is because very sadly, all of our indigenous people were murdered and driven off long ago, so there is not the same tension over jobs and housing with respect to ethnicity that exists in Hawaii, nor the steep learning curve in relating to the cultural context. Most people who find themselves homeless and/or in need of services in the Keys originally moved here from somewhere else further North, and had dreams of an easy tropical life - thus might be very easy to relate to for the OP.
There are several organizations on Tavernier in the Upper Keys, and in Key West at the bottom of the island chain, that might need your services in the coming year. If you have a degree in counseling, so much the better.
I do not mean to hijack the thread, but if the OP is not specifically set on HI, this might provide a good alternative that would benefit all involved. Social workers tend to make bottom of the barrel pay for a person who has earned a Masters, regardless of where they live. It is a hard and thankless job. Such a job won't pay well in the Keys either. But there is full-time work, likely with some benefits, which for the Keys makes it one of the better jobs available in the entire county for someone who is not necessarily an insider/Conch (born in the Florida Keys). The Keys are small, isolated, and cliquish, so won't offer the amenities of say, Honolulu. They are a terrible place to move if a great dating life is important to you. But if you can handle small town life, and having roommates, you might be very happy. And if you can afford to live in Key West proper, or in Key Largo (closest island to Miami, about 45-60 min. away), at least there will be a bit more variety of things to do and people to meet.
My apologies if the OP was interested in HI only - for specific reasons as yet unmentioned - but often people who are interested in HI are also interested in the Florida Keys, and there are many people who have lived in both places in their lifetimes because the two have a decent number of similarities.
I am a social worker with experience in working with Adults. Mostly mentally ill and some experience with the homeless population. I was reading about the homeless issues in Hawaii and wanted to know " How feasible is it to apply for a job there doing social work? " Cost of living seems to be a little much for a social worker. Not worried about making friends or dating; I am adaptable to where ever I go. I find a niche. Not sure about working for the military. Currently work for local government but to work for the local government there would be huge pay cut. Social workers on the Hawaii islands let me know what you think
Note to OP - I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that most (if not all) the responses you've received have not been from social workers. I'm certainly not one. We're mostly just cranky old folks with too much time on our hands. But we all mean well.
Hope you can get some meaningful advise from a SW who's already here.
Thanks, StarfishKey! Good advice and if it doesn't work out for the OP, they can always drive back to the mainland. They never got around to building the bridge to Hawaii like they did to the keys. The Keys are a nice place and Key West when we visited felt very much like an old time small Waikiki. Kinda like Waikiki before it got all gentrified.
Are you familiar with family and customs of: Samoa, Tonga, Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese? How about the Micronesians and the federal agreement we have with their country? Which customs provide the biggest problems integrating into our way of life in Hawaii?
Can you explain some of the differences you would find with local families compared to their mainland counterparts?
Can you provide a brief explanation of the problem with amount of homeless we have in Hawaii and what you think would help. Please differentiate between homeless families and singles.
CUT the krap. Crazy people are same same the world over!
Note to OP - I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that most (if not all) the responses you've received have not been from social workers. I'm certainly not one. We're mostly just cranky old folks with too much time on our hands. But we all mean well.
Hope you can get some meaningful advise from a SW who's already here.
I don't usually pay too much attention to the Hawaii thread, but I had an interesting conversation with a woman from work this week. She is an admin assistant here, but just moved from the big island after three years there. Not only that, she was one of three applicants from Hawaii. That is crazy to me. This woman claims a lot of mainlanders who live there want to get out.
But I wanted perspective from someone living in Hawaii that is why I ask if there are the problems there this woman at work here told me. She said it was very tense between the locals and people from the mainland. She had people tell her to go home and get out of our islands. Another friend had death threats posted on FB. This woman is very mild mannered and middle aged, so I was shocked at what she was saying. Then another guy here at work piped in and said when in the Air Force locals threw rocks at them if they stepped on the wrong beach.
Is there really this kind of racial tension brewing just under the surface there? How will this all play out in the future I wonder. It reminds me of the racial tension here I've heard about between blacks and whites in the 60's and 70's. But things here are better now. From what this woman told me it is getting worse. And she said every local she met immediately wanted to know about how she felt on a telescope on top of a mountain. She said no matter what the project, the locals always say no. She said she went to public meetings about the telescope, but the opposition would never show up and boycott all those kind of meetings. She said she wanted to hear both sides, but only heard the pro side cause of the boycott.
Edit: Then I watched Anthony Bourdain on his show about Hawaii. Again, seemed like lots of tension with flags flying upside down, etc.
I think this is not going to end well no matter what happens. Shame.
Thanks, StarfishKey! Good advice and if it doesn't work out for the OP, they can always drive back to the mainland. They never got around to building the bridge to Hawaii like they did to the keys. The Keys are a nice place and Key West when we visited felt very much like an old time small Waikiki. Kinda like Waikiki before it got all gentrified.
Lol, if only! But a land bridge would only intensify the problems Hawaii is currently having, with a massive influx of mainland folk! Here it is certainly easier for people to at least reserve the price of bus fare out of the county if things don't work out (although a great many people do not bother to save even that much, and end up broke with no way to return to the mainland just 100 miles or so away).
I'm glad you enjoyed visiting the Keys, and it's interesting to hear that Key West resembles an older, pre-gentrification Waikiki. I can't imagine what the Hawaii equivalent would be for the Upper Keys, given that Key West is a big city by comparison! We border the Everglades, all of our West side is called "the backcountry," and nearly all of the thousands of islands surrounding us are uninhabited, so I guess we would be more like a small town near a remote section of Hawaii. All of the Upper Keys together have a population of only about 15,000 people, so living on one of these islands is maybe more akin to living in a place like Molokai...
Even if the OP is focused on Hawaii, there will likely be other people in a similar situation drawn to this thread in the future, and perhaps my response will help them. It is likely to still be true for some years to come, that the Keys are filled with people with addiction problems, mental illness, and homelessness, many of whom moved here to escape their problems and then realized, they bring the same baggage with them wherever they go. If you have a lot of drama in your life, you're going to still have all that drama if you move to the Keys, or to Hawaii.
Both sets of islands will need social workers, but I would imagine that in Hawaii a lot of cultural and historical awareness is needed for most social work jobs. In the Keys, you just have to understand problems common to dreamers, like addiction and social/societal isolation. Cultural history will be relevant for working with Conchs, but most of them have such a strong support system that talking to a social worker, much less one who is an outsider, would be out of the question.
I don't usually pay too much attention to the Hawaii thread, but I had an interesting conversation with a woman from work this week. She is an admin assistant here, but just moved from the big island after three years there. Not only that, she was one of three applicants from Hawaii. That is crazy to me. This woman claims a lot of mainlanders who live there want to get out.
But I wanted perspective from someone living in Hawaii that is why I ask if there are the problems there this woman at work here told me. She said it was very tense between the locals and people from the mainland. She had people tell her to go home and get out of our islands. Another friend had death threats posted on FB. This woman is very mild mannered and middle aged, so I was shocked at what she was saying. Then another guy here at work piped in and said when in the Air Force locals threw rocks at them if they stepped on the wrong beach.
Is there really this kind of racial tension brewing just under the surface there? How will this all play out in the future I wonder. It reminds me of the racial tension here I've heard about between blacks and whites in the 60's and 70's. But things here are better now. From what this woman told me it is getting worse. And she said every local she met immediately wanted to know about how she felt on a telescope on top of a mountain. She said no matter what the project, the locals always say no. She said she went to public meetings about the telescope, but the opposition would never show up and boycott all those kind of meetings. She said she wanted to hear both sides, but only heard the pro side cause of the boycott.
Edit: Then I watched Anthony Bourdain on his show about Hawaii. Again, seemed like lots of tension with flags flying upside down, etc.
I think this is not going to end well no matter what happens. Shame.
Aloha Tom - I'm not the best person to respond to this since my wife and I and the 2 fur babies have only been here a little over a year, and because of health issues, really haven't had a chance to mingle with the local folks very much. I will say that everyone we have interacted with, doctors, med staff, retail workers, county workers, etc, have been very pleasant to us. Of course we are a couple of old haoles that were taught to be respectful of other people, and, wherever you go, that goes a long ways. I do see the occasional inverted state flag, and signs about saving Mauna Kea, but I don't read a lot into that. Some folks, too, want the revoke statehood, but, shucks, we have folks in Georgia and Texas that want to do that. Mahalo.
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But we all mean well.
Mahalo.
