social work jobs in RTP (insurance, house, job market)

[recentgrad2008]

Hello fellow social workers,

I recently graduated with my msw in 2008 and have been trying to find a job since then. What I have experienced is that most employers do not think I have enough experience in the field. My undergraduate degree included an internship in which I worked at a long term care facility and then as part of my graduate degree I had two internships- one at a local hospital and then one at a non profit association.

My question is how do I break into the field? I am debating about looking for another facility that would be willing to take me on as an intern again so that I may get more work experience. Prior to my returning to school I worked as a medical secretary. Any advice would be welcomed.

[sowk09]

Right now it's really hard. I just graduated in May, but have been submitting resumes since January! I have had quite a few interviews, and 3 job offers which I turned down for what I feel were very good reasons. If you want to PM me, I can tell you the places and the reasons why I turned them down, in case you want to see if the jobs are available. Anyways, this is def. a bad time for us to be finding a job, but that doesn't mean I've stopped looking. I just know it will take a while. In fact, I decided just this weekend to nanny until the job market swings back up.

[InformationPlease]

To start, if either of you want to pm me, I might have some information too. SWK09, I'd love to hear about your interviews too.

To the OP, Do you have your P-LCSW yet? What sorts of jobs are you applying for right now?

I can recommend a few great agencies... I know a few that were hiring recently because they offered me interviews but I had to turn them down due to the decision not to move to that area.

If you are only looking for facility jobs (hospitals, PRTF's, schools, VA, etc) you will have a MUCH more difficult time. Community agency jobs, however, should be pretty easy to score.

If you are going clinical route, your best bet is going to be to apply for QP jobs if you have your P already... if you only have your MSW, you'll have to look for AP jobs until you get your P depending on your pre-MSW, post BA experience.

Community support, community support team, intensive in home, assertive community treatment team, day treatment, residential services, therapeutic foster care, and CAP- MR/DD all need qualified professionals. Based on those parameters, choose a population you'd feel most comfortable working with for the next few years.

I don't know if you are from NC, if not, DM me and I'll explain more in depth about the mental health system in NC right now. It's quite complex and a little jacked up for the moment.

I don't know that you could get another internship because of insurance/liability issues. Your MSW internships are contracted between the university and the site locations with specifiers in place to protect yourself and the clients.

Good luck!

Also, some jobsites to try are social service jobs, idealist.org, careerbuilder, craigslist, occasionally monster, ncdhhs, and usajobs ... you'll probably have the best luck on Craigslist. You could even just go to your LME's site and email each provider individually with a copy of your resume. If you want me to take a look at your resume, I'd be glad to offer feedback. I've been in the field for a while.

[InformationPlease]

Oh, also, about the market... I could write a book about policy changes in mental health in nc over the last 10 years... but what's important to the jobless right now is that the new fiscal year is not looking to start with any hope. A lot of LME's are still completely out of cash and are not accepting any new IPRS's or even CAP- MR/DD clients right now. That's bad... very bad... Will mean a decrease in hiring if it continues.

You can expect a small upswing, at least, in September b/c NCDHHS is requring a 50% QP requirement for services at that time. However, it's likely the pay will be even less then...

As an example, I know Q's who started in 2005 making $25/hour. Now, most agencies will start Q's at $18/hour.

Here's some more info I just thought to add... if you guys are not from here, I really recommend you PM me or find another active social worker to get the low down on NC mental health.

For several reasons...

1. our policy is changing by the month, we get "implementation updates" on the monthly and things can literally change with that little notice...

2. people from out of state, in my experience, have a more difficult time finding a job here... a friend's husband had his mph/msw from usc and I think he went through a couple of jobs he just didn't enjoy at all before settling on something totally outside of the field... another LCSW w/20 years of experience moved to NC and even after she got her NC LCSW straight, she ended up working a QP job for 9 months because she couldn't find anything more fitting to her level of experience

3. support... you are gonna need it to work within this system

I'd also recommend that if you are unfamiliar, before you apply to any more positions, you visit ncdhhs's site and go to the mental health division and read up on the last year's worth of announcements, implementation updates, and I forget what the other category is called... but read those too. You won't understand a lot of it... but it will be stuff you will need to know on day 3 of your new job if you go the outpatient route. Also, visit the DMA's site and read up on reimbursement schedules for social workers. If you don't have your license, go ahead and apply for something... even if not clinical, many of our social workers are licensed at some level.. I think non clinical is like certified or something???

Also, there's a training site... go through all of the available powerpoints just so you can at least have some framework for what you are going to learn about this system and will be familiar with some of the terminology. Some trainings that I know about for sure on there are mobile crisis, access to care, and intensive in home...

Did I mention mobile crisis hires QP's too? If I didn't, they do...

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know... yay to new social workers. I love helping the new crops find their way. If only someone had been there for my class a few years ago... we were some lost little puppies.

Stay strong!

Ok, last edit, I'd also suggest you newbies read this...

Summary of Proposed Cuts/Restoration by House and Senate HHS Budget Conference Committee for MHDDSA | Public Policy News (http://www.mha-nc.org/english/index.php/Public-Policy-News/Summary-of-Proposed-Cuts/Restoration-by-House-and-Senate-HHS-Budget-Conference-Committee-for-MHDDSA.html - broken link)

That is a proposed budget situation. It's all up/down right now, nothing final, if they try to cut major stuff, there might be another advocacy march on the capital... (I know there was one in 05 or 06... haven't been involved on that level since then...)

Without having been in the loop the last 12 months, I can only say that I know that at least one of those cuts has been a long time coming and most agencies have already started transitioning. Community support (I can explain more if you want to know more) is being phased out and has been on the way out since 05... earlier even really. To my knowledge, a lot of the other cuts were not as anticipated and there's nothing in the works to support those losses.

The issues with mental health, however, existed before the nationwide crisis and will persist afterward, in my opinion. So, anyway, just read as much as you can... to protect yourself and make sure you make the right decision with your choices. Ok, I'm really going to take a quick nap now. Good luck.