Social workers provide professional support and wide variety of services to people who have social difficulties. Today, our society has become more accepting and open minded regarding all types of handicaps or limitations. Social workers are involved across the spectrum, aiding everyone, no matter what, enabling each person to accomplish and contribute to society. Many people, inspired with this ideal of perfecting society, desire to become social workers.
Social workers work closely with their targeted population tapping into social care organizations and government institutions acting as mediators and social consultants. They assist people personally and by informing them of all possible services available to them. Due to the fact that so many people need assistance, the field of social work provides an excellent opportunity of employment.
The job interview for social workers includes: behavioral interview questions and experience/qualifications questions. These questions will enable the interviewer to assess the appropriateness of the applicant to the said position.
Social Worker Job Interview
► Job Experience, Skills and Motivation:
- What are your experiences/qualifications for this position? Have you worked with people with special needs?
- Why do you want to work with this community /population? Why did you choose this career? What led you to this field? What motivates you about social work?
- Why did you apply for this particular position?
- Can you work on multiple projects simultaneously – multitasking?
- Do you have references? How would your references describe you?
Construct a brief summary of your professional profile, portraying yourself as a person who puts serious thought and effort into their actions, in order to excel in the social work field.
Make sure to present the reasons you selected this particular field from any other and why it fits your characteristics. Also, describe your background in the field, listing projects, organizations and committees or groups with which you have worked. Demonstrate with a few examples that the job experience you’ve gained places you in an excellent position to perform the job well..
It is important to rehearse your answers so that you can speak smoothly. Better yet, recite them for colleagues, and request their honest feedback.
► Behavioral Questions:
- Describe an unexpected/stressful situation you’ve experienced in your previous job as a social worker. How did you handle the situation?
- How do you communicate information to your supervisors?
- How do you establish good communication with your team?
- How do you show an interest and compassion in what a person (with social needs) is saying or experiencing?
- Have you ever acted as a mentor?
- How do you keep yourself motivated?
- How do you prioritize tasks during a day work? How do you handle a heavy workload?
- How frequently do you request support from others?
- Have you turn down a request from a person? What was the reason? Was it difficult? Does it happen often?
- How do you formulate decisions? How much do you consult with other before making a critical decision?
It is recommended to provide examples when answering behavioral questions. Try to think of any work experience that covers the above activities or consequences.
Relate your experience, why you chose to behave in that way, the results and what you have gained/learned for the future.
► Work flow:
- Describe a social problem and the way you collect information to establish a problem solving model.
- Describe social work in which you conduct team meetings, interviews and group training.
- Describe the standards you use to writing up assessments, reports and recommendations.
These questions are asked in order to assess your job skills and determine whether you know how to deal with specific work cases. It is your opportunity to demonstrate your professional approach in various social situations.
- What would you think are the key social work challenges for this position?
- What do you want to achieve at this position? What are your future career goals?
- What are your expectations from the job?
Short and long term objectives are keys to evaluating an applicant’s appropriateness to a specific job. Employers prefer motivated employees with goals. Therefore, communicate your career plan to show how positive, focused and definitive you are about your career.
You may also be interested in reading the following articles:
• Behavioral interview questions and answers
• Situational interview questions
• And examples of competency based questions and answers.
Healthcare Job Interviews