Social Worker Interview Preparation Guide

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Our population is getting older, global economic, social and intercultural problems are on the rise and the social differences are alarming. Therefore, social workers are as needed as ever.

Before we start to talk about various interview questions, we should have a look at the most important principle every social worker should be aware of. It is your point of view on the job in this sphere. Social work is not only a job. It is your mission. Or at least, that is the way a good employee should feel it.
Good workers like their jobs and feel good about daily life, as they understand the value their work brings to the society.

Social workers should never work only for money. They do their job, because they see a meaningful purpose in helping the others. Anytime being interviewed for any position in social sector, you should always present this opinion in an interview. It should be reflected in your enthusiasm and motivation to do the job.

☛ Why do you want to work on this position?
☛ What do you hope to accomplish as a social worker?
☛ Why did you decided for this specific filed of social work and not for another one?
☛ Why should we hire you for this position?
☛ What characterize a good social worker from your point of view?
☛ What do you consider your strengths and your weaknesses as a social worker?

☛ What do you consider to be your major successes and accomplishments in your last job? Who did help you the most to achieve it?
☛ What was your biggest failure in social work so far?
☛ Think of an aggressive/angry client from the past. How did you deal with the situation?
☛ Think about conflict situation form your last job. How did you solve the conflict?
☛ Describe a situation when you did something more than expected from you as a social worker.
☛ There are always cases we can do nothing about. Describe me such a case from your experience. What have you tried before giving up?

☛ What is your opinion about young generation?
☛ What do you consider as good topics to talk to old people about?
☛ How would you get closer to our target group, as a human being?
☛ If a client does not understand even a simple language you use, what would you do?
☛ Are you prepared to make home visits?
☛ Are you prepared to work overtime?
☛ Here is a problem we have. Prepare a solution and describe it to me. You have ten minutes for preparation?

☛ What do you hope to accomplish as a social worker?
☛ Our agency serves XYZ population. What interests you about serving this population?
☛ How do you feel about supervision? What type of supervision do you prefer?
☛ How do you balance your work and personal life?
☛ What types of clients do you find the most difficult to work with? Why?
☛ What do you believe are some of your biggest accomplishments in your fieldwork?

☛ Tell me about the most difficult case you ever worked on?
☛ Tell me about something you would do differently in the management of one of your previous fieldwork cases?
☛ Have you ever been faced with an ethical conflict in your experience as a social worker? How did you handle the situation?
☛ Tell me about a time when you were in a disagreement with someone over a treatment plan. What was the disagreement, and how was it resolved?
☛ How would you go about locating resources for clients in a community in which you were new and had no previous relationships?
☛ Imagine a client walked into a session with you and appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. What would you do?

☛ What would you do if a client had a psychotic outburst in the waiting room?
☛ What techniques do you use in crisis intervention?
☛ What are your opinions on the current welfare system?
☛ Where do you think the field of social work is heading in the next five years or so?
☛ What is your theoretical orientation regarding family therapy?

You may have the requisite degrees and licenses needed for the job, but so do other candidates. Recruiters want to ensure that you'll fit in with the culture of the organization. For this question, you want to highlight your communication skills by talking about the various teams you worked on at your last job or how you lead an outreach committee; include outcomes from your past experiences. Present a story about an outreach campaign you initiated and how it resulted in an increase in community support. Give specific examples of how you worked with your peers and how well projects turned out. Reference your research into the agency and assure the recruiter that the company goals and mission statement precisely align with your own beliefs and values.

High caseloads and troubled clients can create enormous stress for social workers. Managers need to know they have competent, well-adjusted employees on hand who don't fall apart when crises occur. Talk about your belief in balance and your talents at being able to create environments free of stress in your home. Highlight your extracurricular activities such as playing an instrument or running and tell the recruiter the importance of your health to your overall mental well-being. Explain that you eat well, sleep and rest at night and can get others to breathe deeply and change directions when they get stressed out. Provide an example of when you applied your relaxation techniques with clients and the results of your intervention.

Writing reports and talking with peers and clients are integral skills needed to be successful in the field of social work and sometimes difficult to gauge in a simple interview. Answer questions about your technical skills with more examples of how you engaged a group of mothers to form a support network and spoke at their annual volunteer recognition dinner. Carry copies of newsletter articles you wrote for your previous employer or for a group with whom you volunteer. Refer to your exceptional grades in English and public speaking at school as well as your ongoing participation in continuing education courses to improve your writing and speaking skills. Include references to professional groups that you belong to and the committee work you do with those groups, as well as any positions you hold within the organization, to further highlight your commitment to self-improvement and to your career.

I am very proud on all the people who decide to work in social sphere. You should be proud on yourself too, proud on your goals and good intentions you have in life. Do not be afraid to talk about it in an interview. Show them that your heart is on a right place and that you believe that social work is important in modern-day society. You want to help the others, that is the reason of your choice.

We all have some preferences. Someone likes vanilla ice cream, while someone else prefers strawberry one. It is the same with people. Some of us like to work with children, while some of us prefer to work with alcoholics. Some individuals with special motivation even choose groups such as drug addicts or homeless people.
Recruiters try to find out why you are interested in specific field of social work. In a good answer, you should simply state that you feel close to the target group or to the job itself. To give a specific reason, such as personal experience, is a great idea too.

One ability can represent a strength for one job and a weakness for another position. You should understand what the right strengths and the biggest weaknesses for this job are. Once you understand it, you can prepare your answer to this question.

Many abilities characterize a good employee in this field. Look at the list below:
☛ Good communication skills
☛ Understanding for the problems and needs of the others
☛ Ability to solve conflict situations
☛ Passion for work
☛ Creative personality
☛ No fear
☛ High level of responsibility
☛ Detail oriented personality
☛ Good listening skills
All of these are good, but for some fields of social work some strengths are more important than the others. You should think about it yourself and pick one or two to talk about in an interview.

What isn't your strength, doesn't have to be a weakness for social work. While some of us have excellent communication skills, many of us are average in communication. But is still enough for a job in social sphere. And even if your communication skills, or your level of responsibility, is bad, you should never mention it in your answer. It's just too important You should rather choose a weakness that is not so important, or one that can be considered as a strength by some employers. To such weaknesses belong:
☛ Being over-friendly
☛ Being impatient sometimes
☛ Being too punctual
☛ Having your own opinion always
☛ Not being able to take decision independently

Every job candidate has some weaknesses. There does not exist something like an ideal applicant for a job… We all have our weak spots. However, the difference between average and exceptional people is an effort to improve on their weaknesses. If you honestly describe your weaknesses and explain the recruiters your efforts to improve on it, it will be the best possible answer.

Social workers meet with different kinds of clients. They often struggle in life, face problems and are unsatisfied with everything around them. (That is the reason why they need your help).
Being overwhelmed by their own problems, they can be aggressive, angry, sad, irate, or whatever else comes to your mind. Some clients are nice, but many are not. As a social worker you need to handle all the people and all the problematic situations. That is why you will be inquired how you dealt with such clients in the past.
Notice that it is a behavioral question. Recruiters ask what you did, not what you would do. Therefor you should speak about a situation from the past, ideally from your job. But if it is your first job application, you can calmly talk about experiences from your personal life.

You can not solve the problem by arguing with your client. You probably knew this already. Oppositely, as a good social worker, you should stay calm and relaxed, keep your focus and goal on your mind and do not let their behavior to distract you. Remember, your goal is to build bridges, not to destroy it.

☛ Helping someone who is NOT your client, but needs quality help from someone with your qualification.
☛ Offer and deliver a service that is outside of your working duties (for example shopping for someone, taking someone to physician, going for a vacation with someone, etc).
☛ Meeting with clients in your free time, in order to strengthen mutual relationship.
☛ Helping new colleagues in work.

In this case, you should talk about your volunteering experience, or at least about some situation when you did something more than expected. It can be anything you did for free too.
Do not forget that in social work, your attitude is the most important thing. If it is correct, they can hire you, even if you have no experience with social work. Show the right attitude and get a job!

In most of the cases, social work is connected to specific demographic and sociographic group of people. You may work with orphans, problematic youngsters, old people, homeless people, immigrants. There are numerous social groups that definitely need our help.
It doesn't matter what they ask, you should be always positive. Positive about people, positive about options to help, positive about your job. That is the right attitude to present in an interview. Oppositely, if you spoke in negative terms, they would not hire you. One can hardly do this job well, if he does not believe it or do not have some respect for people who should work with.

Social work is not something one can do effectively while keeping distance. As a good candidate, you should always try to get as close to the people as possible. Close to their bodies, close to their hearts, close to their problems… This is the only way how to do this job well and you should know it and have a plan how to do it.

The problem of many social workers is that they stand out from the crowd too much… If you come among-st poor children wearing a business suit, you will hardly get close to their hearts. You may get an attention, but that isn't really what you seek. They will not respect you, they will feel a distance between you two. It is like inviting a homeless man to your beautiful office, just to take a questionnaire.
I would go into their habitat, I would try to understand their language, think on the same wavelength as they do. I wouldn't try to present myself as someone clever, but rather act as one of them, wear things they wear and speak the way they do. That is how I would try to get closer to them.