Career Development in Social Work
Uniting passion with lifelong purpose.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, social work employment is expected to increase through 2029. The aging baby boom generation is driving the demand for social workers. Likewise, the need for social workers specializing in children and family, school social workers, substance abuse, mental health, and healthcare is projected to rise. Social Work jobs are projected to have an average 13% growth rate –faster than the average growth that is projected for all occupations from 2019 to 2029.
Graduates of the Simmons School of Social Work are among the most prepared and sought-after professionals ready to meet these needs.
Throughout the year, the School of Social Work and the Career Education Center host events to support student career planning and preparation. Career Connections in January features several workshops on writing a professional social work resume and creating a successful job search strategy. In mid-Winter the SSW hosts a recruitment fair attended by over 40 local employers; in early Spring we co-sponsor with the State registration board several workshops on the LCSW licensing process. Students can also access the career counseling services at the University’s Career Education Center. Professional Social Work Job openings are posted on the School of Social Work job board and on the University’s Handshake online career resource. Employers can submit new job listings through our online form.
First jobs for recent SSW graduates
- Clinical Social Worker, Emergency Department of Boston Children’s Hospital
- Child and Family Social Worker, Home for Little Wanderers
- Clinical Social Worker, Cardiovascular Medicine Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital · Clinical Social Worker, Fenway Health
- Clinical Social Worker, Seasons Hospice, Norwood, Massachusetts
- Clinical Social Worker, Neurology Unit of Massachusetts General Hospital
- Clinical Social Worker, Veterans Administration Boston Health Care System
- Clinical Social Worker and Intake Coordinator, Southern Jamaica Plain Community Health Center, Boston, Massachusetts
- Emergency Services Clinician, BEST Team
- Inpatient Psychiatry Social Worker, Worcester State Hospital
- School Social Worker, Revere Public Schools
- Sibling and Group Social Worker, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Social Work Supervisor at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Children and Families
- Behavioral Health Integrated Therapist, Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester, Massachusetts
- Child and Family Clinician, Whittier Street Health Center, Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Clinician Care Coordinator, North Suffolk Mental Health
- Bilingual Dual- Diagnosis Clinician, Casa Esperanza, Boston
- Director of LGBTQ Services at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Division of Student Life
- Fellow, Ruderman Fellowship in Gerontological Social Work at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- Clinical Social Worker, Smart Team, South End Community Health Center
- Clinical Social Worker, The Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights
- School Social Worker, Victor School, Justice Resource Center
- Counselors in the Simmons Counseling Center
- Medical Social Worker in Cardiology at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital
- Addictions Specialist at the North Charles Institute for the Addictions in Somerville, Massachusetts
- Social Worker and Family Services Manager, City of Somerville, Massachusetts
Social Work Career Resources
Job board
Check out our job board for job opportunities.
Submit a job
Do you have a job to post? Employers can submit new job listings through our online form.
Meet Our Alumnae/i
Cambridge Director of Libraries Fosters Learning and Community
Maria McCauley ’17PhD says some of her fondest childhood memories are of visiting her local public library. This lifelong passion for knowledge is part of the reason she decided to pursue library and information science as a second career.
Integrating Forest Spirituality into a Social Work Mindset
Grant Pike ’18MSW ’24DSW shares how the vitality of nature can be combined with social work and social justice, with a positive impact on humans and the planet.
An Advocate for Women and Children
Esta Soler ’68, ’06HD is the President of Futures Without Violence (FUTURES). Based in San Francisco, Boston, and Washington D.C., this nonprofit organization aims to prevent violence against women and families.
Gregory Maguire ’78MA Defying Gravity
Gregory Maguire '78MA, best-selling author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, reflects on his time as one of the first graduates of the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature program at Simmons, now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Harbinger of Health, Racial, and Gender Equity
An early proponent of reproductive rights and a courageous advocate of racial, socioeconomic, and gender equity decades before the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements, Dr. Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee, Class of 1920, was a visionary leader ahead of her time.
Lived Experience: An Engine of Advocacy
A motivated advocate for social justice, Rayna Hill ’22MA/MPP is creating an equitable future for LGBTQ+ youth in the state of Massachusetts.
Realizing Reparative Justice
In honor of the University’s 125th anniversary, we examine Barbara (Schneider) Margolis ’51 and her resolute commitment to rehabilitating incarcerated individuals. Barbara Margolis ’51, who majored in retail management (then retailing) at Simmons, became one of the nation’s most beloved prisoners’ rights advocates. Margolis developed rehabilitation and career-transition programs for male inmates at Rikers Island, the world’s largest penal complex (situated within the Bronx and accessible via a girder bridge in Queens).
The Samuels Family: A Simmons School of Nursing Tradition
Siblings Nathan Samuels ’05MSN 11DNP; Ashley Samuels Shields ’10; Eryn Samuels Yong ’12; and Brittany Samuels Czerw ’14 all studied nursing at Simmons University. We caught up with them about how this trend began, how they support each other in their careers, and what they most value about their nursing careers.