Education & social service

Careers and Colleges, Jan-Feb, 2005

Like working with people? Is helping the world more important than making money? Then a career in social services may be just what you are looking for.

"You're typically paid less if you do this kind of work, so you really need to believe in the cause," says Russ Finkelstein, the associate director for Idealist.org: Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization in New York City, which works around the world to create community groups that will address local problems.

The reward: You perform meaningful work and spend your days with interesting colleagues who share your values. Teacher, social worker, law enforcement officer, nonprofit worker, politician, environmental activist-these jobs all attract people who want to serve their communities.

Jobs in the social services should be plentiful in the coming years, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics (BLS).

Demand for adult day care and meal delivery programs will be stimulated by a growth in the number of elderly people in the United States. The increasing popularity of welfare-to-work programs should stimulate the need for more job training services. And the number of community-based programs and group residences, which house and help homeless, chronically ill, and mentally ill clients, is expected to rise.

More teachers will be needed to meet shortages caused by retirements, growing numbers of students, and reduced class sizes. Demand is expected to lift salaries over the next 10 years. Some school districts are now paying signing bonuses to teachers of particular subjects, such as science or computer science.

ARE YOU A PEOPLE PERSON?

Some social service professionals work with people who face serious problems: inadequate housing, unemployment, lack of job skills, serious illness, substance abuse, unwanted pregnancy, child or spousal abuse. They work directly with people, helping them get the treatment and services that they need.

It can also be frustrating, emotionally taxing work. "Don't do it because you expect people to say thank you," says April Gates, 37, who works as a social worker in the oncology department at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. Gates deals with people who are going through the worst crisis of their lives. "These people are watching their child go through life-threatening treatments for cancer," she says. "They're focused on the child and the doctors, not on you."

Even healthy, happy clients can be a handful. "Working with teenagers can be a high maintenance task," says high school teacher Paris DeSoto. "I have to be on watch constantly or they will start doing things they aren't supposed to, like sleeping, writing notes, doing homework for another class, and braiding hair."

ADVANCEMENT

Social services administrators tend to start out in direct services. School principals, for instance, spend years in the classroom first. But advanced degrees can be a fast-track into administration. Someone with a master's degree in public health could go straight to work for the federal government, allocating money for direct services programs. Someone with a master's degree in business administration could jump to the top of a nonprofit organization, preparing budgets and handling the organization's finances.

To be a good administrator, you need to be able to set goals for your organization, establish policies, monitor students' or clients' progress, train and motivate employees, manage facilities, keep records and accounts, effectively communicate with the community and the press, and juggle many other duties, usually while working with a budget that is way too small.

--Gwendolyn Bradley

FIREFIGHTER

BRAD BOLEN

AGE: 33

LOCATION: Boise, ID

JOB: Helicopter manager, Bureau of Land Management, Lower Snake River District.

EDUCATION: No degree is required, but the fire service is a lot like college, says Bolen. "For each level of firefighting training, there's coursework," he explains. Bolen's liberal arts studies at Boise State, plus his job experience, made him a great candidate for a management position.

SALARY: The median annual salary for firefighters is $36,309, according to Salary.com.

ON THE JOB: In addition to putting out wildfires, Bolen's helitack crew uses helicopters to perform search and rescue operations, facilitate evacuations, and collect data for forest rehabilitation specialists. The crew works at the Boise National Forest and other nearby government lands.

"I supervise a 12-person crew of eight career and four seasonal firefighters," says Bolen. "The biggest part of being a supervisor is being understanding and communicating in stressful situations. Your job is never the same, you never know what's going to happen next. You have to be prepared for anything."

STARTING OUT: "You have to complete a minimum of one season as a wildland firefighter before training for a Helitack crew. I worked seasonally through college and became full-time."

REWARDS: Bolen enjoys flying helicopters, getting paid to "work out," and being part of a team. "You feel a sense of accomplishment [after a job], and you get to travel quite a bit," he says.