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Healthcare Social Worker resume example

A resume for a Healthcare Social Worker needs to show the work itself: provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Day to day that means work like this: advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises; educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • Clinical Social Worker
  • Hospice Social Worker
  • Medical Social Worker
  • Social Worker
  • LMSW
  • Licensed Master Social Worker
  • Nephrology Social Worker
  • Oncology Social Worker
  • Psychosocial Coordinator
  • Renal Social Worker
  • Social Work Case Manager
  • C-SWHC
  • LCSW
  • AIDS Social Worker
  • Bereavement Counselor
  • Case Manager
  • Case Worker
  • Caseworker

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
  • Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
  • Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.
  • Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education.
  • Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.
  • Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress according to measurable goals described in treatment and care plan.
  • Identify environmental impediments to client or patient progress through interviews and review of patient records.
  • Counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life.
  • Plan discharge from care facility to home or other care facility.
  • Organize support groups or counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting the client or patient.
  • Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in clients' status.
  • Supervise and direct other workers providing services to clients or patients.

17 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • Adobe PageMaker
  • Automated clinical information systems
  • Calendar software
  • Command Systems ComServe
  • Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
  • Database software
  • Email software
  • Google Meet
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
  • Information presentation software
  • Intrado SchoolMessenger
  • James Frazier Associates DataStart
  • Medical procedure coding software
  • Medical records software

30 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Desktop computers
  • Notebook computers
  • Personal computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

  • Google Meet
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Zoom

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Social Perceptiveness
  2. 02Service Orientation
  3. 03Speaking
  4. 04Active Listening
  5. 05Coordination
  6. 06Critical Thinking
  7. 07Reading Comprehension
  8. 08Complex Problem Solving
  9. 09Writing
  10. 10Active Learning

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Psychology
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • English Language
  • Sociology and Anthropology
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Education and Training
  • Philosophy and Theology
  • Administrative

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 70%Master's Degree
  • 15%Bachelor's Degree
  • 11%Post-Master's Certificate, awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master's degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Extensive Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Common questions

What does a Healthcare Social Worker do?
Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Day to day that includes work like advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises and Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
What skills should a Healthcare Social Worker put on a resume?
O*NET rates Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Speaking, Active Listening, and Coordination among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Healthcare Social Worker list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes Adobe PageMaker, Automated clinical information systems, Calendar software, Command Systems ComServe, and Corel WordPerfect Office Suite. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Healthcare Social Worker work?
O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Clinical Social Worker, Hospice Social Worker, Medical Social Worker, and Social Worker. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Healthcare Social Worker need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 70% reported their level of education as "Master's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Healthcare Social Worker role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.