Employment Interpretation (Adults Needed)

H

Hero

Scooby
Joined
Oct 18, 2003
Messages
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I have to do a Science Interactions term paper on what I want to be when I get out of high school. I've desided I want to be a social worker, and minor in performing arts. Some people say that's gay, but I don't think helping people is gay. Anyway, this part of the term paper I'm on now has to do with employment numbers and what not. Me, being the stupid freshmen, has no clue what any of this means. I was hoping someone older could help me. This is all I can find, so this is what it says.

The following information is from the California Projections of Employment
published by the Labor Market Information Division.

These figures represent the occupational group Social Workers, Medical and
Psychiatric.

Estimated number of workers in 1993 19,210
Estimated number of workers in 2005 26,820
Projected Growth Percentage 40%
Estimated openings due to separations by 2005 5,640

These figures represent the occupational group Social Workers, excluding
Medical and Psychiatric.

Estimated number of workers in 1993 32,480
Estimated number of workers in 2005 42,830
Projected Growth Percentage 32%
Estimated openings due to separations by 2005 9,230

(These figures do not include self-employment or openings due to turnover.)

Taken together, the number of Social Workers is expected to increase by about 35 percent, compared with the 27 percent growth rate for all occupations.



Any clue what any of that means?
 
Sorry hun..none of it makes any sense to me...but you shouldnt listen to other people if you decide you want to do something then do it..there is nothing gay about wanting to help people its just small minded people who say things like that!!
Good luck im sure someone on here can help. 😀
 
Thanks anyway. My family is making fun of me too, so it's all up to Buffy-Boards to help me now.
 
basically...the numbers are saying that the social worker field is growing hella fast...and that it shouldn't be a problem getting a job cause being a social workers are in demand..

yo hero...this is what you need to know...don't hold yourself to being a social worker now...find out what your strenghths and your passions...and go for it...cause if you find a job that you love....you'll never have to work a day in your life...

being a social worker sucks....you should go hang with one and see what you might be getting yourself into...
 
well, my passion is helping people, or atleast right now it is. You see these threads I have going around in Caritas about things that happen in my everyday life? I wanna help people through the same things that would make them want to kill themselves or make them feel worthless. Two of my aunts are social workers, and they told me it's not that bad. But I know what you're saying, I should probably examine the job whenever I get older.
 
dude...did you just say you wanted to cut your wrists??

this is what you need to know man...that passion you got about helping people...you got to control that man...cause you can't save everyone...cause that passion...can easily go cold man if you fail...gotta find another motivation for helping people...
 
No, I don't. I worded that badly. I meant that I wanna help people that feel like they want to cut their wrists.

Wait, you confused me, LoL. I need to find another passion, besides helping people, to have a motivation to help people?
 
There's a problem with trusting stastical information when trying to decide if the particular field you mention is viable.

You can't trust those statistics. They can change radically depending on what political party is in power.

I can give you an example. I have a few friends that decided to get into the field your talking about based on statistics that were available for the area at the time.

At the time they made their decision, the party in power swung to the left. Jobs for people in social programs were everywhere. Eventually the public coffers ran out of money. The right wing jumped on the problem with both both feet. You began to hear things like "trickle down effect" (the theory that if you give tax breaks to the rich, the benefits will trickle down to the lower stratas of society). Policies like workfare were popular (hand the poor shovels).

Throughout history, these policies have never worked, nevertheless they began to sound good to a voting public that was watching social spending increase, while the deficit got out of control.

We voted in the rich guys, and the era of rob from the poor to give to the rich began.

My friends were out of work. What work they could find was lesser paying work for contracters, and usually part-time.

So I would say if you want to get a job where you can help people, good for you, but don't be overly optimistic about being comfortable doing it based on statistics.
 
Everyone is trying to convince me not to be a social worker. Maybe I shouldn't do my paper on this. *nervous*
 
Hero said:
Everyone is trying to convince me not to be a social worker. Maybe I shouldn't do my paper on this. *nervous*
Click to expand...
I would suggest that you do what Soulgasm said and try to get some sort of placement/work experience shadowing a social worker to see what the job really entails. I applaud your sentiment that you want to help people and wouldn't like to put you off but these guys tend to deal with people who have serious problems - they can't cope with life, had a lot of bad luck, got addiction problems, it's everyone else's fault, abused kids etc. etc. Compassion fatigue can set in pretty damn quickly. And you will see a lot of people you can't help but wish you could. You've got to be compassionate but very hard at the same time - it will take a lot out of you if you let it.

A friend of mine works as a probation officer and says you have to really harden yourself to the junkies and murderers who will do better next time, if you just give them a chance - and you give them chance after chance and they still let you down. But every so often he gets to help someone put their life back on track and it's worthwhile... but it's not a career path that I would've chosen...I couldn't take that sort of continuous exposure to the seamier side of life...
 
I dunno. I just wanted to find help on how to interpret those numbers and now I have people telling me I shouldn't chose that job career. I mean, yeah I'm only 16-years-old, but I've suffered through a lot and helped people who have suffered. And I'm not talking about the teenage "oh i cant go out tonight" problems, I'm talking about things like my neighbor getting drunk and trying to kill me, my cousin doing drugs and destroying her life, my sister being destroyed in every way by her boyfriend, my x supposedly killing herself cuz of me and leaving her friends to screw with my mind for 3 months. I always thought that social work would be a good job opertunity for me to consider since I've dealt with at such a young age and I keep helping people. If it was one person saying I shouldn't do the job I'd think screw you, but it's everyone telling me that I shouldn't do the job. Maybe it's not the best career choice, and maybe I'm to young to see that right now. Who knows. I'm taking what you guys are saying to heart (not in a bad way) and I guess maybe this wouldn't be a job for me. There wouldn't be any harm in trying though. Although you have to get your masters degree and your LCSW and if after all that I deside not to do the job, than however many years of my life are wasted. Everyone is rushing me to get a job and deside on a life career and maybe something I deal with all the time appeals to me. Maybe I'm in such a rush to figure out what I want to do, I can't see my options clearly.

Well, the paper is due tomorrow, so there's no way I'm going to do it all over tonight. Although, I'm not to sure if I want to be a social worker now. Maybe this thread proved a better purpose than I thought...
 
yo hero...the first person you got to help...is yourself...you have some unresolved issues man...you need to talk to someone and put that shiz behind you....allot of people get a raw deal...but don't accept any pity for you getting one crap ass hand...talk about it...be strong bout it...accept it...move on...it sounds simple...but i know that it isn't...but in the end...you feel like a new man...



damn points...always laying down the wisdom...cheers...

dude...if we could convince you not to be a social worker...then you really don't know what you want to be...just be open to any career choice...i remember that i wanted to be a computer programmer back when i was in intermediate...but now...that's the last job i would ever consider...just be fluid dude...you got plenty of time to figure out your work...
 
I wasn't deliberately being negative Hero. Just trying to point out that there are two sides to social work - it's not just about helping people, you also get to see a lot of people you can't help, for whatever reason...
I think it would take a particularly strong person to deal with the downside of the job and if that's you I wish you nothing but success...
Like Gasm and I said before, it might suit you to get some sort of placement or work experience in a field you find interesting or find out about volunteer programmes in those fields. That way you might get a better idea if it's the career for you. Good luck.
 
I know you guys aren't trying to be mean.

Well, if social work isn't my field, I can always be a male whore. LoL.

Gasm - it's hard for me to put those things behind me because they all happened in the course of a year. My family doesn't give a damn if I wake up every morning and my friends are still to immature to listen to anything I have to say. So I'm on my own in the matter. I said I'm not sure if I wanna be a social worker anymore. If it's really as bad as you guys say it is. And you're right, I still have a lot of time to think about what I wanna do.
 
By all means, do the paper! It's not like you're committing to it now with a contract signed in blood, or something like that! I'm an electrician, but if you had asked me at 16 what I wanted to do, this job wouldn't even have placed in the top 1000 choices! Write the paper, do the research, get the education and THEN decide what you want...it may be radically different than what you think!!
 
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