Now that we’ve covered what hospice social work is and what success in hospice social work can look or feel like, let’s get you your first hospice social work job. And if you already have one, let’s make it easier for you to get your next one.
Many of my classmates in graduate school were doomed to tolerate an excruciating month (or more) while waiting for their school transcripts to be processed so they could submit them and get their licenses. Thankfully I was able to spend this time at an Army leadership school in Louisiana. It was a nice and distracting change of pace, and it paid. And thanks to my transcript coming through when I was away, I was able to call myself a licensed social worker when I got back.
My relief did not last long. While waiting in Houston for my connecting flight back to Austin, I received an email from one of my Army mentors inviting me to apply to the counter-drug task force. It was nice to know that this option existed, but I was a licensed social worker now. Surely, I should get a job doing social work.
But how? I wondered. Unlike some of my classmates, my final internship was not at an agency that was hiring, or even in a field that I wanted to go into further. Hospice was where it was at for me. I had volunteered in hospice as a young adult and then started up again recently. This was the context in which I wanted to serve professionally.
I went ahead and did it
Within two weeks, a hospice hired me for a higher salary than I expected to make this early in my career. I had found the job listing on Craigslist, gave them a call, and they invited me in to interview the next day.
I expressed my most humble and authentic self during the interview and told them why I wanted to work in hospice. I also told them that I’m looking forward to learning what a hospice social worker does.
A couple days later, the director of nursing called me to say they want to hire me, but are trying to negotiate the best starting salary for me. A couple days after this, she called to ask me when I wanted to start.
It felt like divine intervention, but it was also good planning. I had taken some steps that made my resume look good for hospice and as I look back I realize that the approach I had in my interview fooled them into thinking I had just the personality they would want to work with.
The take-away from today’s post: you CAN get a job in hospice straight out of school. When we return Monday, I will share with you the 4 specific steps to take to increase your chances of the best job coming to you quickly (quick hint: start volunteering NOW!) Next week Thursday, I’ll share the handful of hospice items that it’s good to learn about so that an agency will be more willing to take a chance on a new social worker.
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