4 Unexpected Jobs You Can Do with a Social Work Degree
Thinking about careers in social work typically brings to mind images of professionals working in child welfare, hospitals, schools, and mental health. However, social work offers so much more than that. A social work degree can open doors to a surprising array of fields, providing you with the opportunity to align social work skills with your other passions. Whether you’re exploring a career in social work, currently pursuing your studies, a recent graduate, or a social worker looking for a career change, this blog post will introduce you to four unique, unconventional, and lesser-known roles that may surprise and inspire you!
Veterinary Social Worker
Veterinary social work is a growing area of practice that sits at the intersection of human and animal well-being. Practitioners in this specialization are found within veterinary hospitals, clinics, shelters, and academic veterinary settings. Veterinary social workers understand that animals are more than pets; they are cherished family members, loyal companions, and important sources of emotional support for people. Veterinary social workers also confront the often-hidden emotional toll the profession takes on veterinary staff who face high rates of stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral distress.
Veterinary social workers play a dual role, supporting both animal caregivers and veterinary professionals. For animal caregivers, veterinary social workers provide emotional and decision-making support during difficult situations, such as serious illness, treatment decisions, or euthanasia. They offer crisis intervention, grief counselling, and facilitate a clearer understanding of medical options or communication with the veterinary team.
Some veterinary social workers also support broader challenges, including aiding farm families facing distressing herd losses, guiding families in conversations with children about animal illness or loss, and addressing animal-related issues tied to abuse, homelessness, or addiction. Others provide animal-assisted interventions, working alongside therapy animals in educational, healthcare, or counselling settings.
For veterinary professionals, veterinary social workers deliver support by leading staff training on topics such as moral distress, facilitating emotional debriefing after difficult cases, and offering one-on-one support to mitigate compassion fatigue and workplace stress. They may also lead discussions on ethics, participate in rounds, and advocate for organizational policies that promote workplace well-being and ethical care.
To learn more about veterinary social work, check out:
Elizabeth Strand’s video “The Human-Animal Connection from a Veterinary Social Worker’s Perspective”
Financial Social Worker
Financial social work is a field that blends social work values with financial empowerment, helping individuals, families, and communities improve their relationship with money. While personal finance is often treated as purely an educational issue, financial social workers recognize that our financial situations are deeply tied to our identities, histories, relationships, well-being, and access to power. They understand that many people struggle financially not because they lack discipline or knowledge, but because of structural barriers, such as low wages, racism, predatory lending, inaccessible banking, and intergenerational poverty. Drawing from systems theory and the person-in-environment perspective, financial social workers help bridge this gap by addressing both the practical and psychosocial dimensions of financial well-being.
Their work may involve helping individuals and families build budgets, access benefits, plan for long-term goals, or rebuild credit. It might also include exploring the emotional roots of spending or saving habits, such as financial trauma, grief, or shame. Some financial social workers lead group programs, offer coaching or financial therapy, and support clients leaving abusive relationships or transitioning out of foster care. Others focus on community-level change, developing programs that increase access to fair banking, advocating for policy reform, or partnering with schools, shelters, and healthcare settings to embed holistic financial support into other services.
For more information, visit the Center for Financial Social Work and the Financial Therapy Association.
Library Social Worker
Library social work is an innovative and growing career path where social work skills meet community needs in a unique setting, the library. Libraries are often considered the living room of the community, one of the last free spaces where everyone is welcome, without demands to purchase something. At the same time, libraries are increasingly serving a growing number of patrons experiencing complex health and social challenges, such as housing and food insecurity, mental health issues, substance use, and navigating government services, among other challenges. While libraries are welcoming spaces that focus on community needs, library staff rarely have the training or capacity to fully support individuals and families facing crises, complex health and social needs, or intensive resource navigation.
This is where library social workers come in. Embedded within the library, they use their social work skills to engage patrons directly and provide support. Duties often include providing information and referrals to community resources, helping patrons with government services and applications, offering supportive listening or brief counselling, leading workshops and groups (e.g., grief and loss, employment support), building community networks, and facilitating crisis intervention or de-escalation. Library social workers also play a role in supporting library staff by providing training on dealing with patron crises, debriefing stressful incidents, and promoting employee well-being.
By working to remove systemic barriers, addressing community-specific needs, and applying a strengths-based, anti-oppressive lens, library social workers enhance the well-being of patrons, staff, and the broader community.
For more information on library social work, check out:
White Coat Black Art's podcast episode “Library on the Frontlines”
Open Shelf’s article “What is a social worker’s place in the library?”
PBS NewsHour video “Library social worker helps homeless seeking quiet refuge”
Entertainment Industry Social Worker
Entertainment industry social workers apply their clinical and advocacy skills within the fast-paced, high-pressure world of film, television, music, and other performing arts. While often perceived as glamorous, the entertainment industry presents unique challenges, such as precarious employment, long hours, high-stress environments, and constant performance expectations. These factors make entertainment industry professionals vulnerable to burnout, anxiety, depression, addiction, and other issues.
Entertainment industry social workers can play an important role in this demanding environment. Embedded within unions, production companies, performing arts organizations, and entertainment industry human service organizations, they support artists, crew, and staff. This includes providing therapy and crisis intervention, facilitating support groups, and helping individuals navigate career instability, housing insecurity, medical needs, and the mental toll of industry-related discrimination. They also help artists manage performance stress, consult on creating psychologically safe work environments, and advocate for industry-wide policies that promote mental health, equity, and safer working conditions.
Some further specialize as Mental Health Coordinators, directly supporting cast and crew working on productions that explore challenging themes. In this role, they integrate clinical expertise into the creative process by offering debriefs after sensitive scenes, ethics consultations, and education on portraying mental health respectfully.
For more information on social work in the entertainment industry, visit:
Final Thoughts
The fields of veterinary, financial, library, and entertainment industry social work are just a few examples of how the core principles and skills of social work can be applied in innovative and sometimes surprising areas. These diverse roles demonstrate the remarkable versatility of a social work degree. Key social work skills, such as person-in-environment assessment, navigating ethical complexity, anti-oppressive practice, strengths-based case management, systems navigation, and advocacy, are highly transferable and valuable in many industries.
As you navigate your social work journey, whether you’re considering a BSW or MSW, already deep into your studies, or a social work graduate, get creative when thinking about your career. Reflect on your unique interests and passions:
What areas do you never get sick of learning about?
Where do you feel a passion for driving change?
Do you have any past experiences that you could combine with social work, bringing a unique perspective to the field?
Do not be afraid to explore, inquire, and even pioneer roles that align with what truly motivates you. The field of social work is diverse and constantly evolving, offering the opportunity to craft a career that aligns with your passions and values.
Related Reading: 97 Jobs You Can Land with a Social Work Degree
