What Are the Different Types of Social Services Career Opportunities?

Social services career opportunities are appropriate for people who are interested in helping others work through complex or extremely difficult issues and improving the quality of life of members of society at large. A person interested in this field will need to narrow his or her focus to figure out which social services career opportunities will be most appropriate. A job candidate can, for example, choose to work exclusively with children, people struggling with addiction, or married couples or families. Conversely, the job candidate can choose to work in more than one specific area, though this is less common and far more difficult.

The best social services career opportunities will depend on the type of training the job candidate has undergone. Just about all candidates will need to complete a college education in which they study psychology, sociology, human services, or a related field. Some college students choose a concentration within the major that will prepare them for a specific career, while others may focus more on the broader study and choose a career later on. Once the candidate has graduated, he or she can explore social services career opportunities for which the qualifications match the candidate's experience.

Schools offer a fair amount of social services career opportunities, especially if the job candidate has a passion for working with children. School counselors will work with student populations to accomplish a variety of goals: some students may have learning or emotional disabilities that require extra attention from a school counselor, while others may need to work through difficult issues such as suicidal thoughts, family problems, addiction, and abuse. A school counselor will be responsible for working directly with these students and documenting each interaction. In some cases, the counselor may be responsible for notifying appropriate authorities about student behaviors if those behaviors risk injury or danger to the student or other students in the school.

Marriage and family therapists work with all or part of a family to address a variety of issues. The therapist works to understand the root causes of the problem and design a strategy for addressing the issues so all involved parties are safe, secure, and adequately tended to. Marriage counselors will work with married couples to address dysfunctions in the marriage. The therapist may help the couple identify what is causing the dysfunction and develop strategies for working past it.