Life After Graduation: What do I do with a Social Work Degree

The social insertion on the labor market of a young graduate marks a decisive step in the process of transition to adulthood. From the perspective of higher education, having a higher education degree should increase the employment chances of a young graduate. This paper aims to describe the situation of the young social work graduates from a top public university in Romania, in the areas of competencies gained during their bachelor studies, first job experience after graduation, and current working status. A descriptive study focusing on 291 social work graduates during 2011-2015 was run using the data collected at university level through a questionnaire administrated by the Center for University Development and Quality Management. Results showed that graduates declare a high level of competencies with more emphasize on job-related and interpersonal domains. However, the first job was obtained in average at 5 months after graduation, but only 33.6% managed to get a job in their field. After more than 25 years of continuing social work education, this study is a first attempt to evaluate the unemployment /underemployment debate in the field.

Keywords: graduates, Social Work, professional insertion, labour market