Debunking macro myths: findings from recent graduates about jobs, salaries, and skills

Abstract

Research suggests that interest in macro social work practice is declining, a trend that has been well documented in the United States. Studies find that social work educators and practitioners may foster beliefs among MSW students that discredit macro practice and associated skills while asserting macro graduates are likely to face poorer employment prospects and lower salaries than micro counterparts as they start their careers. This study builds on and extends this literature by examining 27 skills in their current job using a 5-point Likert-type scale among the early career trajectory of MSW alumni (N=182) who graduated between 2008--2012 from a public social work institution in the southeastern United States. The skills included in the survey, as well as decisions about how to group them into scales, were made based on theoretical links between the skills by macro faculty members. Findings highlight the use of macro practice skills regardless of concentration focus, no differences in salary, or the time it takes to find employment between micro and macro alumni. Implications for social work education are discussed.keywords: macro practice, social work education USA, MSW curriculum, MSW career development, Macro-Related Skills among Recent Graduates 2The focus on changing environmental factors, which create and perpetuate social and economic inequities, has been a defining feature of social work since Jane Addams started the Settlement House movement (Johnson, 2004). However, throughout the history of the profession and still today, specifically in social work education in North America, a tension remains regarding the relative importance for the profession of micro level practice -direct practice with individuals, groups, and families -and macro level practice -community organizing, planning, administration and policy practice (McNutt, 1995; Hill, Ferguson, & Erickson, 2010; Haynes, 1998;Rothman & Mizrahi, 2014;Specht & Courtney, 1995;). While broad in definition, globally and in the United States, macro social work practice has had a specific tradition connected to grassroots activism, community organizing, and efforts towards political reform (Rothman, 2013). Recently, as budgets and service provision are decided, the role of administration and management has become an important function of social workers in order to determine when, how, to whom, and by who services are allocated (NASW, 2013). This paper aims to determine what are the career experiences (type of job obtained, time to find job, salary) of recent MSW graduates? Within this purpose, we attempt to discern if these career experiences vary among graduates depending on their concentration as students? In this context, concentration is the word used to differentiate between areas of study or focus. In the United States, this distinction is commonly made between direct practice and macro social work. Secondly, the paper explores what macro-related skills are most used by recent MSW graduates. We hypothesize that the time spent on each sk...

Transforming Social Work Field Education

“…Choi et al (2015) found that graduates with specializations in micro/direct practice were more likely to find a job matching this focus (91%), compared to graduates with a macro specialization matching related employment (64%). However, Zerden et al (2016) report that while MSW students with a macro concentration were less likely to find a macro-oriented job directly after graduation, they continued to use macro-related skills 58% of the time, with no significant difference noted either in the time it took to find employment or the salary of graduates with micro and macro concentrations. Pritzker and Applewhite (2015) found supporting evidence that macro-trained social workers compete well for jobs and report higher salaries than the social work averages.…”

Enhancing Student Commitment to the Micro-Mezzo-Macro Continuum

“…Research has also found that macro practice students were often told by social work educators that it is difficult to obtain a job and pass the licensing exam with a concentration in macro practice -which perhaps speaks to the content of licensing exams (Plitt Donaldson et al, 2016). Social work students often perceived their foundational social work courses to be void of relevant examples of macro practice and social work administration (Ezell et al, 2004;Zerden et al, 2016). Likewise, faculty members who teach macro practice often feel unsupported by their departments and institutions while teaching macro content (Rothman, 2013).…”

Intentional Leadership Planning and Development: The Collective Responsibility to Educate More Social Work Leaders

“…Agencies need to address the issue of succession planning, and schools of social work need to prepare and equip graduates to take on leadership roles. De-emphasizing macro-level administration and leadership training in schools of social work in favor of direct service and clinical training is well-documented (de Saxe Zerden, Sheely, & Despard, 2016;Ezell, Chernesky & Healy, 2004;Rank & Hutchison, 2000). As a result, an increasing number of human service agencies are being led by executives with degrees from disciplines other than social work (Packard, 2004;Patti, 2003).…”