Book excerpt: This engaging guide addresses the extraordinary breadth of the social work profession and the diverse career paths available. Updated and expanded, the third edition includes 15 vivid new profiles of social workers who describe the rewards and challenges of their distinct roles. It presents “Social Justice Spotlights” highlighting important social and political issues relevant to different practice domains. The new edition also delivers current data on employment opportunities and salaries from the Department of Labor and provides links to new resources—books, essays, films, and websites—that enable readers to explore specific career paths in greater depth. It dispels common myths about the social work profession and demonstrates why social work is a smart choice for those seeking a career of service that requires creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and a passion for social justice. Illuminating current trends in social work education and practice, the book describes more than 100 specific careers—traditional and nontraditional—available to social workers, including best features, challenges, required core competencies and skills, educational and licensing requirements, and personal narratives. The book also covers how to fund one’s education and provides job-hunting tools and websites. Additional features include, for each career, a discussion of benefits and challenges, job outlook, and salary information. Questionnaires and self-assessment checklists provide additional material to help readers choose a social work career tailored to their unique talents, interests, and passions. New to the Third Edition: Fifteen new personal narratives describing the benefits and challenges of different social work arenas “Social Justice Spotlight” for each field of social work practice New data on employment opportunities and salaries from the Department of Labor and other sources New resources for additional career exploration Key Features: Describes more than 100 distinct career paths available to social workers Addresses pros and cons of each career including personal narratives Covers educational and licensing requirements, employment opportunities and salaries Includes job-hunting tools and websites Provides self-assessment questionnaires and checklists to help readers assess which jobs would be a good fit based on their skills and passions