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<p>When Anthony Cecutti set out to become a criminal defense lawyer, he took an extra step he says has made all the difference: He earned a master’s degree in social work in addition to his law degree.</p><div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



<p>“I thought going to social work school would be really important, because if I’m going to be doing criminal defense work and working at a public defender’s office, I better figure out how to work with people, especially people different than me,” he recalls.</p>



<p>Cecutti, a New York City–based criminal defense attorney, earned his <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/">master’s in social work (MSW)</a> at <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/columbia-university/">Columbia University’s School of Social Work</a> before entering Brooklyn Law School. He worked as a manager at a halfway house near South Bend, Ind., in the time between undergrad and graduate school, introducing him to the kind of work he’d be doing in his MSW program. </p>



<p>The experience, he says, was a crash course in the discipline, as he lived in the halfway house with clients, most of whom had been incarcerated and in treatment for addiction. During his master’s curriculum, Cecutti says he was able to cultivate skills like active listening, empathy, and the deceptively complex art of showing up for another person.</p>



<p>A master’s degree in social work can translate to <a href="https://fortune.com/education/articles/what-careers-are-available-with-masters-in-social-work/">many career paths</a>: law, education, human resources, real estate, organizational management, design, and more. Whether you pair an <a href="https://fortune.com/education/articles/3-masters-in-social-work-dual-degree-options-to-consider/">MSW with a second terminal degree</a> or use it to broaden your expertise in a given field with on-the-job learning, a master’s in social work offers many transferable skills. In fact, 17% of new social workers had landed jobs leveraging their social work skills—but not in roles defined as social workers—and another 5.8% were working in non–social-work positions, according to a 2020 report detailing the results of <a href="https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=1_j2EXVNspY%3d&amp;portalid=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">three years’ worth of surveys</a> conducted by the <a href="https://www.socialworkers.org/">National Association of Social Workers</a>.</p>



<p>What’s more, there’s a growing importance placed on so-called <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/07/26/soft-skills-are-more-important-than-ever/">soft skills</a> in the business world, as managers across various industries seek to bolster the ability to navigate vulnerability and interpersonal relationships at work. An MSW offers the kind of training that can help shape your management style, solve problems, grow a team, connect with clients, and more.</p>



<p>An MSW can certainly lead to robust careers within the field, along with roles in community, medical, and mental health organizations. Here are three options to consider beyond traditional social work roles.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-law-boosting-attorney-client-relationships">Law: Boosting attorney-client relationships</h2>



<p>Like Cecutti, other attorneys may find <a href="https://fortune.com/education/articles/is-a-masters-degree-in-social-work-worth-it/">value in a degree in social work</a>. Now well established in his career handling criminal, federal capital, and death penalty cases, Cecutti says he relies on his social work education every day—and particularly when representing clients. </p>



<p>“It’s the idea to go where the client is. That is a mantra from social work school,” Cecutti says. “You can’t force someone to be in a different emotional and spiritual space. You can work to lead them, guide them in a different direction. You can always be encouraging and look at them from a strength-based perspective. Being incarcerated is a dehumanizing process. It’s about trying to seek and maintain humanity. In a criminal case, your ability to effectively represent someone is all about building a relationship with them.”</p>



<p>That dynamic, Cecutti notes, isn’t necessarily specific to criminal law. Many types of law rely heavily on an attorney-client relationship, which could benefit from the skills obtained in a master’s degree in social work program. Plus, while working as a lawyer requires a law degree, people who have an MSW can also consider jobs as mediators, court-appointed parenting coordinators, and court-appointed mental health professionals.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-recruiting-guiding-clients-through-change">Recruiting: Guiding clients through change</h2>



<p>Hillary Black says she was leveraging social work skills in her career as a creative recruiter without even realizing it—and long before she went back to school for her MSW. Black helps place candidates in creative industries as vice president at the executive search firm <a href="https://www.wpp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WPP</a> in New York City. </p>



<p>“In my space, it’s asking the right questions,” she says. “Not assuming, being relationship-driven, knowing how to be there with someone in that moment.”</p>



<p>Curiosity, Black says, is at the root of building relationships with clients, whether the conversation is about asking for a raise, prepping for a job interview, combating impostor syndrome, or guiding someone through a career shift. </p>



<p>“It’s the basic foundation of respect, listening, and kindness,” she notes. “To me, social work forces you to pay attention a little bit more and get rooted in the elements of being of service to people.”</p>



<p>A master’s degree in social work, Black says, adds to her toolbox; though it certainly isn’t a requirement for her job. Plus, her reason for pursuing the degree was a result of the very personal experience of losing her mother at a young age, propelling her to dig deeper into how the field of social work can help address trauma and the human experience.</p>



<p>Now, whenever Black is working with a client, she’s focused on being respectful, supportive, and curious, while being careful to avoid transactional interactions. It’s important, she says, that her clients feel connected and heard as job placement nudges at all sorts of uncomfortable human emotions: fear, frustration, anger, and regret, among others. </p>



<p>“Recruiting is relationship driven,” says Black. “Empathy is about listening, and, for me, it was a skill I had to work at. When you’re going through something, your story isn’t heard. You tell it over and over until somebody validates it.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-table is-style-stripes"><table><thead><tr><th><strong>If you…</strong></th><th><strong>Then check out…</strong></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Want to browse all online master’s of social work programs</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/">Directory of accredited online MSW programs</a></td></tr><tr><td>Want a program that’s based in New York</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/new-york/">Online MSW programs in New York</a></td></tr><tr><td>Want a program that’s based in California</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/california/">Online MSW programs in California</a></td></tr><tr><td>Want a program that’s based in Texas</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/texas/">Online MSW programs in Texas</a></td></tr><tr><td>Don’t want to take the GRE</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/no-gre-required/">Online MSW programs – no GRE required</a></td></tr><tr><td>Want to get your degree faster</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/accelerated/">Accelerated online MSW programs</a></td></tr><tr><td>Already hold a bachelor’s degree in social work</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/advanced-standing/">Advanced standing online MSW programs</a></td></tr><tr><td>Want to attend school part-time while working</td><td><a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/part-time/">Part-time online MSW programs</a></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-organizational-management-understanding-both-micro-and-macro-environments">Organizational management: Understanding both micro and macro environments</h2>



<p>A degree in social work can complement an <a href="https://fortune.com/education/business/best-mba-programs/">MBA</a>, particularly for people working in the world of nonprofits—which has been the case for Nicole Epps, who began her career in finance and real estate development, before earning both an MBA and an MSW. She now serves as chief of staff at the Brooklyn-based <a href="https://www.osborneny.org/resources" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Osborne Association</a>, which assists families, individuals, and communities affected by the criminal justice system. </p>



<p>For Epps, running a nonprofit allows her to leverage her experience in both business and social work to meet the needs of her employees, raise money, plan for growth, ask questions about the communities her organization serves, and ensure that the work of the organization on the whole is what she calls “trauma-informed.”</p>



<p>“In my role, I have the opportunity to make decisions that could make or break an organization because of the level of funding we are doing,” says Epps, adding that she pursued an MSW degree so she could speak effectively, addressing both the client-facing aspects of an organization, as well as the overarching numbers side of a nonprofit. “The MSW has been a real benefit for me; it’s transformed my leadership and my empathy.” </p>



<p>Finally, Epps says, her background in social work has helped her to better understand when programs fail, and what that failure can look like. “Why are the numbers less for retention? What’s happening? Is it hard for people to access our services? Do we need to do more with childcare?” she says. “Those questions wouldn’t have come to mind had I not had the opportunity to get my MSW.”</p>



<p><em>Check out all of </em>Fortune’<em>s </em><a href="https://fortune.com/education/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>rankings of degree programs</em></a><em>, and learn more about specific </em><a href="https://fortune.com/education/careers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>career paths</em></a><em>.</em></p>



<div class="wp-block-group pro-tip-box-widget"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading pro-tip-box-heading">Read more</h3>



<li>We created a list of more than 150 <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/">accredited online master’s degree programs in social work</a>.</li>
<li>This list of <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/no-gre-required/">accredited online MSW programs that don’t require a GRE score</a> can help you earn an online degree without needing to have excellent standardized test scores.</li>
<li>You can work towards a degree on your own time by selecting from our list of the <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/part-time/">best part time MSW programs</a>.</li>
<li>We compiled a list of <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/advanced-standing/">advanced standing online MSW programs</a> that can help you make an upgrade to take the next step in your career.</li>
<li>Earn a graduate degree faster than normal with one of these <a href="https://fortune.com/education/health/accredited-online-msw-programs/accelerated/">accelerated online MSW programs</a>.</li>
</div></div>
</div>

A master's in social work can help with your management style, solving problems, growing a team, and connecting with clients in a wide range of careers.

3 surprising career paths for someone with a master’s degree in social work

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3 SURPRISING CAREER PATHS FOR SOMEONE WITH A MASTER’S DEGREE IN SOCIAL WORK

3 surprising career paths for someone with a master’s degree in social work | Fortune Education

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3 surprising career paths for someone with a master’s degree in social work

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