Melvin Wilson, right, manager of NASW’s Office of Workforce Development and Training, tells viewers about the many career options available to social workers in one segment of the recruitment videos.

NASW continues to utilize Web-based videos as an effective medium for recruitment and public education of the social work profession.

Association staff recently participated in the production of four professional video segments that are available for anyone interested in learning about a social work career.

They are available at MonkeySee.com*, a consumer video website that features experts discussing a variety of topics. MonkeySee is owned and operated by Knowlera Media, a company that produces video stock footage.

“This is another way to use multimedia to communicate our message effectively,” said NASW Communications Director Gail Woods Waller. “These videos help people understand the breadth and depth of the profession.”

NASW staff developed the scripts and they also appear in the videos. In the “How to Become a Social Worker” segment, Elizabeth Hoffler, special assistant to NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark, explains that there are 600,000 professional social workers in the U.S. “There are more clinically trained social workers than clinically trained psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric nurses combined,” she says in the video.

In the segment “Choosing to Be a Social Worker,” Hoffler delves into the history of the profession and explains how pioneers in the field of social work, such as Jane Addams and Dr. Dorothy I. Height, improved the lives of millions of people.

“We get paid to make the world a better place,” Hoffler says.

In the next video, “Getting Your Social Work Degree,” NASW Senior Practice Associate Stacy Collins outlines the educational requirements to become a social worker and highlights career opportunities available at the various degree levels. She also points out that social work students are usually assigned field studies in an effort to apply their classroom knowledge to real settings.

Rounding up the series, Melvin Wilson, manager of NASW’s Office of Workforce Development and Training, tells viewers about the many career options available to social workers in the “Getting a Job with a Social Work Degree” video. He also discusses the NASW credentialing program, using the example of the Academy of Certified Social Workers, or ACSW, credential.

“Our credentialing department can enhance skills and job opportunities,” he says in the video. “Social work can be an extremely rewarding field of work.”

Waller said the MonkeySee videos complement NASW’s ongoing recruitment effort, which is conveniently packaged at the association’s The Social Work Career Center site. The MonkeySee videos can be found under the “resources” section of the website. The site also features links to NASW’s social media outlets, education and career resources as well as social work promotional materials.

“This is also a great way to remind people who want to either exchange or promote information about the profession that we have a specific website that has tools ready to go” on the Be a Social Worker site, said Ebony Jackson, Web designer at NASW.

NASW chapters have also produced various recruitment videos in the past few years. Most recently, the Massachusetts Chapter used its Social Work Reinvestment Initiative funding to develop a professional recruitment video called “This Could Be You: The Many Faces of Social Work.” It is also available through the resources section of the Be a Social Worker site. It features young social workers discussing their different career paths after obtaining their social work degrees. “I love my job because I get to help people every day,” says Kristen, a legislative aide. In another part, Kalina talks about her career as a gerontological social worker. The video also features social work students who describe their inspirations to study the profession.

Carol Trust, Massachusetts Chapter president, said the video will be distributed in a CD format to counseling staff at high schools and schools of social work in the state in an effort to boost recruitment. “We have an annual school social work conference in October so we will be showing the video there as well,” Trust said.

* First in the series, the others can be found from there. The "/socialwork" section no longer exists.