I am currently a Foster Care Treatment Coordinator for a nonprofit community-based agency. I love the agency I work for because they really invest in and take pride in their work, employees, and clients. The agency as a whole has a solid foundation in recognizing the goodness in others and encourages young people and families to achieve their best.
That said, I have a Master of Social Work degree and make $30,000. Because of my love for my job, money isn’t my motivator. I do realize that working for a nonprofit means lower pay. I find that making $30,000 with my MSW is a bit unfair when my bestie’s husband makes twice as much as I do and he has his GED. I’m really proud of him!
Since I started my career in social work, and specifically in the child welfare field (3 years ago), I have wanted to progress higher on the social worker food chain, so to speak. I want to progress. I want to succeed. I want to go further in my career. Who doesn’t? (Granted, some people are perfectly happy with their minimum wage job and I am fine with their happiness.)
I am happy with my job. I’m not thrilled about my pay. I want to further my career. I’d like better benefits, too. All that said, I have a job interview on Monday for a state job. This would be a $10,000 or more pay raise. I would get amazing benefits, paid vacation. There is one major obstacle in my way of getting the position: the job is in a different state. I’m licensed in the state in which I am currently living. The job is in a neighboring state. I would have to get my license switched to the other state. Which, I don’t mind doing and is doable. I just know that these things take time.
The city that the job is in is only about 40 minutes from where I’m currently living. I would prefer to move closer however it would not be necessary to do so immediately, which is nice. That would give me time to save enough for a security deposit and first month’s rent (I *hate* that about renting – hey, rent is $850 and you also need to give me $850 as a security deposit because everyone has $1700 laying around. Whatever.)
And then I received an email from a city that is about 2 hrs from me in the same state that I’m interviewing for… They’re looking people for three different positions. I’m honored that they emailed me. So now I need to decide if I’d also like to interview for those positions.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.