Social worker (sosionom) CV: example and tips

What employers look for in a social worker

The most important thing a social worker does is help people find solutions that make their lives better, and connect them with the right help. Employers therefore want to know whether you can assess a situation, prepare or make decisions, follow up over time and work with many agencies. Job ads often use words such as “holistic”, “building relationships” and “strong writing skills”. Show these with examples, not just the words.

Read the ad carefully. A NAV office asks for work-focused follow up and knowledge of the Social Services Act, a child welfare service for investigations and measures. Many municipalities and state agencies use applicant tracking systems that look for the words in the ad, so use the same words where they match what you have done. Read more in our guide to an ATS-friendly CV, or let Selja find the words when you paste in the ad. Most ads are in Norwegian, and these terms come up often:

• A bachelor in social work, sosionom and “relevant higher education”.
• Assessment, guidance, follow up and motivational interviewing (MI).
• The Social Services Act (sosialtjenesteloven), financial assistance, financial counselling and the qualification programme (kvalifiseringsprogrammet).
• Work-focused follow up, work ability assessments and cooperation with employers.
• Reports of concern, investigations, support measures and care plans in child welfare.
• Individual plans, the coordinator role and cross-disciplinary cooperation.
• Case handling, decisions and clear written work.
• Mental health, addiction, cultural awareness and trauma-informed work.

Formal requirements: education, police certificate and child welfare

Social work is not one of the professions that receive authorisation under the Health Personnel Act, so you will not get an HPR number the way a nurse or vernepleier does. What counts is your education. State it clearly, for example “Bachelor in social work (sosionom), OsloMet, 2023”. If you have a master's in social work or further education, for example in clinical social work, put it in the same place with the credits and year.

Child welfare has its own rules. Under section 12-11 of the Child Welfare Act (barnevernsloven), anyone to be employed in the child welfare service must present a police certificate (politiattest). From 1 January 2031, the head of the child welfare service and the deputy must hold a master's in child welfare or other relevant education at the same level, or a relevant bachelor with enough experience, and in some cases further education, by that date (section 15-6). In child welfare institutions, professional staff must have a relevant bachelor's degree (section 10-18). If you are aiming for management in child welfare, make your master's and further education clearly visible.

If you work in municipal health and care services, for example in mental health and addiction, the employer must ask for a police certificate when you are offered the job. You do not attach it to the application. A category B driving licence often appears in ads from child welfare and outreach services, because you travel to home visits and meetings.

Example of a summary for a social worker CV

The summary is the three to five sentences at the top of your CV: who you are, what you can do and what you are looking for. Adapt it to the service you are applying to. Here are two made up examples. Replace the details with your own, and only write what you can expand on in an interview. You will find more examples in our guide to writing a CV summary.

• Example, NAV: “Social worker with five years of experience as an adviser at a NAV office, responsible for following up young people under 30 and handling cases under the Social Services Act. Followed up around 60 users at a time and worked closely with employers on work placements. Confident in motivational interviewing and assessment. Looking for a role where I can work more with the qualification programme.”
• Example, new graduate applying to child welfare: “Newly qualified social worker (2026) with a placement in a child welfare service, where I took part in ten investigations and drafted care plans. Worked for two years as a milieu worker in a child welfare institution alongside my studies. Clear in conversations with both children and parents, and writes in a structured way. Looking for a permanent caseworker role with supervision.”

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

In social work, results are not always easy to measure, but you can almost always show scope and what changed. How many users did you follow up? How many moved into work or education? Which routines improved? Start with a strong verb in the past tense. The examples are made up, and none of them reveals who the users are:

• Weak: “Followed up users.” Strong: “Followed up 55 to 65 users with reduced work ability, 22 of whom moved into work or education during 2025.”
• Weak: “Case handling.” Strong: “Processed applications for financial assistance under the Social Services Act, and with the team cut the average time from application to decision from 14 to 8 days.”
• Weak: “Worked on investigations.” Strong: “Carried out 30 investigations in the child welfare service within the deadlines, and wrote reports that formed the basis for support measures at home.”
• Weak: “Worked with others.” Strong: “Chaired support group meetings for 12 families with the school, health centre and child and adolescent mental health services, and coordinated individual plans for four of them.”
• Weak: “Financial counselling.” Strong: “Gave financial counselling to 40 households, and helped 15 of them put repayment agreements in place with their creditors.”
• Weak: “Ran courses.” Strong: “Set up a job seeking course for young users with a colleague, with six sessions every six months and around ten participants each time.”

Skills, methods and systems

List the methods and systems you have actually used. NAV and child welfare services have their own case systems, and it is a plus if you already know them. Feel free to say how long you have used them.

• Methods: motivational interviewing (MI), solution-focused approaches, network meetings, trauma-informed care and assessment tools.
• Laws you have applied in practice: the Social Services Act, the Child Welfare Act, the Health and Care Services Act and the Public Administration Act.
• Case systems at NAV, in child welfare or patient record systems in health services. Give the name of the system.
• Master's degrees and further education, with the institution, credits and year.
• Languages, including languages you use in conversations with users, and experience working with interpreters.
• A category B driving licence.

New graduate, or a social worker with long experience

As a new graduate, your placements are your most important experience. List them as work experience with the place, service and period, and say what you did yourself: conversations, assessments, draft decisions or taking part in meetings. Part-time jobs in supported housing, an institution, a youth centre or volunteering also count, because they show you can meet people in difficult situations. See our guide to a CV for recent graduates.

With long experience, the challenge is choosing what to include. Highlight roles such as coordinator, team leader, student supervisor or project lead, and write about results from recent years. Cut older jobs down to one line each. If you are moving from NAV to child welfare or the other way round, the summary should explain what you bring with you. Two pages are enough. If you are wondering about the pay in a new job, the free pay check gives figures from Statistics Norway (SSB).

Common mistakes in a social worker CV

Read your CV aloud before you send it. These mistakes come up again and again:

• Examples that could identify a user. Confidentiality applies in your CV too.
• Only tasks, with no scope or results.
• The same CV for NAV, child welfare and the hospital.
• An unclear title. Write the job title you held, for example adviser or caseworker, and sosionom under education.
• Further education without credits and year.
• Long paragraphs. The reader should find the most important points in a few seconds.

Get an honest review of your CV, and create the application with Selja

If you want to know where you stand before you apply, you can get an honest review of your whole CV, the way a recruiter reads it, with the CV score. The first one is free and needs no account. With the ATS score you see which words from a specific ad are missing, for example the qualification programme or investigations.

When you are ready to apply, paste the job ad into Selja and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job. If you apply to both NAV and child welfare, each application gets its own words. Selja never adds experience you do not have, and asks you if the ad asks for something your CV does not show. Get started, or see the prices.

The application and the interview

The application should show why you want to work in that particular place, and that you have the experience the ad asks for. Include one concrete example of a case or a collaboration you are proud of, without details that could identify anyone. Keep it to one page. See our example of a job application.

In the interview, social workers are often given a case: a user who does not turn up, a report of concern or an ethical dilemma. Practise with the interview questions, and read our guide on how to prepare for a job interview. If you are applying for a milieu therapist job, see our guide to a milieu worker and milieu therapist CV.