Skills Case Managers Need That I Don’t Have—But Do You?

If you want to make a real, tangible difference in someone’s life, consider being a case manager. Case managers are on the front lines, fighting in the trenches, on almost all of the most intractable social issues of our day.  That’s why whenever I launch my social venture, I will definitely want experienced case managers to be involved in the design and development. But I learned quickly that I’m not cut out to be a case manager: there are at least two “soft” skills I definitely don’t have. So if you are thinking that case management or a career in social work is for you, take a moment and consider if you have the following intangible skills:

The ability to take verbal abuse from people you are trying to help

I am a pretty forgiving person—mostly because I find it counterproductive to waste energy holding on to negative feelings—but I don’t usually take flak lying down. I also tend to accept too much responsibility for things that I have very little control over, so when people take out their negative emotions on me for something I am absolutely positive is in no way, shape, or form my fault (which usually also means that I have no power to fix it), I can get pretty annoyed and frustrated. I learned this when I was a cashier at a family owned plant nursery: I would bend over backwards to serve anyone who walked in the store—once I got a free plant because a customer called to tell my manager how helpful I was—but when customers were just outright nasty about something I had no control over, my sunny disposition died a quick death as it was all I could do to bite my tongue and keep my head down.

Yet as a case manager, enduring people being nasty to you while you’re trying to help them is practically in the job description. And really, how can you blame them? When people are under intense stress—as they often are when they are meeting with a case manager—they need an outlet. I can hardly judge them for shooting the messenger—I can’t imagine what I would do in their shoes—and they have enough to worry about without stopping to think about who pulls the strings in the tangled mess of bureaucratic organizations that have influence over their life. In their eyes, you are part of the system, so it might as well be you. But to be effective, you have to be able to let it roll off your back—you can’t take it personally, or it will interfere with your job performance. Instead, you have to be able to deflect and redirect those emotions into productive outlets.

The ability to care without getting too invested

Burnout is a significant problem for people who do case management. When an organization has enough resources—which most social service organizations usually don’t—smart organizations try to avoid burnout by limiting case loads. But you can bet that when funding shrinks, the numbers start to creep—or leap, as in the present economy—back up. Yet even with a small case load, the job is inherently working to support and empower people who are in distress—so even when you control the numbers, working with even one person is emotionally draining work.

To be a case manager, you have to care about your clients to do a good job, but since you see so many cases, you have to be invested without getting sucked dry. You have to care enough to support your clients, to challenge them to change their behavior, and to fight for them, but you can’t get too invested or else you’ll burn out—and that’s no help to anyone. You have to accept that you single-handedly can’t sponsor or adopt all the kids who need families or a safe place to stay, or pay the medical bills for all the people who can’t anymore. You have to set boundaries, and respect them, if you want to last. 

Needless to say, I was terrible at both these things, but if you aren't, go for it. If you also have patience for dealing with frustrating government bureaucracies, as well as large amounts of paperwork, you might be a perfect candidate. Social work is one of the most noble and underappreciated professions, and if it's right for you, you can change someone's life forever.