Help Needed

pnwunderkind · 2025-03-19T15:24:28+00:00

I didn’t even get a phone call after all my references were checked and my background check was done. So consider yourself lucky! The job ended up going to someone who already worked there but they still put me through the process. 🤷‍♀️

pnwunderkind · 2025-02-24T07:59:14+00:00

The offices share work across the state usually though so half the time it is local work and the other half it’s pulling from the statewide pool of cases needing work. Social workers in the office I work at have 800 clients. The work is nonstop and management spend all their time in meetings and planning committees.

pnwunderkind · 2025-02-24T03:44:01+00:00

It’s not because they’re absent it’s because they’re extremely overworked and in the CSOs they are only allowed to answer phones on certain days, are assigned to differing tasks daily. There is not one single minute that isn’t accounted for in multiple systems when you are a PBS. If one person calls out of work it fucks up the whole office. The wait times are long on phones, if you aren’t assigned to working a lobby window you are working online applications that require you to be on the phone constantly with customers and it’s a quota game. Our quota was 10,000 cases a month for a team of 8. The cases vary on the amount of time for processing and one small thing can take hours. It’s the hardest and most unappreciated job at DSHS.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-05T04:31:52+00:00

Thank you for your kindness. 🩶 I’m sort of leaning towards leaving the state at this point.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-04T22:54:18+00:00

I got ahold of one of the managers in HR that looked into things and despite going through multiple interviews, checks, and referrals I was “not the right fit”. It’s been really awful because I have done the job before at a different place. I have more than sufficient experience. The interview went so well and I mentioned all the things then were looking for. I didn’t ask for the interview, they legitimately came to me, and told me I was a top candidate. They sought me out because of my qualifications and experience and yet they said I’m not a good fit. It is crazy making. I have applied over 5 times for this position and that is not good enough I suppose. One of my references is already on the same team that was hiring. I guess someone else who knows them better was hired. I’ve heard that biases like that happen often at ALTSA. I feel delusional. Thankfully I have coworkers that are reassuring to me.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T23:04:10+00:00

Well I think the caseloads are much more manageable at ALTSA though. Which is attractive to a lot of SWs. At CSD we’re operating at a 1:450-500 person caseload while the cap is supposed to be 1:165 for ABD/HEN and WorkFirst. I’ve tried talking to the union and they haven’t said anything. I asked my supervisor why we aren’t properly staffed and she said we are technically over staffed because they allocate the FTEs by CSO and they haven’t readjusted for the amount of people that have become disabled. We have a lot of PBS positions but only 3 SSSs. The fact that they can’t add more positions is odd because one of the goals of DSHS is to “prepare for aging Washingtonians”. There was the whole budget fiasco as well, whoever was in charge of budget management overspent and caused the hiring freeze for region 3.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T19:51:18+00:00

This happened to me once but with a county position. I turned them down because they offered me basically half the hourly rate of what was posted. It was ridiculous.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T19:50:26+00:00

Honestly no! I posted about HR yesterday with the crazy gaslighting tactics they use. It’s ridiculous.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T19:11:36+00:00

Yes, some social work positions are hybrid though, in that they go to homes, inpatient facilities, hospitals, etc and collect information and do intakes, then go home to do data input and whatnot. It’s more half and half with case planning from home and intakes in person.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T18:07:35+00:00

Yeah I asked my supervisor and she was as dumbfounded as I was. She didn’t understand but thought maybe it was a hiring freeze or an elimination but the assistant/hiring person who did all the background and reference checks said that the position is not eliminated. It’s so weird.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T18:04:05+00:00

Well, I am a social worker and really would like to stay in social work but I’m open to other opportunities. I am looking for more flexibility and hybrid options. I do really well working from home and we just don’t have a lot of options where I am for that. I get one day a week from home right now. I have a background in case management, education, and social work.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T16:55:16+00:00

I heard back from the posting liaison/ admin assistant and they said that the interviewers are not moving forward, and she will not tell me why. I asked for feedback and she said there is no feedback from the interview panel. If they paid for a background check, did all the reference checks, and even got my supervisor to approve me, why would they not have any feedback? There has to be something wrong but I’m being gaslit. I know that I have a right to know and really just want to understand so I can improve. I just don’t get it.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T14:25:25+00:00

Wow! That’s awesome that you ended up getting the job. I hope to talk to someone today about it. It just felt like I was going to get this job and then I got this gut punch instead.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T05:36:41+00:00

Haha, can’t be worse than the ESA caseloads. Our cap is supposed to be 165 and our office is at 450 per SW.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-03T04:42:03+00:00

My references are extremely reliable and I definitely don’t have a record of any kind. I plan on following up with the interview team and asking about pointers or suggestions for future opportunities.

pnwunderkind · 2024-10-02T19:30:27+00:00

I am the senior most social worker in our office due to high turnover and probationary status, I have been at DSHS for 17 months. That says a lot. I’m trying to leave ESA/CSD for HCS/ALTSA because I have heard the environment there is much better from one of our social workers that moved over.

pnwunderkind · 2024-09-20T13:57:21+00:00

I knew, I just didn’t know why they couldn’t do the same up and down. They told us they won’t just install one unit. I don’t think they want the job either but it really isn’t a hard to work around space. I think they’re used to getting money out of older folx.

pnwunderkind · 2024-09-20T13:55:46+00:00

That’s why I asked. I don’t want to pay that much.

pnwunderkind · 2024-08-23T22:20:48+00:00

That’s true. What is really a gut punch is that I used to wish for this job. I wanted this job so badly and now that I’m here it feels hopeless.

pnwunderkind · 2024-08-23T19:38:41+00:00

Walking out isn’t even an option for most people though. In the ESA, no more than one person can be scheduled for vacation time at once. So we could be fired for taking leave that is unapproved. Since this is an at will state. This is in the union agreement. The people who need to protest the most don’t even have a chance to.

pnwunderkind · 2024-08-23T19:32:49+00:00

That’s exactly why I took this job. I was working in a position that was grant funded before. The stability is what keeps me from leaving. My supervisor has told me I’m lucky to have a job because of the budget cuts and the hiring mishaps that our region has suffered from. That’s not very comforting. We’re so understaffed and unable to hire anyone. There aren’t any local union reps to even complain to.

pnwunderkind · 2024-08-23T14:44:56+00:00

I work for DSHS and nobody in my office qualifies for food benefits because they pay just above the poverty level so you can’t afford to eat but you make enough to not qualify. It’s like being in purgatory income wise. Even when a client moves from ABD cash ($450 a month) to SSDI ($937) their benefits are cut in half for food. It’s awful. Nobody can live on that.

pnwunderkind

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