EP28: Negotiating Your Salary

Valerie Arendt

Valerie Arendt, MSW, MPP, discusses why it's so important for social workers to negotiate their salaries. Arendt is the Executive Director of NASW's North Carolina Chapter.

This episode is part of our Social Work Month series about social work salaries. We invite you to leave your thoughts and comments at socialworkblog.org after you've listened to this episode.

Published March 26, 2019


Listen to Episode 28




About Valerie Arendt

Valerie Arendt is Executive Director of NASW's North Carolina Chapter. She leads efforts to advance the social work profession by advocating for social work issues such as the hiring of professional social workers in the public and private sector, higher salary and reimbursement rates, career and professional support for members and the advancement of social justice and social welfare issues.

She holds an MSW and a master's in public policy from the University of Minnesota. Her social work experience includes refugee and immigrant families, early childhood education, women and youth education, affordable housing, and nonprofit management. She was the career columnist for the New Social Worker Magazine for three years and continues to help new professionals successfully transition into their social work careers.


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NASW is working to raise social work salaries and help social workers with student loans:

We also encourage you to contact your NASW chapter to find out about local efforts to elevate social work compensation.

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