Every signal, score, and fact you see on a SocialWorkU employer profile comes from a public dataset we can name. This page is the full audit trail. If you represent an employer and want to dispute, correct, or add to what we show, you'll find a contact path at the bottom.
SocialWorkU does not collect employer information from employees, recruiters, or third-party scrapes. Every entity in our index originates from a U.S. government or non-profit registry. Specifically:
Source: CMS Care Compare / Hospital General Information dataset (data.cms.gov).
Fields: name, address, ownership type, hospital subtype (acute, psychiatric, rehab, children's, long-term acute), CCN, Medicare-certified status.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) and EDGE geocoded files (nces.ed.gov).
Fields: district / school name, NCES ID, locale, enrollment, grade level, address, geocoordinates.
Source: NCES IPEDS Postsecondary School Locations (nces.ed.gov) plus our internally curated registry of CSWE-accredited social work programs.
Fields: institution name, UNITID, address, control, IPEDS sector, plus per-institution flags for which CSWE-accredited social work degrees are offered (BSW, MSW, DSW, PhD).
Source: IRS Business Master File (BMF), augmented by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer Form 990 data.
Fields: organization name, EIN, NTEE major-group code, 501(c) classification, gross receipts band, employee band, address.
Source: federal agency directories (USAJOBS, OPM Federal Workforce, VA Facility Locator API), state government org charts, USA Spending recipient data.
Source: DoD MIRTA (Military Installations, Ranges, and Training Areas) FY24 release.
Fields: installation name, branch, location, type. Inclusion is limited to installations that employ social workers in Family Advocacy Programs, behavioral health clinics, and Military Family Life Counselor (MFLC) roles.
Source: a curated index of for-profit companies that employ social workers — behavioral health platforms, managed-care payers, hospital chains, hospice operators, addiction-treatment networks, EAP providers. Names are sourced from public press releases, SEC filings, BLS NAICS data, and major industry directories.
Each employer profile shows four signals. None of them is a direct claim about the employer. Each one is a likelihood inference based on what we know about the employer's sector, ownership, size, and what's typical of similar employers in our index. Specifics:
Inferred from ownership / tax status. Government agencies, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, public hospitals, public universities, and the U.S. military are categorically eligible per Federal Student Aid program rules. For-profit employers are categorically ineligible. We do not certify your specific PSLF eligibility — borrowers must self-certify with their loan servicer.
Inferred from sector + employee band. Sectors where licensed clinical supervisors are commonly on staff (acute hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, large CMHCs, large nonprofits with clinical programs) are flagged. The signal does not certify that a given role at the employer comes with qualifying supervision — it suggests it's worth asking in the interview.
Inferred from sector + likelihood of having an established relationship with nearby CSWE programs. Hospitals, government agencies, school districts, and large community nonprofits are flagged. We do not maintain a verified placement-site list per program — those lists are owned by each school's field-education office.
Inferred from sector + size. Large healthcare systems, government agencies, and multi-state nonprofits are flagged. Reimbursement varies dramatically by employer and by contract — this is a follow-up-question signal, not a benefits claim.
If a signal on your employer's profile is wrong — for instance, you're a 501(c)(3) and PSLF shows as not eligible — please use the "Submit a correction" link on the profile, or email us. Corrections are typically applied within 7 business days.
By default, employer profiles show only the four factual signals above. There is no public composite grade or letter score on profiles the employer has not claimed.
This is a deliberate choice. Showing an algorithmic grade like "59 / 100" on a profile the employer never opted into is adversarial, hard to defend if challenged, and makes the first phone call hostile. We don't do it.
When an employer claims their profile and verifies the relationship, the full scorecard becomes visible — both to that employer (in their analytics dashboard) and to candidates viewing the public profile.
The scorecard has four sub-scores. Each one is computed from a single, defined formula. None of them is a black-box ML model.
Sub-scores are clamped to 0–100 and grouped into bands (Strong / Solid / Limited) for display. The composite is a weighted average. Weights are: Licensure support 30%, Career growth 25%, Field placement 25%, Hiring activity 20%.
Candidates can compare up to four employers side by side at socialworku.com/compare. The comparison shows each employer's signals (✓ / —) and qualitative match bands (Strong / Solid / Limited) for the same dimensions. Numeric grades are not shown in the public comparison view either.
If you represent an employer that appears in our index, you have three options:
Free, takes about 5 minutes. We verify with a work-email check. Once claimed, you can edit your description, mission statement, and benefits language; respond to candidate inquiries; post jobs; and view your full scorecard in your analytics dashboard.
Start at: the "Work here? Claim this profile" button on your employer page, or socialworku.com/claim-employer.
Anyone — employee, HR, candidate — can submit a correction to a fact on a profile (location, sector, signal accuracy, website URL). We review within 7 business days. You don't have to claim the profile to do this.
If you'd prefer your employer not appear in our public index at all, email opt-out@socialworku.com from a domain-matched address (e.g. someone@yourcompany.com). We honor opt-out requests within 14 days. Note that for tax-exempt organizations, public registries (IRS BMF, CMS, NCES) will continue to list the entity — opt-out only removes you from SocialWorkU's surfaces.
Email data@socialworku.com with the profile URL and the specific fact, signal, or score you want to discuss. We'll respond within 2 business days.
Last updated: April 2026. This methodology is versioned — older versions remain accessible at socialworku.com/methodology/archive.