To answer the questions of whether social workers who chose to work within or outside the social work profession after leaving the profession were two similar groups and what factors led some social workers to want to leave the profession while others just wanted to change to another agency, a study was conducted using a sub-sample of the Chinese Social Worker Professional Status Survey (n=1 528). The results reveal that, despite social workers who chose to work outside the social work profession after leaving the profession not having a significant advantage in terms of human resource conditions compared to those who chose to work within the social work profession after leaving the profession, they hold more negative attitudes or feelings towards their current profession and work. Additionally, they face more negative attitudes from their family towards being involved in social work, and the profession has a more negative impact on their family. This suggests that social workers who chose to work within or outside the social work profession after leaving the profession are not two similar groups. Logistic regression analysis suggests that whether social workers are the main source of family income, the attitudes of family members towards social work, and professional identity all have important impacts on social workers’ intentions to work within or outside the social work profession after leaving the profession.