May 21st, 2018 | Updated on October 17th, 2018
Working with patients in home care is gratifying and challenging work for healthcare professionals and students. An increasing demand for reliable, empathetic, and trustworthy home care professionals means openings in the home care field for qualified individuals and decent job security too.
Why Home Care?
Home care offers professionals a chance to work one on one with their patients in the comfort of the patient’s home. Duties can include companionship, adult respite care, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, as well as elder care and care of those with disabilities.
Some companies even use technology to their advantage and hire nurses and nursing students to video call their patients and offer advice and assistance virtually. These duties do vary and will depend on the employer.
What do You Need for a Career in Home Care?
Perspective home care employees need to meet two major requirements: be kind and be caring, always. An empathetic caregiver listens and understands their client’s needs, and when faced with frustration, they can calmly dissolve a situation without rage or tears.
It is also important to have some sort of training in healthcare, whether that be taking some introductory courses from your local community college or enrolling in degree programs like those offered at this Philadelphia nursing school.
If home care is the career for you, follow these tips and embark on a rewarding career path.
Tips for Discovering a Rewarding Career in Home Care
1. Make Your Resume
Make a record of all your experiences, including paid, volunteer, and care for relatives. Do not forget about personal experiences with family members, which can range from caring for a grandparent or babysitting a sibling. These experiences do count. Do not forget to prepare the rest of your resume too.
An on-going course or completion of a Certificate III in Aged Care offers invaluable education and training for a future in the industry.
2. Research Before You Apply
Many agencies don’t require a medical background or previous experience to start. Some companies pay for training, education and necessary degrees. Others may reimburse tuition. Other questions to ponder are perspective salary, employee benefits, and room for advancement.
3. Tips for Applying
When applying for a position, read the job listing carefully for any listed qualifications. Positions will vary. Sometimes the same company will have different qualifications for a listing in one area than in another area.
In addition, pay mind to if the position is full or part time as well as listed duties or responsibilities. Practicing this ensures the position is a good fit for both the perspective employee and the employer.
4. Interview Tips
Phone and in-person interviews are where your personality will outshine your experience and education or training. Some companies will perform both. Other companies will only do in-person interviews. The company generally calls you to schedule and allows you to be prepared.
If a telephone interview occurs, be sure to have reread the listing prior to the start so that the position and any perspective questions you have for the company are fresh. During the process, the company may go over rates, hours, and more specific job details.
They may ask additional questions or inquire if you have questions. Be honest and be yourself.
An in-person interview usually follows a phone interview if everything went well. Ask what you need to bring. Be professional, punctual, and courteous.
Most companies will issue you a sample scenario to test how you would react in a certain situation. Practice samples you find online or think of some common scenarios that could occur on the job in the meantime.
