What’s the most enjoyable part of care work?

Overview of Care Work

Care work is a fast-paced industry fuelled by laughs, precious personal interactions and making a difference. It’s a unique career to step into as it’s all about people and connections. If you like being surrounded by a variety of personalities this will be a very enjoyable working life.

The Unique Fulfilment of Helping Others

People often find staying motivated at work an inconsistent state. From our experience in recruitment, this stems from being focused on a task or project, that they might not see the full impact of, and so are just waiting for payday. 

One of our team used to work in mobile phones supporting the sales force, 

“They were selling contracts of 50 handsets or more and gaining a lot of commission. They would get a buzz from a sale, but you could see they weren’t really happy and I certainly wasn’t. I was just helping rich salespeople get richer and found no job satisfaction in that. Moving to the not-for-profit sector radically changed my life. I became a happier person and more motivated to work hard doing a job that makes a positive difference.” – Nicky, Social Care People. 

The Personal Touch: Building Relationships

As a care worker, offering a piece of yourself to the patients and service users can feel vulnerable, but is essential to building strong relationships. 

The Joy of Becoming Part of Someone’s Life

When you care for someone it’s natural to form a bond. It’s a special type of relationship and makes great changes to a person’s life.  As you enter that person’s environment and see them smile, because of you, will fill your heart full of warm emotions. Being friendly and personal with those vulnerable people puts them at ease and lifts up their days. What’s not to love?

Witnessing Positive Changes in Patients’ Lives

To become a great carer the skills needed include good listening, flexibility, being people-centred, empathetic and compassionate. These soft skills allow you to go into work and make positive changes to people’s lives every day. Carers see their patients thrive with their support, few other jobs are as instantly rewarding or satisfying.  

The Impact of Providing Independence and Dignity
 

This is a huge part of being a home care worker, as you are supporting those service users to stay in their own homes. Home care means that, without a person having to lean too much on their loved ones, they keep the independence and dignity of living at home, with their regular routines and social commitments. In some cases, it means they can keep their pets at home with them, which is hugely important to their wellbeing. 

The Variety of Care Work

We talk a lot about the variety of care work; there are NHS-run care homes, privately owned care homes, residential care for dementia patients, residential care for people who are recovering from a sickness, end-of-life care, home care, respite care... The list goes on. All of this means there is a lot of opportunity to find the right role that suits your commitments and career goals. 

Adapting to New Challenges

In care work, no two days are ever the same. Challenges could come from patients resisting your care, losing someone you’ve come to know well, longer shifts or finding the right employer. All of these challenges can be seen as opportunities and when managed can make you feel even more passionate about your work. Overcoming any challenge in life brings a huge amount of satisfaction. It might be through perseverance or problem-solving, but either way you will be more experienced afterwards, which does great things for your career. 

Flexibility in Work Schedules

Choosing the right role for you, might mean finding a position that fits around your personal life and commitments. Home care often means visiting several different private homes every day and as long as you get those visits completed then your schedule can be managed around school pick-ups, etc. Certain residential and respite roles might be during the week, allowing you weekends off. And all care homes need night staff, if shift work is better for you. 

Discover more about Care Home shift patterns here. 

Continuous Learning and Growth

In the care industry, everything is always evolving. Policies, safety measures, and best practices are always changing, so there is always more to learn, and specialist areas to become an expert in, if so desired. 

Opportunities for Professional Development

We spoke to a care home manager in the South West of England and asked her about the training opportunities in her home,

“My team is the most important part of this organisation. Without them, we couldn’t provide excellent care to our residents. Their professional development is important to our growth, so we have weekly catch-ups and longer quarterly meetings to discuss how they’re getting on. Most of my team are taking time to complete training or qualifications right now. I will always be encouraging of that.” – Magdalena, Care Home Manager.

You can read more about professional development in care work here.

Evolving with Every Experience

In most jobs, each interaction you have with service users and your team can be treated like a learning opportunity. From the first time you take a service user to an appointment on your own, to trying new things with them. Hearing their stories and sharing laughs are an important part of the job and will expand your mind every day. 

Register with Social Care People today. 

By registering with Social Care People today you are setting the wheels in motion for your new and enjoyable career in care.