Many young people have certain preconceptions about what it means to work in care. They see it as something to do for now until a better job comes along. However, we would advise anyone looking for a new career path not to dismiss social care outright. There are many advantages to working on the frontline of domiciliary care that we have discussed previously. However, adult social care, just like other sectors, involves a wide range of roles and responsibilities you may not have even thought of.
Although you may start your care career carrying out home visits as a care assistant, the possibilities are endless for where you might end up given the right motivation, support and training.
Let’s take a look at some of the possible long-term careers you can explore in home care.
If you love the day-to-day aspect of your job and want to ensure good quality care across a team, you may consider management – There are various roles you can take on, from being a care coordinator or a registered manager.
Management allows you to mentor junior staff and ensure quality is upheld in your area of the business.
An experienced care coordinator can earn up to £22,000 and is responsible for looking after a small team of staff, writing care plans, carrying out reviews and helping to train new staff. They also put together staff rotas, give out work assignments.
A registered manager role is similar, but with much more responsibility, as you’re the contact for the CQC and other regulatory bodies. Care managers deliver assessments for new service users and are accountable for the standard of care in an organisation. They liaise with relatives and ensure the care organisation is responsive to any identified changes in the care plan. They can earn up to £35,000 a year.
Perhaps you’re the kind of person who buzzes when they find out a new piece of information and you love to impart your newfound knowledge to anyone and everyone. If you’re always learning, completing additional courses and taking in everything you’re taught on the job, then perhaps you could consider sharing your knowledge with new entrants to the care profession. As a trainer, you can work as a freelancer, visiting different companies and offering training days while being self-employed. You could work with a college, for example as an NVQ assessor, delivering one-to-one training to new care assistants, or you can work in-house with a care company providing ongoing training to their staff. If you’re more tech savvy, you could help companies up their tech game by creating training videos and courses for your company’s intranet or portal.
If you’re passionate about seeing a company improve its inspection ratings and you love to geek out on all things CQC, then maybe your vocation is in compliance. Compliance means working with a company to tick all the boxes required by the Care Quality Commission and other regulations that are put in place to safeguard quality care. Many companies will spend money on staff or consultants who will advise them and help them to put in place measures to receive “Good” and “Outstanding” ratings. This is what potential clients will look for when choosing their care company. A compliance manager is therefore integral to the success of a business.
If you’ve got a head for numbers, you may consider finance as an area you want to get into. It’s a role you would need to work towards, gaining experience in a payroll officer role, for example. You would also need to be open to taking book keeping and accountancy qualifications. Once you do, though, the sky is the limit. A finance manager’s role is diverse, from managing monthly accounts to submitting financial reports. You would monitor the cashflow coming in and out of the business and be on hand to identify and implement improvements to finance systems. Finance managers are also involved in contracting and commissioning work with local authorities.
“Brand Ambassador” is our cover-all term for people who work with a care franchisor (parent company) to ensure their brand values and mission are carried forward by all new franchisees (people who buy a care company from a parent company). This can also be a support role from head office to make sure the franchisees bed into their new role and can ask any questions. So, it’s a combination of training, support and ensuring compliance with the brand mission.
HR, Marketing and IT and Administration
All business functions you see in any sector are also necessary in social care. Care companies need payroll and HR staff for managing recruitment and payment. They need marketing, through websites, social media and brochures for new clients. Administrators are the people we depend on in all businesses, so for those of you who love being organised and organising busy colleagues, there’s a place for you in the care office. Finally, as with everything else in life, social care companies are becoming increasingly reliant on IT systems to run efficiently, so if you’re the family go-to person for fixing printers and Ethernet cables, why not put that talent to good use in the care sector?
Whatever your talents and passions, in home care there’s bound to be a social care career path that’s right for you. These are just a few of the ideas to bear in mind when looking for your next job – not an exhaustive list. Although we hope it’s got you thinking.
