Working in care assistant can be rewarding on both personal and professional levels. As a care assistant, helping older adults maintain their independence is deeply fulfilling. The role enables you to positively impact lives, forge meaningful relationships, and provide crucial support to the individuals in your care.
Additionally, the care industry offers stability, flexibility, and opportunities for career growth. With ongoing learning, carers can hone their skills and make a lasting difference in their communities.
In this article, we’ll discuss some of the many pros of working in the care industry.
Benefits and advantages of being a carer
Whether you’re thinking of becoming a home-based care assistant, working in a care home or being a live-in carer, here are some benefits of a career in the care industry.
Fulfilling and rewarding work
If you have a passion for supporting others and enjoy connecting with people, a career in care could be an excellent match for you. Assisting older adults in maintaining their independence can be rewarding. It can give you a sense of purpose and the chance to create meaningful, positive changes in an individual’s life.
Meaningful relationships
When caring for someone, establishing trust and building a bond with them is often essential. You might even need to create connections with their families. Solid relationships and meaningful interactions with the older adults you care for can be another rewarding part of the caring role.
Community impact
Care work allows you to support some of the most vulnerable members of the community by providing essential services and the support they need. At Comfort Care At Home, we recruit carers who live in (or are a short drive away from) the Kingston Surrey, and South West London areas. This means that our care assistants are never too far away and support older adults in their wider community.
Flexible working patterns
Being a care assistant isn’t a typical 9-5 job. The people you’re caring for may need support at all times of the day. Because of this, care work is often organised into shifts, meaning there’s usually a degree of flexibility to work around your commitments.
A varied and physically active role
As you’ll support real people with genuine care needs, no two individuals will be the same. This means there’s plenty of variety in a care role. The care you provide will also likely adapt to the changing needs of the older adult you support.
Care work is also a physically active role, so you’re never stuck behind a desk. You may need to assist with tasks such as lifting patients, helping them with their personal care, completing jobs around the home (such as cooking and cleaning), and spending plenty of time on your feet.
Job stability
As a society, we’re living longer than ever before. With an ageing population comes an increasing demand for care services, which typically results in a steady demand for care workers.
Personal growth and career development
Care work requires empathy, patience, and resilience, which are valuable professional and personal skills. Working in the care industry allows you to build on and strengthen these skills.
In addition, there are many opportunities to develop your care career. For example, at Comfort Care At Home, we hire based on values. You don’t need specific skills or qualifications; we provide these as part of our robust training. We also offer the opportunity for a paid NVQ3.
Once you’ve developed your skills and expertise, there’s plenty of room for career progression. You may wish to consider specialising in a specific area of care, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s care or palliative and end-of-life care.
See our Carer Jobs page for more information about joining our team.