How to Encourage School Leavers and College Grads to Consider a Career in the Care Sector

Caring Careers: How To Encourage School Leavers And College Grads To Consider A Career In The Care Sector

Summer is a time when many young people start weighing up their options for when they finish school or college. Perhaps they are enjoying the summer before their final year of education, or are taking a longer-term view, looking into what they might do when they enter the world of work in a few years’ time.

The care sector offers a huge number of opportunities for hard-working, compassionate, inquisitive and ambitious young people. There are plenty of opportunities too, due to a national shortage in care workers. An aging population provides an endless stream of demand for motivated, dedicated carers. Yet, the sector as a whole has suffered from an image problem in recent years, due to perceptions around low pay and long hours. Sadly, the role of carers, paid or otherwise, is often not given the status and respect it deserves in wider society.

All that said, the prospect of doing a job that is genuinely rewarding is a highly attractive one for many young people. Being able to help people at their most vulnerable and make their lives happier, more comfortable and less isolated must surely be a huge draw for young adults seeking to make their mark on the world and make a difference to their fellow human beings.

So, if there are plenty of caring roles available in the UK care sector, what can be done to match bright young school leavers and college graduates to the right role? Once they are in position, how can care managers ensure that they not only stay the distance, but are supported in progressing up the career ladder – and into management positions, if that is what they want to do?

Promoting the perks

Working with vulnerable people can be a hugely rewarding career choice, as already discussed above. Care home residents can establish very strong bonds with the people who care for them, as can family members who rely on professional care to help their loved ones enjoy life to the full. Knowing that you make a real and lasting difference to people every single day that you get up and go into work is something that money cannot buy.

Talking of money, a career in care can also open many doors into other healthcare sector jobs and careers. Care work is a fantastic introduction to a longer-term career in healthcare, medicine, care management or social work. Many entry-level care jobs do not require specific qualifications. You can study and pick up certificates as you go along and decide what areas you would like to learn more about. You will also learn a great deal on the job, especially about working with people and developing ‘soft’ skills such as patience, time-keeping and communicating with others.

Other perks include the fact that care work can be flexible and family-friendly, with many roles allowing you to pick your own shifts and hours to a certain extent. This is attractive to young parents and people with family commitments. You can choose to work directly for a care facility or for an agency. Or visit people in their own homes to deliver care and support in the community. Another way to work in care is to apply for an apprenticeship. This not only offers excellent on-to-job training and fixed working hours, but it can open doors to further study and career support later on.

Providing the full package

Once you have attracted the interest of potential young people to work in care roles in your facility, there is much you can do to retain them and encourage them to consider carer as a long-term career, rather than a stop-gap while they work out what else they could try. Offering decent pay is a major driver to retaining young people. Just because they are younger, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have financial commitments, such as rent or mortgage, loan repayments, travel costs, childcare fees etc. Paying a low wage is often a false economy, as the expense of recruiting new staff members can often supersede the costs of paying people an attractive wage in the first place.

The other main way to retain workers is to encourage a healthy, welcoming workplace environment. Young people have more choice than ever before when it comes to deciding where they want to work. Today’s school and college leavers come from an environment where they feel more comfortable to speak up about what they want – and need – to thrive and be happy in their working life. A friendly team with a manager whose door is always open can be highly attractive elements of a job for young people feeling their way into confident adult life.

Finally, keep an eye out for young staff who are keen to develop their skills and work their way up the ranks. Surely, it’s better to keep them in the team and help them grow into the managers of tomorrow rather than watch them conquer the world – for one of your rivals.