All business sectors need a constant stream of dedicated and talented young people coming into them in order to survive. The care sector is no exception. Numbers of school leavers and graduating students wanting to work in the health and social care sector have been declining of late. Yet working in care can be a rewarding, challenging and character-building career to follow with several diverse roles and training paths available.

Care managers seeking to encourage young people into the health and social care industry can get involved in a number of ways to help reverse the falling interest from among younger people to work in care facilities and healthcare settings. You can even receive support in these types of endeavours from your care planning software systems, which can support communications and record training matrices among many other functions. Here are some ideas to get started.

Offer work experience

We all like to ‘try before we buy’, or at least enjoy a smaller sample of something before making a larger, longer-term commitment. Young people cannot be expected to throw themselves fully into studying for a career in care before they have seen for themselves what it is actually like, on a day-to-day basis, to work in a care home. By providing relevant work experience placements to students and young people keen to find out more, care home managers can benefit from eager, young pairs of hands to help with the workload, as well as new faces for residents to enjoy getting to know. Care Vision can help busy managers with shift planning, rotas etc. to make sure that work experience students are properly supported by staff and not left alone or in an unsafe situation.

Welcome volunteers

As well as running work placements for the health and social care side of care home duties, why not consider inviting young people to volunteer in other roles alongside the work experience group? This could include working in the kitchen or gardens, helping run entertainment or simply coming in to talk to the residents and keep people company. Being physically present at a care home can help unveil any mysteries and allay any fears about what it is like to work and spend time in one. Again, Care Vision’s care planning software can help with allocation of staff and safety of the volunteers on site (electronic visitors’ book).

Support the application process

If you know of any young people keen to pursue a care-related career, you could help them with the application process to related college or university courses in a number of ways. Giving references to work experience students and volunteers will help them gather third-party evidence of their previous experience and aptitude for care work. Giving your time to help with writing personal statements, answering questions and preparing young people for interviews can also prove hugely valuable for all concerned.

Encourage feedback

Encouraging young people to follow a college of university course related to care is a two-way process. You can give them as much help as you can; however, without knowing if it actually has benefitted them, you risk having wasted your time. Use your care planning software to gather feedback. There is a function that enables family members, visitors and staff to leave feedback on a range of issues, from resident welfare to suggestions for the future. Ask your volunteers and work placement students to use this function to leave feedback on what they have learned, how you might build on any support you already offer and whether they are still considering signing up for a care-related course after their time or interactions with your care facility.

Go digital

The majority of younger people today prefer working with digital tools, as opposed to paper-based records, forms and folders. By switching to digital care planning software, you can encourage younger people to apply for roles in your facility, simply due to the fact that they can use the latest IT software and technology to carry out a number of care home roles. This can help them hone their own IT skills, as well as provide greater support around training, learning various processes, giving and receiving feedback and their continued professional development.