Over time, a lot of misconceptions about working in care have meant that there’s now a bit of a negative view of the industry.
This means that less people are choosing to work in care, we think it’s about time these myths were busted!
1. You need experience
This isn’t true!
In fact we wrote a whole blog about how to become a carer without any experience. To become a carer you don’t need any direct experience or qualifications, although they will help you.
When you want to progress through your career, you’ll need to gain some qualifications which you can do alongside your work.
2. There are no opportunities for career progression
There’s lots of options for growth within the care sector. First off, many people decide to become a nurse.
If you’re interested in becoming a nurse, you can find out how to do so here.
If nursing isn’t for you, there are lots of other opportunities. Here are some of the more common choices:
- Registered Manager - You’ll be in charge of making sure the organisation you manage is meeting expectations and providing a good service. You’ll also be responsible for all things financial, managing the overall budget to make sure everything runs smoothly. You’ll need Level 4 or above and have a management qualification for this role.
- Care Supervisor - Your job will be to manage the other carers and create care plans.
- Care Coordinator - This is slightly different to a carer’s role as it’s based in the office. You’ll be making care rotas and checking the care company is compliant.
3. Working in care is badly paid
It’s true that the care sector suffers from underpayment, but it’s important to note that you’ll earn more than people think.
Most organisations will pay entry-level staff around £11/hr as well as paid mileage and travel time. When you work with Florence, you can pick your shifts as well as the rate you get paid from the list available.
If you decide you want to push your career forward once you’ve completed some social care qualifications you’ll see a salary increase and more responsibilities.
If you achieve a Level 5 qualification for example the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care and you’re in a management role, you could make between £33,000 and £50,000 per year!
4. There’s no career satisfaction
There will be times when you may be challenged by a patient, which can make you feel underappreciated, so you might assume that there’s no job satisfaction.
But if you’re motivated by making a positive difference in the lives of other people, care will be very rewarding for you.
The difficult days will be made up for when you see how much help you’re giving the person you’re caring for, or how thankful their family members are.
5. It’s all about personal care
Care is all about improving the lives of vulnerable people. This may make you think that it’ll all be personal care.
In actual fact, there arelots of jobs in care that don’t involve personal care at all! There are also roles as activity coordinators, rehabilitation workers, mental health support workers or more office based roles such as care coordinator.
We hope this has cleared up some of the common misconceptions about working in care. Do you have any others? Be sure to let us know on our social pages!
