Who makes a good support worker

Personality, passion, patience and more

It’s all about the Ps when it comes to what makes someone a good support worker writes our new Care Recruitment Officer, Claudia Peixoto.

Claudia took time out of her busy schedule recently to tell us just what makes a person perfect, more Ps, for a role in social care with us. Here’s what she wrote:

Caring for others and making their lives better requires passion, patience and professionalism by the bucket load, so we’re looking for someone who has the right kind of personality first and foremost. There are lots of Ps involved in a role like this, as it’s all about people and it’s highly personal. You’re going into people’s homes and are trusted.

We can provide all the training someone might need to do the job, but personality is the most important thing. So that’s what I look for from the very first moment I start interacting with a candidate.

A good support worker has to be kind. They also need to have emotional resilience and resourcefulness to cope with the physical and psychological aspects of the role. That’s more Ps! We’re also looking for people who are naturally caring and compassionate, who care about the lives of others.

Not everyone has this. Just because someone supports those around them in various ways, including family members, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have what it takes. A role in social care means you’ll be supporting someone who, to start with, you don’t know or have a bond with, who’s not your flesh and blood.

When you start in your role you won’t even know the people you’re caring for, but, as you continue, you’ll get to know them and, little by little, respect builds and you’ll form emotional attachments.

In fact, everything we do here is all about having really good, professional relationships. Support Workers feel valued and loved by their customers, customers feel cared for and respected in return, and, as a charity and a not-for-profit organisation, we care about our team, and look after every member as a family.

Working for us is perfect for anyone who wants to be supported and appreciated. We nurture a sense of belonging; our team members are recognised for what they do, they are appreciated and engaged.

We pay better salaries than other companies in the area, but we also help people build careers through experience and gaining on-the-job qualifications. There’s real job fulfillment too.

I speak to lots of candidates, and they all say that they have never received recognition in their roles previously and they haven’t been supported, and they are looking for this. Many left social care because they worked for profit and number-driven organisations and they became disillusioned.

But they now want to come back into the industry, and they are looking for better support, to be valued and respected, and to have better pay and flexibility, which are all things we offer here.

I am also talking more to younger candidates, born after the year 2000. These are Generation Z. They are looking to have a career, a professional pathway, progression, they value flexibility, but they also want job security, and social care is the only industry left that offers a job for life for those that wish to have one. And although they are digital natives, Gen Z-ers are characterised by wanting to have in-person interactions. They value human contact and experiences.

This generation is keen, upfront, energetic, enthusiastic and have all the Ps in place too. Also, with social care, they can work around finishing their studies. It’s a great way of earning extra money, as well as gaining great experience, as they can study and work at the same time.

But fundamentally, social care is a role that is open to all generations, and we have all ages working for us here.

They are a lovely bunch…well, of course they are, as personality is everything when it comes to a career in social care!

To find out what roles we currently have, please click here and to chat with Claudia directly to find out about what makes a good support worker and if you’ve got what it takes, please email  Claudia.Peixoto@sciagroup.co.uk