Ask A Recruiter … What Skills Do I Need To Be A Care Assistant?
With demand for care assistants higher than ever, if you’re looking for a career that offers flexible working hours, progression, and the chance to make a real difference in people’s lives, now is the time to get involved.
A care assistant’s role requires strong communication and problem-solving skills. Typical duties will include:
- Helping people wash and dress themselves
- Providing assistance at mealtimes
- Doing light housework, e.g. making the bed
- Making notes and observations on the patient’s condition
You don’t need any academic qualifications to become a care assistant, but you do need an up-to-date Disclosure and Barring Service Clearance. However, many care homes will only take candidates who already have already honed their skills through experience.
At Prime Appointments, we offer certified training through our heavily subsidised Introduction to Care Course, which costs £35 per person. Once candidates have completed the course, we place them in care homes that are compatible with their location and shift schedule.
For more information on our Introduction to Care course, call 01376 502999 and ask to speak to Gill or Nicola, or check out our vacancies.
If you’re new to health and social care, you might wonder, ‘what skills do I need to become a care assistant?’ We quizzed our experienced care recruiters Gill Tye and Nicola Edmead to find out what skills are essential for budding care assistants.
Patience
As a care assistant, a huge part of your role will consist of helping people who have difficulties communicating, for example, due to health issues such as dementia. Many of the people who you help may easily get confused, or agitated. As their care assistant, you’ll need to have the skills to stay calm, and provide a reassuring presence. “You need to be patient, and not easily offended.” says Gill.
Empathy
Although for the majority of the time, care assistants enjoy positive relationships with the people they care for, it isn’t always smooth sailing. To be an exceptional carer, you’ll need to be able to put yourself into another person’s shoes. This will help you provide top-tier service to everyone you meet on the job, marking you out as an exceptional care practitioner. “If you want to get into care, there are no two ways about it – you’ve got to have empathy.” Says Nicola.
Flexibility
Care environments do not run on a typical 9-5 schedule. For many care workers, this is a large part of the appeal of the job. With the opportunity to choose your hours, you can revolve your shifts around studies, childcare, or any other priority commitments. However, this also means you may sometimes be called on to work irregular shifts. This will require some flexibility on your part. It can be tricky to get the balance between your employers’ needs, and your own. To manage this, at Prime Appointments, we negotiate availability on your behalf.
Problem solving
As with any sector that involves working with people, no two days in health and social care are the same. A good care worker needs to have excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to act on their own initiative. “You have to be the switched-on type.” Says Gill. “When you’re looking after people’s health, you have to be on the ball, constantly aware of your environment.”
Professionalism
One of the most important skills for a care practitioner to have is the ability to maintain appropriate boundaries. There’s a fine balance between getting along well with the people you care for, and becoming overly involved, says Nicola. In order to provide the best standard of service, care assistants need to be able to maintain some emotional distance from the people they help.
Ability to think (literally!) on your feet
Care assistants spend the majority of time on their feet, so if you’re looking for a role that keeps you active, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll have to be comfortable spending a large part of your day up and about. “It’s a physical job.” Says Nicola. “You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to do it, but you need to be prepared to spend a lot of time on the go. It can be quite a physically demanding and even emotionally demanding job at times. But if you’ve got the stamina, it’s one of the most rewarding ones there is.”
