Career Change - care industry

Lizzieb151

Hiya

After a bit of advice please, I work in finance but was made redundant last year whilst I was on maternity leave. I am struggling to find a part time job that fits in with my children as my husband set up his own business last year and his hours of work are variable.

However I am thinking of a career change perhaps in the care sector so firstly does anyone here do care/support work and how does the part time hours work?

Or how did you decide what path to take when deciding a career change.

Many thanks

newmumincov

I worked as a home care assistant part time for a couple of years. I fell into it really - I was looking for part time work outside office hours as I'd set up a small business. I wasn't fussy about salary - just needed money coming in.

I worked for a rural care agency so there might be more competition in towns, but I was straight in the door with the little experience I already had (doctor's receptionnist, brownie helper etc). I was paid a bit above minimum wage, and because I wanted evening and weekend work, I could take on as much work as I wanted (school hours work was fought over though). Obviously it took me a while to get into this potisition, in terms of taking over rounds when other people couldn't manage them - I had to show I was reliable. Originally I worked on a double crewed round, then mostly worked alone after about 6 months.

The downsides were that the mileage allowance was flat rate and didn't cover the kinds of distances they were asking me to travel, that I had to pay for my own uniform, fighting in the early days for adequate PPE (gloves, aprons etc - thankfully the company was taken over and the new bosses a little more responsible).

We were also expected to do training on our own time (zero hours contract you see). I was turned away from the NVQ2 course as well as you couldn't have more than GCSEs to qualify for a free place (I have 2 degrees).

I did enjoy it a lot though. It was good for the soul. I met a lot of lovely people (and some less lovely people), and it was the first job where I felt genuinely appreciated.

Just to add, the work I was going was doled out in 2-6 hour chunks (mostly it was blocks of 30-60 min appointments). The kind of times were 7-9am, 9-11, 12-2pm, 4-6pm and 6-10pm. Because of the 0 hour contacts you could negotiate at busy times, espcially early morning where I know a couple of ladies were doing an hour or so before going to their main job.

Realbairn

you could look at your local nhs to see if they take on bank staff and try for healthcare assistant. With the nhs they will provide the training etc you need as well as uniforms, and you can usually refuse shifts if they don't suit your needs eg childcare issues etc.

Cherry_Bomb

If you're looking for child friendly hours then I wouldn't bother looking at care homes or ward based work. They tend to operate shifts so an early starts at around 7am, lates which finish around 9pm and nights.
Not good when it comes to working around children.

Best option for you is try and get a job in either outpatients department (usually office hours Mon - Fri) or look into becoming a home carer. The hours are much more flexible

Good luck!

dotty51

Hi Lizzieb151.

like you i had a "career change" last year.....i had a good, well paid, job working in an office but it was on a fixed term contract. after three years they decided they weren't going to renew my contract.

i decided to take the bull by the horns and do something i wanted to do and became a home carer...something i have never done before but have helped to look after my sick stepmum a while back and really enjoyed the experience.

the pay is RUBBISH and i dont get a milage allowance, but you can claim for milage at the end of the tax year from the tax office.

i am expected to work every other weekend but i get every friday and monday morning off....something i've never had before.

the hours i work are a bit hit and miss. i have said i would like full time hours which are NOT 37 hrs a week! some days i work very long hours, some days its a short day but thats fine with me...it suits ME....which is whats great about this job.

if you want to work around the children then this could be the job for you but you might find you have to work evenings or prehaps weekends. getting 10 - 2 shifts are a bit of a no no. they need people to cover breakfasts....lunches...teas and beds. i know one of the carers does 4 hours a night from 6pm and tops up her hours working on a saturday...suits her fine.

if you feel you are a caring person....and the job is the hardest emotionally/mentally i have ever done then contact a care provider in your area. they always need carers but you do have to have the right sort of nature to be able to stick it.

best of luck to whatever you decide to do. i haven't regretted the change.