job interview home carer

sharon4adam

Hi I phoned up a care company last week. They told me to be at a hotel in my town tomorrow at four. She didnt say where to go at the hotel. In your opinions do you think there will be several people going?
Do you think its easy to get a job in homecare?
Do you think they will tell me tomorrow if theyl employ me?

No sarky answers please but experiences

~Beanie~

I would imagine that there would be a few people going, yes. I don't think they would hire a room etc just to interview one person.

I don't know about where you are but it is fairly easy to get a job in care where I live. Staff turnover is quite high, people are leaving all the tine and Companies are recruiting most of the time.

Who knows whether they will let you know tomorrow or not, it depends on how many are being interviewed, whether they need to consider who is the right candidate etc.

Good luck anyway!

piglet25

Don't bother going. If you are unsure, the ring them tomorrow using a different name, and enquire whether they pay mileage and travel time, or contact time only. Most private homecare providers only pay contact time, so you could be working a seven hour shift and getting paid for three or four hours when you are actually with the client, plus paying your own fuel. And the fact that they are interviewing at a hotel and not an office would put me off. I would put money on them telling you that you have a job tomorrow, and once you have paid for them to do a DRB check on you they will tell you that they have loads of work for you, untill you start and find out that the clients live all over the place and the employer starts to call you at all hours wanting you to drop everything because someone has quit ( prob just worked their pay out. . . )
Sorry if its not what you wanted to hear, but you want to be paid for working, not be left out of pocket. Try ringing around local residential and nursing homes, or sending your CV on spec to them. Good luck

Enterprise_1701C

I would agree with the above. My daughter was delighted to be offered a job with a care agency, although they did not say they were an agency and nothing on their website about it. She was promised full time hours but was given about 5 hours in the first month!!

Her "training" consisted of watching 9 DVDs!!! One home she was sent to said she was supposed to be able to bathe the clients, she rightly said she was not trained in that, and the agency had a go at her for that!

Needless to say she is not happy and has been looking for a new job, looks like she has a choice of 3 jobs so she will not be staying.

kingfisherblue

To be fair, my daughter went to a Jobs Fair coming up to four years ago. She was taken on by an agency, and although she was on a zero hours contract, she did get work most weeks. She didn't drive at the time, but she did get travel expenses. She also received proper training, and had to attend sessions to keep it up to date. She worked with both children and adults.

At one point she was asked to cover at a retirement village, which she loved. This led to permanant employment with the village, and over a year later, she is still enjoying her job there.

comeandgo

Maybe there is no room hired - just a chat in the hotel lounge with a cup of tea, seen plenty of companies doing that.

sharon4adam

So not recomended then? Too be honest i dont mind being over worked at mun. desperate. just wandered do they tend to take u on provided ur police check is clear? How hard is it to get in?

heretolearn_2

I think it's unfair to write off all home carer work because of someone's bad experience.

There are good agencies and bad ones.

One of my employees works part time for one and is very happy with the training, work and money she earns. She's been put through NVQs and all her calls are reasonably local to her; she really enjoys it and earns a reasonable amount. she also claims tax relief on her mileage.

sharon4adam

Yeah i think theres good ones. and its the ideal job cus i do.not like being in the same room all day. i just hope they take me on.

debrag

Home care is good, but you need to work all the hours under the sun to make a living. You are only paid for the time in a clients home, maybe travel too. I love it but was out all the time for little pay

Most home care interviews I've been too have been informal, asking basic common sense questions, if any questions at all, asking how many hours do you want, when can you start, any pervious experience etc. usually told then and there if they will take you on.

How did it go?

eyelinerprincess

I was in home care for a few months. I can't speak for all companies, but the company I worked for:
Expected you to start at 7am, finish at 1pm, start at 4pm, finish at 10pm in one day.
Expected you to work at the drop of a hat (calling up the night before to ask you to start at half 6/7) when you weren't scheduled to be on.
Didn't pay travel time, so you *could* work a 6 hour shift and only be paid for 4.
Called a few times when I was in the middle of cooking for one client to ask me to hurry up because the next client needed the toilet.
Had zero travel time, literally you were rota'd in one client from 6:30-7, then the next at 7-7:30. The clients could be miles away!

I could go on and on, but I'm glad to be out of there.