Social care recruitment during Covid

No-one needs me to tell them about the impact of the pandemic on jobs and people’s livelihoods.

But whilst sectors such as retail, hospitality and travel have been badly hit by the pandemic, the care sector, and home care in particular, has seen a boom in demand as families realise that it offers a safe option.

We’ve recently supported the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) in their campaign to recruit more carers to join the social care sector. Working with their comms team we shared case studies of people, impacted by lockdown restrictions in their work, who have come to work with us as CAREGivers.

Because our approach to home care is relationship-based, what we look for first and foremost are people skills rather than care experience. We can train people to care in our unique way – but you can’t change someone’s personality.

And, people who work in the sectors I have mentioned are ‘people’ people. They have the ability to make connections with people and, most importantly, enjoy building relationships.

At @HomeInstead_UK we currently have just over 4,000 CAREGiver roles available plus over 500 live-in care vacancies, such is the level of demand.

One of our CAREGivers who took part in the DHSC campaign was Sian who transitioned from being a professional opera singer to working for our Ruislip and Harrow franchise office. She even made an appearance on BBC Breakfast talking about her career change and how she absolutely loves working in care.

Speaking about this, she said, “As opera singers the biggest part of what we do is about communicating with an audience and being able to make a difference within that experience.

“Within the care sector its basically exactly the same thing but just on a different scale. It’s really about the little differences we are able to make to someone’s day; the little bits of help we’re able to give them that have a huge impact on their quality of life, and that’s so rewarding.”

And whilst we have circa 4,500 CAREGiver vacancies, there are 112,000 across England.

The UK’s care sector employs many outstanding individuals who protect the most vulnerable in society. With our sector in the spotlight like at no time before, we have a great opportunity to showcase how rewarding care work can be.

It’s down to us to find the Sian’s and show them what care has to offer.