All you need to know about working in the care sector

If you are taking a job directly with a company, you don’t need experience. However, when you are getting a job through an agency you generally will need some previous experience. This is because agencies are supplying support workers on a shift basis, often at short notice covering sickness, other kinds of emergency cover, or holiday cover. So, we need to be confident that the specialist care workers we send on a placement can be put straight into an environment where they can hit the ground running. At First for Support, we ask our new candidates for six months’ experience in the care sector before we register you for work.

We support you through our online training modules, so that you’re always up to date with the most recent developments in the sectors that we work in. We can also help you to build up your CV if you are looking for a permanent role, and we’re generally just always here to support you with whatever you need, however big or small. Our team is friendly, caring and efficient and we are always available for you to contact us directly by phone or by email.

Yes, we can look after your tax and National Insurance through PAYE if you would like us to. Some of our care workers choose to use an umbrella company that deals with their tax and NI requirements from their side rather than going through us. Whichever works best for you is fine by us.

No, we don’t make driving a requirement of registering with our agency. It’s obviously helpful, and might make life easier for you, but a lot of placements that we deal with, and the homes that we work with, are easily accessible by public transport like trains and buses. As long as we can be assured that you are reliable and can get to your shifts on time, how you get there is up to you! This is exactly the kind of thing we mean by getting to know you and your circumstances. If we know you are relying on public transport, we will take that into account when we are looking at the location of the placements we suggest for you, and we will also take into account the timings of your access to public transport - for example, being aware that you may not be able to take a shift that may end later than your last bus home.

As well as being caring, of course, communication skills are really important to be a good support worker, and for working in care in general. Good communication and good listening skills are especially key with some of the children and young people we work with, who have communication needs. Some of them may not be able to talk at all. So, being intuitive and alert to picking up on non-verbal signals can be crucial. Apart from that, being a very patient person and being organised, as you have to document and record your client’s daily activity, are also key.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If you are supporting a young adult who is pretty self-sufficient and just needs support with independence and doesn’t have challenging behaviour, then you are likely to be working on your own. However, in a lot of the residential homes we provide care workers to, you will be working as part of a team. In these environments, it is important that you are sociable and flexible, as you’ll need to fit in with your colleagues and work together well, helping the home to run smoothly.

We are here to support you every step of the way, from the day you first contact us, through every day you work for us. Regarding the placements, we can answer any questions you might have about the company you will be working for, and give you some general information about the children and young people who might be in that home. We can also give you the phone number of the home if you want to call them yourself and ask more in-depth questions before you go there.

We would love to find the perfect placement for you. We mainly cover Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth, and we have some placements in the New Forest, Salisbury and Dorchester areas as well. You are welcome to email us at info@firstforsupport.co.uk or call our office on 02382 515806. Or, you can get in touch with us via this brief form on our website which will send us a message with your contact details.