I’m Bea, Founder and Director at First for Support. Let’s get you a job!

We tend to look for people who are enthusiastic, and who preferably have previous experience in this sector, working with children or young people with autism and/or learning difficulties.

Working in the care sector can be rewarding but it can also sometimes be challenging, so candidates need to be patient and have very good communication skills. It's important to communicate well with your colleagues as well as the client you are supporting.

Some more senior roles might need you to have an NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care or in Childcare, but most roles wouldn’t necessarily need qualifications. Experience is more important, and we also provide online training to help prepare you and equip you for your role.

We like our candidates to have at least six months’ experience in the care sector. With agency work, you can sometimes be working on your own (‘lone working’) and/or going to different placements that you might not have been to before. If you have previous experience, you are more likely to quickly fit in as part of the team – it is not the client’s responsibility to train you up and tell you what you need to do.

Don’t be intimidated by thinking you need to produce a formal and long CV. For us, a CV is about getting a feel for the kind of person you are. Just tell us a little bit about yourself so we can get an idea of your personality and your values. Add whatever experience you can think of, even if you don’t think it sounds relevant, and include your full employment history without any gaps in the timeline.

Because we work in care, and with vulnerable people, we obviously follow a very stringent process. So, the first step would be to have a face to face interview with us, where we get to know you and tell you about the kind of placements we offer. This interview could be in an office or in a local café or, if it’s more convenient for you, we could conduct your interview over a video call. If we’re both happy to move forward after that interview, we then ask you to prepare documentation for our compliance process. This includes copies of your eligibility to work in the UK, your qualifications, training, proof of address, and DBS checks.

If you have been selected for a face to face interview it is very likely that you will complete the compliance process and be offered a job, because we cover about 1,000 hours of support per week between Hampshire and Dorset. This means we’re always on the lookout for candidates to cover shifts at short notice and we also have a high demand for long-term placements.

The compliance process varies for various candidates so it’s difficult to give you a precise timeframe from when we take you on after your face to face interview to when you get your first placement. The DBS process sometimes holds things up - they can come through as quickly as 24 hours but they can also take up to six weeks for some people so it’s difficult to say when you will be able to start. Other parts of the recruitment process can also slow the process down, like getting references in, but we’ll keep on top of things and make the process as quick and efficient as possible for you.

As we predominantly work in a temporary shift market, you are often assigned to placements on a very quick turnaround so you wouldn’t necessarily go for an interview with a customer to cover a shift here and there. However, if you are going for a long-term assignment or a permanent job then you would probably have an interview with the customer who engages us to provide support workers for their clients. We will obviously tell you in advance if this is the case.

At your face to face interview when we first meet, we will talk you through the whole process, step by step, so that you know what’s going to happen and how long it’s likely to take. If we come across a stumbling block, like being unable to get hold of one of your referees, for example, we may need your help and will get in touch with you but, if there aren’t any issues, you can just sit back and wait for us to update you.

It is entirely up to you. Within reason, we will do our best to arrange your shift pattern and working hours that suit you best. You can work up to 48 hours per week, which is the limit for the Working Time Directive. Or you can work 12 hours per week, if that’s your only availability. If you would like to, you can work up to 60 hours if you choose to opt out of the Working Time Directive.

Definitely. Because it's an agency role, and you are not tied to a contract, you get to pick the hours that suit you. We do our best to match your assignments around your availability and the flexibility you do or don’t have, for example if you have to work around your partner’s fixed hours and/or any childcare arrangements. So, do apply even if you have limited availability.

Probably not at the beginning of your career with us, because you need to get to know the clients and the assignments that are available. However, as you get to know your clients better, and you give your clients a good impression of you, they are more likely to ask for you to come back, and at that point you will be able to pick your preferred shifts and the client you would like to work for.

Each assignment is different. There are different clients with different needs across different locations so it’s hard to give you a clear figure. We will give you the hourly rate for the assignment we are proposing to you, before you choose to accept it. The minimum we would pay is probably £10.50 per hour, plus holiday pay, but it’s likely to be more than that the longer you work with us.

We've got a variety of assignments across adult and children services. We predominantly work in the niche market of children's services, so I would say that 80% of our shifts are specifically working with children and young people, but we do also have clients who support adults with learning difficulties and adults with mental health issues so you have plenty of opportunity to try different fields within the social care sector. You can do day shifts or night shifts. It really depends on your availability. Some people choose to do weekend nights to work around their families. If you can only work certain days, we try hard to tailor your assignments specifically to accommodate your needs. You could be working with children's services, where you have a mentor role to your client, and then other assignments could be more about providing support. With young adults, especially, you would be helping them to live an independent life, whereas with children it’s more about leading them into independent life, teaching them life skills and showing them how they can live independently.

Bea, First for Support’s founder and director, has 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry, with the last 12 years being in the social care sector. Her team, Natalie and Ellie, both worked in the care sector for years before moving into social care recruitment, and they found it a really rewarding role. This experience has been a huge benefit in helping our candidates, as our team understands the job inside and out. You go home at the end of your shift knowing that you’ve really made an impact on your client’s day and made a difference to someone's life. There’s lots of variety of assignments in the care sector. Support workers are working with various individuals in various organisations. They’re working with children, young adults and older people. They’re working in schools, residential care homes, in ancillary care and so on. Ellie and Natalie both talk about how they had lots of moments where they really felt like they had an impact and made a difference. Clients they supported would start off feeling very frustrated that they couldn’t do things for themselves, or they would be depressed and shutting themselves off from their family and friends. Ellie worked with a war veteran who had PTSD and, when she started working with him, he would barely talk or eat but, with a lot of patience and time, and through learning how to be independent again, he regained his confidence, interacted much more with everyone around him, and found a sense of purpose again. Natalie smiles when she fondly remembers working with a young person who had sensory issues that meant that he would recoil from touching the ground outside. The problem was he loved being outside. His sensory issues caused a real barrier for him and stopped him enjoying life to the full. Natalie knew this, and cared enough about his wellbeing to think outside the box. She didn’t want him to miss out so she came up with a solution – she carried him outside herself, without his feet ever having to touch the ground! The look of delight as he felt the sun on his face warmed her heart. It’s an amazing feeling to promote someone’s independence, and help them improve their quality of life - seeing the job that you do make such a positive change in their life and transform their mental health. Bea recounts a special moment that happened to a candidate she interviewed once, who had bumped into a young adult she had worked with for three years, helping him with life skills and independence. She had always wondered what he went on to do next and it was wonderful to see him in a restaurant, years later, managing the bar! The gentleman was just as delighted to see his support worker again, insisting on introducing her to his colleagues and enthusiastically explaining how grateful he was for how she had helped him gain his independence, get an education and go on to secure a great job.

First for Support is a really good company to work for in the care sector. We really care about our candidates and we understand the job inside and out as we have all been support workers ourselves. We look after our staff and support them every step of the way.

If you are interested in applying to be a support worker with First for Support, please call us on 07305 808857 or email us at bea@firstforsupport.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you and will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Once we have interviewed you, you will be given our direct phone numbers and email addresses so that you can easily contact us when you need anything.