Why do some people think working in a care home is easy and something anyone out of work can/should do?

[ApriltoNovember]

My dd is 17 and in college. For the last year she has been trying to find a part time job because frankly she wants to start earning money. She has had little luck so far and endless applications later still hasn't secured herself a job.

I asked on our town's community FB page if anyone else's teen/younger adult dc was experiencing similar issues (and it seems many are). I have had so many replies telling me that she should get a job in a care home because the care industry is crying out for staff.

I know this to be true because a) I am a PA/carer for disabled people myself and b) a carer for my elderly mum who has advanced Alzheimer's disease.

But the comments really annoyed me because it seems so often that caring, for some reason is seen as an easy option and a job that anyone can do, even someone straight out of school with no qualifications or skills. In reality, this could not be further from the truth. Caring is bloody hard work and caring for someone with advanced dementia and double incontinence or severe learning difficulties is even harder and really NOT a job for the faint-hearted. All of my mum's carers have been chosen because they have years of experience and are genuinely caring and kind people and even the youngest one who is 26 has a naturally kind and caring personality and is not at all fazed by what she has to deal with.

Mum went into respite care in a home last year. It was in a local town which has a high unemployment rate. The home was full of young care workers and you could tell were only doing the job because there were very few options and most looked bored out of their brains.

Caring can be an extremely rewarding but often thankless and messy job and to think there are so many people out there believing if a person can't find work they may as well just go get a job in care as a last chance option. Yes, maybe a small percentage may go on to enjoy it but many do drop out. It's such a poor misconception that caring is a basic, unskilled thing which anyone can do or should do just because it is a job sector which often has many available vacancies (and that should tell you something for a start).

IMO, it is a job which should be given more credit (and better paid). At the end of the day many of us will reach old age and with dementia now being the most prolific disease amongst the elderly it's a sad possibility for many of us that we could end up needing to be cared by others and would all these people recommending 16/17 year olds go into care because they need any old job want their arses wiped by them?

I agree. I hope your daughter finds something soon. Getting that first job is tough at the moment.

Thank you. We keep our fingers crossed.

Every job in our area on Indeed is for care work. I can’t imagine anyone thinks it’s fun or particularly easy, but there are certainly loads of jobs in that field and they won’t require any qualifications-that’s why people are recommending it. People aren’t going to suggest bar work or jobs where you require your own transport and driving experience to a 17 year old. In reality there are sadly very few jobs around for 17 year olds so people are just offering suggestions of jobs that are available.

My sister worked in care homes in the holidays when she was training to be a dentist-it was good experience.

There is no way my dd would want to work in a care home, she just isn't a natural carer and that's fine, we are all built differently but for people commenting on the FB page suggesting it was an easy option obviously have no experience of care work at all.

It isn't just teenagers being sent into care. I have an almost 29 year old male friend who is autistic and has ADHD, he's been on new style JSA for almost 6 months since his last work place made everyone redundant. The job centre has sent him on courses over the last couple of weeks to do manual handling, first aid and other care related 'qualifications'. He has an interview for a care home. Completely unsuitable for the job, but the work coach can tick a box for getting him off benefits.

My friend's granddaughter has ASD and has been experiencing the same thing, she can barely care for herself, let alone anyone else.

It’s not easy.

but there are a lot of vacancies in it and it doesn’t require academic or other qualifications (like for example HGV driving).

I can imagine a lot of people who are really not suited to it are having it suggested to them.

It’s not that people think it’s easy: it’s because there are usually vacancies and you don’t need qualifications.

But the people on the town’s Facebook page have no idea whether your daughter is a ‘natural carer’ or not! They are only suggesting to you that it’s pretty easy to get care work, which it is!

Jobs where there are loads of vacancies, the work is generally physically hard and don’t require any qualifications are easier to get-care work, nurseries etc

The job market is terrible at the moment, they are only suggesting what’s out there.

Pretty much what I said to him! His mum does everything for him. He passed his driving test years ago so they also have him down as a driver, he hasn't driven since he passed.

Exactly.

It's an easy job to get into, not to do.

Exactly. As you say yourself about the workers in the care home where your mother went for respite, OP. It requires no qualifications and there are always vacancies. I don’t think anyone, for a moment, thinks the job itself is easy. It’s just easy to get.

Same as 'become a childminder'. It's always trotted out on here for mums who 'don't want to go back to work'.

They aren't saying the jobs are easy to do, but they are easy to get as there's such a recruitment crisis.

A lot of us will find ourselves as carers at some point jn life, with children, elderly parents, periods of family illness and most people do manage to do it. Most are probably not doing it as well as you, but its why people think they can. I had a care job as my first job and it was exhausting and emotionally draining, I'd never say it was easy work but in the same way having a baby is really hard, most people manage it. Easy has different connotations and I don't think anyone thinks it's easy in the way you mean.

I can see why it's irritating if you work in the field. But they're not wrong that the care industry will take nearly any warm body, and a person knowing this doesn't mean they think care work is easy. I suspect many of them probably realise it's unpopular because it's tough work for the money.

You are spot on. Care work is not only one of the most physically and emotionally demanding jobs going, it is also grossly underpaid and undervalued.
The whole sector is a mess. It’s understaffed with very little funding, and with an aging population and generations coming up being poorer than those that came before I really don’t want to think about the state it will be in by the time it’s my turn.
Recruitment is incredibly hard because at the end of the day why would you want to earn minimum wage for such a difficult job when you can go and work in your local supermarket for more money? Those who do it have to WANT to do it, so it isn’t (despite what the government seems to think….) a case of just filling those care vacancies, it’s about filling them with the right people. A good carer can’t just do the job, it requires kindness, respect, patience, resilience and emotional intelligence amongst other things. For minimum wage and a society that looks down on the profession.
I have the utmost respect for carers and can hand on heart say it’s not a job I would even consider (I’m not cut out for it!) so I agree people need to be far less blasé about “just go and work in a care home. They always need staff”.

But surely by suggesting 16/17 year olds straight out of school go into care work with zero experience then they must believe it to be 'easy'?

People don’t need to be less blasé about it. The OP asked what jobs were available that her 17 year old could so, and people answered saying they’re always looking for care workers-there’s lots of vacancies and require no qualifications. they don’t know her daughter or what’s she likes/dislikes or is good at and in many cases that’s completely irrelevant. If she says ‘my daughter is 17, can’t drive, wants a job where she can do a bit of admin and sit down-she doesn’t really want to wipe bottoms or speak to people’ then she would probably have got no replies.

There are very few jobs, people are just telling you what IS available.

No, just that it’s an easy job to get.

I wouldn't think it was easy. Far from it. I would assume it might be fairly easy to get into in terms of jobs as there often seem to be vacancies and you don't absolutely have to have experience. But doing it doesn't seem particularly easy. It's almost certainly extremely hard work.

Easy to get, yes.

Unfortunately our society does not value this type of work. Hence it is rewarded at minimum wage and many staff are on zero hours contracts.

Since when have people worked in jobs that they were 'suited for'

Who was suited for working in a mine?

People do the jobs available because they have to.

It's underpaid and undervalued because it is still seen entirely as 'women's work' that was previously done for free by women without any choice - and there are many many people who want to see it return to that status.

Well in my 20+ year experience of being a carer and in recent years of having a parent who needs care there are very few straight out of school/college teens who would possess care skills or experience and surely most people would be aware of that. I even stated on the post she is looking at work in the retail or hospitality industry.

They were posting remarks such as 'well, if she can't find anything there are lots of care homes who are looking for carers to join them'. With the experience I have I just can't ever imagine suggesting that kind of work to such a young person with little knowledge of what they would be going in to.

Very well put, that's exactly it.

I really don't think people would even be suggesting it as a possibility if they had any idea how difficult a job it can be.