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 think there's a mismatch in understanding here OP.

They're talking about jobs that are easy to get, acquire some pay and a work history without needing qualifications or experience. Care undoubtedly ticks that box. You're talking about how she'll feel about the job and whether she'll be any good at it.

Those are two different things.

You’re still not getting it, OP. Easy to get, because low-paid, unprestigious, physically challenging, and requires no qualifications or experience. Not easy to actually do, which is why there’s a recruitment crisis. I imagine there’s a very high staff turnover.

Care work is classed as unskilled work (I’m not saying I agree with that) but for people who are out of work and unskilled it fits the profile. As others have said, there are also always vacancies in care work. So if there are vacancies in an unskilled role and unskilled people need jobs, it seems like an obvious fit.

The reason care often has vacancies is because it’s not actually unskilled work. It’s highly skilled work, for unskilled wages. Burnout is high. Conditions are crap. The reason it’s classed as unskilled is because it’s care work - something historically a woman has done, usually for free. After a woman has done raising young children, she’d then start caring for her parents and possibly her in-laws if they didn’t have a daughter. You can also add childcare to that group too.

I don't think under 18s are allowed to do personal care anyway, so it's completely moot.

I don't think anyone thinks it's easy, they are saying there is work available and they claim to train you on the job. But I don't think it is available to under 18s unless a kitchen assistant job or similar (which actually might be quite a nice first job.)

I am suited for the job I do, my dh is suited for the job he does.

It's not about me not getting it. Just because a job is 'easy' to get does not mean that people should be suggesting it to young people with no experience or even desire to do such a job.

This isn’t anything new, when I left school 35 years ago pupils who were not expected to get any GCSE’s or who were likely to get very low grades were encouraged to apply to the local college to do an NVQ or a BTEC in Social Care - this was one of very few courses where there were no entry requirements, they would take on anyone and I guess this was because there were lots of care jobs even back then. Society needs to change its views but it’s one that has been very long running.

@ApriltoNovember Not everyone is able to do this.

Some live in areas where there are very limited jobs available and so you are coerced to take what is available.

I work as a carer in a care home, it is physically and mentally hard work, it is under paid and undervalued by a lot of people and I work for a company considered to be one of the better ones locally because they pay above minimum wage and have fewer vacancies. I often think it would help if people who think it is an easy job did a couple of shifts in a care home just to see what it is like. We do have staff who are doing it while studying for other careers but it really shouldn't be seen as a way to get people off the unemployment stats since we work with people who need us and deserve good care.

I totally agree.

Hi op. I agree with you. I worked in a few different carehomes and interviewed for staff . Some places would take almost anyone but I did see a shift during ny time. People would quite obviously apply because they had to and I can say from my point of view I never suggested employing just anyone.I think it depends on the manager and the pressure they are under to recruit. Good places will have structured training in place. I have been away from this area for a few years but I know round where I live there are tons of care roles.It is a tough job and not everyone can do it.

People think every other job than their own is a walk in the park- everyone on mn recommends supermarket jobs, I’m like yes, it’s not as if supermarkets are seven days a week (meaning you never see your kids on a Saturday and you only get to be home every second or third Sunday) with random work schedules, huge competition for days/ holidays off, no Christmas holidays really, minimum wage and back breaking work!!

Care homes to me are for people who have a certain vocation, personality and physical strength.

There definitely are people who think its easy, probably because you dont need qualifications/experience for it.
My brother and SIL used to tell me I didnt have a "proper" job because I was "just" a carer. Then SIL got a job in a care home and suddenly it was real work. She lasted 6 weeks!

It's an easy job to get into because there is a shortage. But it's a very difficult job to do well.
When my mum was in a care home I saw the two extremes of carers. A minority of staff ( generally temporary bank staff) seemed to be content to just sit around on their phones and didn't really engage with the residents.
However, the vast majority were brilliant, treating the residents with respect, anticipating their needs, genuinely showing interest in their conversations and showing genuine concern when residents were not well. They spent ages feeding and changing residents who has lost that independance.
All this on a really low wage.
IMO they do not get the pay or public recognition they deserve.
I couldn't do their job

Exactly. When the job market is tough, people take what’s available. If you want work and care work is what’s available, you take it or the alternative is you don’t earn any money at all.

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s easy, but there are loads of jobs and it doesn’t require any skills or qualifications to get into. People are just telling you what jobs are available.

So you want someone not suited to care work looking after your elderly relative do you?

You realise people on the local Facebook group don’t really know, or give a shit, about whether your daughter is suited to the role? You asked for job suggestions and they’ve made them. You aren’t contractually obliged to follow those suggestions. Just let it go.

Your rant should be directed toward the people who define caring as ‘unskilled’ work.

And an unqualified carer will absolutely not be doing personal/intimate care - more moving residents around, helping at meal times etc

I agree OP but it’s the shitty end of the stick with employment availability at the moment.
My daughter is severely disabled and last year was allocated a carer for 6 hours a week.
She had 2 that alternated shifts to do 3 hours each - utterly useless but sweet young people. By young I mean in their 20’s. Not trained or even alert to the basic medical care she needs (it’s not difficult to learn but the company refused to train them. And I wasn’t allowed to show them). Utter waste of taxpayers money so I ended that experience.
It’s also horrible and degrading to have vulnerable people washed and changed by people who don’t know or try to know what it’s like to be in that position.
Caring is definitely not a job I’d do or recommend to anyone not very comfortable with all kinds of duly functions and failures and are willing to be paid minimum wage for the work.

Body not duly !!

Part of the commitment to apply for jobs in order to claim UC.

I really wish that carers weren’t at the bottom of the work pile. They should be better trained and better paid.

Some of the ones who have worked with my daughter have been absolutely dreadful. There are also fantastic people in the care industry, but they should all be fantastic, not just a proportion.

Not really.

They get training on the job.

And when my elderly father needed carers the newer ones would shadow the more experienced.

I’ve worked in many different types of care work from home care, residential, nursing, supported living etc and it is bloody hard work!!!!

they do expect you to do your NVQ in social care though so you do have to be willing to gain qualifications.

in my experience people who work in care work are a certain type of person. They usually have a lot of resilience (which young teenagers don’t generally have).

there has been many occasions were someone has started their first day and walked off the job after a few hours stating it’s not what they thought etc.

I completely agree with you that suggesting care to an under 18 is daft.

However I thinkin general it's perfectly reasonable to suggest jobs to a 16 year old that they have no experience for, and don't particularly fancy. Not many 16 year olds have a particular passion for bussing at a restaurant, cleaning hotel rooms, working at McD's, or stacking shelves in a supermarket either. If a company is recruiting 16 year olds they want cheap labour and a conscientious attitude, not experience or passion for the sector. Suggesting such jobs that take 16 year olds (unlike care work) is helpful not ridiculous