Is it worth becoming a senior carer?

[easteregg333]

Well not saying I'd definitely be successful, but is it worth trying to become one.

I am a Care Assistant, I believe it's a very important and highly rewarding role and that carers should be valued way more.

I suppose there's a part of me that believes I can progress and achieve better pay and status.

I have experience in medication administration from other work, but zero experience in leading a team.

That's the thing I'd be very nervous about, I can't Imagine that much older, more experienced women would respect or want to listen to me. Maybe some, but I've been in some homes where people are very set in their ways and won't like some 'young girl' telling them what to do.

I also Imagine there'll be pressure and expectations to cover a lot of staff absence. I've been in places where I've ended up working 7 days a week/60 hour weeks to help them out but you don't get appreciation for it, it just makes them think you're a soft touch, and you end up burning out.

Just interested to know if anyone does or has done this role? I've got around 1.5 years experience in care work.

You need an NVQ (or equivalent) at Level 3 in Care to be a senior, do you have this? It’s generally a work-based qualification for which someone would observe you doing certain parts of the job. If you have this then there’s nothing no stopping you!

Go for it, you're young and getting this experience will do you well especially if you decide that care is your career - the best Care Home Managers are those who have worked from the roots up.

It is more accountability, yes you will get push back from older carers who for whatever reason aren't Seniors, but that is all part and parcel of progressing your career wherever you work.

Get your qualifications in order (my old place used to encourage us to do everything going, I worked in the office but was able to do a level 2 course in Dementia Care!) and go for it.

Good luck!

Do it, ask them to provide an nvq level 3 on the job. it’s the equivalent to a levels and could be used as the basis for other careers, courses or climbing the slippery ladder and improving the care for those you support. At senior level you should not be on call 24/7, you should be very clear about only working on your working days.

In honesty though the responsibility won’t be worth the poor pay. Other types of management and leadership pay much better

Hi,

from my experience don’t do it! I was a carer in a care home for ages and then went for a promotion for senior carer, the extra responsibility and stress is not worth it. I regretted the decision and even tried to step down to a carer but they wouldn’t let me as no one else wanted the job.
It’s not worth the extra money in my opinion- sorry!
x

I'd go for it - you have quite a decent bit of time in the role. I remember going for my first Home Carer interview (I didn't last as long as you but the following has always stuck with me) the HR manager said during the interview, no point in recruiting someone to be a senior carer who hadn't done the carer role, to begin with.

You could always take on training/coaching/mentoring in that next step.

In my current line of work, whilst it's customer service/complaint handling, people get promotions after literally a couple of weeks or months of only doing the role if that - they still have people right up to the 60's listen to them even though it's really clear at times, they have very limited experience of dealing with customers. I've just told myself they are there to re-iterate policies.

I second that the extra responsibility is not worth the money. But it may be worth it if you want to progress further and be management in the future.

I am an "older carer"... but am happy for people who want to progress, just because I don't want to have as much stress in my life doesn't mean I'll have a problem with people who are younger/less experienced being senior to me. The important thing here is that you respect their experience and don't think they are a bad carer because they didn't want to progress.

You would need the NVQ 3 or be working towards it. In residential homes you would be undertaking significant additional responsibilities around staff supervision, reporting and meds admin. Often for £1 an hour more than none seniors.

It might be worth seeing if your employer would look at a Care Practitioner course. This could be a great gateway to more senior leadership roles

Thank you everyone i will look into it