Career opportunities for young people in Alton and Bordon

During National Careers Week (7 to 12 March) adult care companies like Right at Home Alton and Bordon are shouting from the rooftops about adult care as a rewarding career option for young people leaving education.

The home care provider is highlighting that working as a caregiver for a modern, innovative employer like Right at Home Alton and Bordon offers young people entering work a genuine career path, high quality training with the opportunity to gain nationally recognised qualifications plus top rates of pay.

“Young people in and around Bordon have other career options, particularly if they are happy to commute but caregiving stands out from many other jobs because you are helping people from Day 1 and you see the impact of your contribution straightaway,” says Alastair Shanks, Managing Director of the Alton and Bordon branch of Right at Home. “Working with people who are from your own local community is also enormously satisfying. You immediately have something in common and benefit from the sense of giving back to your local area.

“Taking an older person out for a trip to the shops or a park, assisting them with their medication or helping them prepare a wholesome meal might sound like small tasks but by supporting clients in this way, you are making a difference to their lives. And as your skills and experience develop, you have the opportunity to take on greater responsibility or specialise in interesting areas such as dementia care.”

Right at Home Alton and Bordon says caregiving roles suit a range of personalities and interests and while doing well in education is a great asset, personal qualities are sought after too. Alastair explains: “Being patient and a good listener are valuable skills in caring roles and so are being fun and chatty. Being practically minded or having bags of common sense are qualities in as much demand by employers like us as educational qualifications. For young people in particular, being a caregiver offers real-life experience and plenty of opportunity to develop maturity, self-confidence and excellent people skills so we have much to offer young people.”

The view of adult social care as undervalued, routine, low paid work is out of step with the reality of working for a modern care company. Right at Home invests in its staff through training and even tries to match its caregivers with clients when possible. The ethos of the company underpins the support it gives to staff, for example by providing coaching to new staff and mentoring to caregivers wanting to work towards qualifications. “New members of staff receive lots of support to help them learn the job and become at ease with responding to clients’ individual needs. This is great for building people’s confidence during the early days in the job,” says Alastair.

To get started in a career in caregiving, websites of major employers such as the Right at Home are a good place to start. As well as details of current jobs, there is information about the range of services provided and the sorts of clients caregivers could be working with.

Careers Week is an annual campaign of support to help young people prepare for life after school and college, particularly by working through schools and colleges and with local employers.