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6 Steps To A Career In Home Care

Today we are going to bring you some tips regarding the interview process for securing a job as a Comfort Keepers Home Carer.

Being a healthcare professional in a career like home caring means you need and develop so many important skills. You’ll be caring, responsible empathetic, practical, reliable, trustworthy, kind, hardworking, conversational, to name but a few of the skills and abilities of our wonderful home carers.

Step 1

Apply for a Comfort Keepers Home Carer position. Vacancies are listed on our careers page, you can filter to see if there are vacancies in your area. We have seventeen offices around the country and there are currently vacancies in many of them.

Do outline your experience to date as well as your future plans. Many of our carers are people who have cared for an elderly relative and would now like to care for others. You may not have any qualifications as yet but rest assured, you can complete the modules as you are working.  We believe that a kind and caring person can be trained to become a professional healthcare worker but you can’t train a person to be kind and caring. The QQI award needs to be completed and achieved within two years and Comfort Keepers subsidises the cost of this training. Pay rates increase as modules are completed.

Other home carers are students, some will be training to become nurses, occupational therapists and other healthcare professionals. Others may be doing Arts or Science and recognise that they would make wonderful carers. Comfort Keepers has part-time hours, evening and weekend work available which suits a student’s timetable. You will require a driving licence and car if living in a rural area. A car is not necessary in some city areas as clients houses will be close to public transport.

Tip: When applying, do read the full job description thoroughly. Being a ‘home carer’ is different to being a ‘home care assistant’. While home care does involve providing companionship, it also provides helping people with personal care using your practical, caring, friendly and empathetic manner.

Step 2

The next stage is a telephone interview. The interviewer will ask you a number of questions and will outline the pay rates, the job description and the hours required / available.

Tip: Read through the job description and your application form again just before the interview.

Step 3

You will then attend for an interview. The interview will include a number of questions to ensure that you are the right person for this role.

The interview will include a number of ‘scenario’ type questions where we ask you how you would respond to particular scenarios that might happen over time to a home carer.

A sample question would be ” You arrive at a permanent client’s house for your scheduled visit. You have a key and let yourself in. However, you then realise nobody is at home. What would you do in this situation?”

Tip: Come prepared for the interview and remember to bring your documents with you. These include your application form, your references and your garda vetting forms. If you require a visa to work in Ireland, you must bring those forms with you too.

You can practise for the ‘scenario’ questions by imagining various scenarios that might occur, think about what the correct reaction would be and voice that aloud to a friend or family member to get their opinion.

Step 4

Once you have passed the interview, we check all references and have to wait until the garda clearance forms come back. That can take 4-8 weeks.

Tip: Bring the garda vetting form at the interview stage as that will speed up the process.

Step 5

You will complete a two-day induction process which includes covering the Comfort Keepers policies and procedures and the manual handling aspect of your role. You will then be sent a link by email to watch a number of videos and answer seven questions. If 6 of the 7 questions are answered correctly, your next meeting is with your client co-ordinator.

Step 6

On meeting your client co-ordinator, you will complete the ‘Starter Charter’ which includes completing a check list and going through procedures. You will be assigned your clients and your Client Co-ordinator will travel with you to introduce you to your clients. The majority of your clients will be your permanent clients and you will see them a number of days each week, depending on their needs and your timetable.

Comfort Keepers loves to celebrate the best of our carers and every year, we host a ‘Carer of the Year’ award too with a winner and three runners up. You never know – you may be in the running for our next ‘Carer of the Year’.

Home Care Vacancies

Working as a home carer is a very rewarding and fulfilling career. You will be working in the area you live, you’ll get to know other carers by attending events and coffee mornings and there is a certain amount of flexibility within this career too as you can choose to work full-time or part-time. Many of our part-time carers work 9-3 when their children are in school, or they work evenings and weekends. Some carers work full-time during the week with one weekend a month on call.

Comfort Keepers now has a number of home care vacancies across its 17 offices. If you would like to become a carer, I hope these tips will help you succeed with your application. We look forward to meeting you at interview soon.

 

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