To recruit great people into your care team, you need to consider the attributes of the best people in your team already, and use these as a guide. It’s time-consuming if you get this wrong, so don’t leave it to your gut instinct:
Have you written the attributes you value down for your team to refer to? You may value good organisational, listening, and communication skills, the ability to understand and follow policies and procedures, good numeracy and digital skills, good written skills to complete care plans too.
Are you looking for someone who has a long track record in care? Not necessarily. You’re looking for someone kind, compassionate, thoughtful, someone who respects the dignity of a vulnerable individual in their care. A ‘people person’, who loves a chat.
We’ve heard how an ex-miner and an ex-gunner (the Navy warship type) have made wonderful carers. You’ll have your own examples too.
Once you have your selection criteria, you can narrow down on the right people for your business. If someone has the right attitude, then most of the practical skills can be trained, they’ll just need common sense should things not go to plan.
There are amazing people that know they want a career in care, and these individuals will make great support workers, carers, and managers. These people aren’t just showing up because the Job Centre told them to. They’re responding to our job ads because of the potential to make a difference in someone’s life. The sense of achievement is why many people find care work rewarding, and that’s hard to find in some other careers.
Covid has been an influence too. Some people have been more closely involved with a family member’s care and found they liked it and were good at it. They’ve also noticed how reliant some of the population is on extra help and would like to do their bit
It’s up to us all to help more people understand that you can have a rewarding career in care, and you don’t always need to be fully qualified. Many care employers provide on-the-job training that opens the door to new opportunities and progression.
Skills for Care have established that a ‘values-based approach’ to recruitment results in lower recruitment costs, positive ROI, lower staff turnover, and better staff performance.
We always include values-based assessment in our ‘candidate screening’ activity, with simple, consistent questions that quickly determine a good ‘fit’ for our care provider clients.
If you’re responsible for care worker recruitment, you may have to fit it in amongst managing a busy care team. With so little ‘downtime’ in the care sector, recruitment can become an afterthought, the priority is always on the care.
If you’d like to find out how we can support your values based recruitment feel free to book a call to find out more – no strings attached.
