How To Become A Care Assistant With No Experience

Former Care Assistant, Claire Carmichael, offers some advice on gaining experience and learning to think outside the box in order to secure your next role in Social Care.

Topics covered in this article

Introduction

Apply For Jobs

Volunteer To Gain Experience

Call Up Some Care Homes

Have A Look At The CQC Reports

Check Your Local Community

Introduction

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the vlog.

My name is Claire Carmichael.

I'm a General Practice Nurse, but I do have experience as a Care Assistant in the past for about five or six years.

So this is why I'm doing these Care Assistant vlogs.

And today I'm going to talk all about how to get yourself that Care Assistant role without any experience at all.

Easy answer is just apply.

Apply For Jobs

Like literally just go and find a job and just have a look at the job description the person specification as well, and just apply for it.

That is the easiest, simple answer I can give.

However, I'm gonna go into a little bit more detail of course.

A lot of places do ask for GCSEs as your minimum standard.

So your math and English ATC grade that is the main one that they like to see.

However, you can do the equivalent as well.

You don't actually need that qualification.

This is what I did because I got Ds and Es and my GCSE so high to do the level one and two English and numeracy qualification equivalent, which is fine and they accepted that.

Some places might also ask for an NVQ qualification in health and social care.

However, a lot of places will put you through that training and get you up to standards.

Sometimes it could be a different type of so it could be like a BTech or a diploma, a health and social care diploma that they might put you through.

There's a lot of different qualifications that you can get whilst being a Care Assistant.

You don't necessarily need that to apply for the job.

They will train you up to do that.

Volunteer To Gain Experience

Some other things that people do are volunteering.

So a lot of people do volunteer in here and they're at care homes in hospitals with St. John's ambulance service or different places we'll take on volunteers.

And that's a really, really good way to get started as well before you apply for a Care Assistant job if that's how you want to do it.

And if you want to gain that little bit more experience if you're at school, for example or if you've just left school you don't really know where you want to go.

It's really, really good idea to do some shadow shifts or volunteering here and there at the minute with the COVID pandemic.

I don't know if people are taken volunteers.

So that's just something to think about in the background.

However, have a look around and see what's good for you, but again, it's not necessary.

You can just go in and apply for Care Assistant job but just having that little bit of extra volunteering stuff will look good on the application as well.

And it gives you an insight to what you might be doing.

However if you've got family at home that you care for.

If you have any aunts, uncles, nuns granddads children, for example, if you've cared for someone at home who may be sick you can also use that in your application and say, you know this is what I've done.

This is the experience that I've got already within my own home.

And this is why I would be a good care because it's gonna make me more empathetic to those patients because I've seen it first hand with my own family.

That looks really, really good for you as well.

So any of transferable skills or experience that you have put in there and sell yourself.

Call Up Some Care Homes

Next tip is, if you've seen a job application online for a Care Assistant, ring them and ask for an informal visit, if they'll do it during the pandemic again, obviously things are a little bit settled now so they might allow that.

But ask for an informal visit, to have a look around to speak to the residents, to speak to the staff see what kind of place is get a feel for the place.

And also it's a good chance to sell yourself unofficially as well.

And I think that's just going to look really really good for you as well.

And it'll give you a chance to bond with people without being a formal interview.

That's terrifying.

So yeah, another little tip for you.

Have A Look At The CQC Reports

My next little tip is look at CQC reports for the homes that you're applying to have a really good dig around about them and see what type of home they are what they excel in, what they need improvements on.

It's really, really good idea to have a look at this and see what sort of home you're going into, also that'll look good as well if you mentioned that in the interview say or this is what I particularly like about you I've had a look at your CQC report and you excel in looking after staff and wellbeing or something like that.

It's a really good little tip that I use as well.

And this shows that your keen and that you've done your research about the home as well is not just a job application, just another job.

If that makes sense, it shows that you're forward thinking and you're looking into these things.

So it looks really, really good.

I think if you do something like that and just mention it like just drop it there somewhere speak to people who do the job.

It's quite self-explanatory really but the way that you can do this, if you don't know anyone that's a Care Assistant, you haven't got anyone to speak to make use of social media, like Facebook groups, Twitter Instagram pages.

Have a look and get a good insight into the role so that when they ask you the question, okay what does the role involve?

What do you think you're going to be doing?

You've got a little bit more insights.

You can reel off. I'll be doing this, this and this and this.

And it would just look really, really good.

And you can also probably mentioned that you've done that research as well that you've spoke to people and you've got really good feel for what a Care Assistant does.

All these little things, when you haven't got personal experience to get your foot in, it just looks really, really good.

Check Your Local Community

And if you have got nowhere to volunteer you can't find anyone to talk to about Care Assistant roles.

You I've got nothing and you really struggling and cooked clutching at straws to find something to do before you apply for that role, have a knock in your local community.

If you've got, say elderly neighbours you've got friends and family that are older see what you can do to help them out knock your neighbour’s door and say, you know is there anything I can do for you?

You want me to go shopping for you?

You want me to do your lawn?

You want to wash your car, doing these little, little things.

And just getting that little bit of experience is amazing a thing.

And you can put that in your CV or your application and you can talk about it in your interview and just say, do you know what?

This is what I do. I help my, I do this. I do this.

And it's just, again, it just looks like it just looks really, really good.

And it also says the type of person you are, you are that caring naturally genuine person.

And they're going to want to recruit somebody like that.

So it just makes you stand out as well.

And my last and final tip is just be you be your natural caring kind, loving self, and show your passion.

And trust me, that will go a long, long way.

If they can see how lovely you are, they will want you.

I tell you personality does go a long, long way.

So just relax, be yourself and go for it.

So I think that is everything.

I think I've covered everything, but if I haven't and you want to know more about something please comment below and I will do my absolute best to respond as best as I can.

But for now, I shall see you later and have an amazing day.