Why do You Want to Be a Caregiver? Good Reasons for Considering Caregiving Jobs
- You enjoy working with people and most enjoy jobs where you have one-on-one interaction with others.
- You enjoyed taking care of elder family members and would like to help others in this way.
- You like older adults and feel you can get along well with a variety of elders.
- You like doing work that has the potential to make a difference in someone’s life.
- You like doing a variety of tasks in a day.
- You don’t ever say, “that’s not my job” but instead like pitching in to do whatever is needed.
- You like making someone smile and doing little things to make a person’s day better.
- You take pride in your attention to detail.
- You don’t want a desk job; you like being physical in your job and using your body as well as your brain.
- You are seeking a career with growing opportunities.
- You don’t want to invest in many years of formal education but you are willing to learn new skills and take continuing education to do your job well.
- You feel that when you are older, you’d want someone like yourself there to help you if you need help.
What does it take to become a home caregiver?
This depends on the state you live in and what type of caregiving job you seek. For an agency like EasyLiving (a Florida licensed home health agency), anyone providing hands-on care must either be a home health aide or certified nursing assistant (contact us if you’d like information on training courses and the test process) and all employees must pass required background screening. At EasyLiving, we assume that all caregivers may encounter the need to provide hands-on care at some point so we only hire people with these qualifications. At other agencies, there may be companion positions which do not require these certifications, but we feel this best equips our caregivers to handle clients’ needs.
Agencies determine their other hiring requirements; for example, at EasyLiving we require all applicants score above 90% on their home health aide test and fit our personal qualities profile. We provide our own, specially designed orientation training as well.
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Become an EasyLiving Caregiver Today!
The Benefits and Challenges of Caregiving Jobs in Home Care
In-home caregiving requires some of the same skills as a caregiving job in any setting, but it is also a bit unique. You’d probably like being a home caregiver if:
- You enjoy a lot of flexibility and independence in your work.
- You like working one-on-one with someone and developing a relationship with a client.
- You can be creative and think on your feet.
- You like tasks such as cooking for someone, helping with errands/shopping, conversing and participating in activities with your client.
- You like fulfilling someone’s requests and catering to an individual’s likes and dislikes.
- You enjoy a home-like environment.
On the other hand, you may be a better fit for a caregiver job in a facility setting if:
- You prefer the camaraderie of an office environment and working with others on a daily basis.
- You like routine and want someone to tell you what to do when.
- You need supervision on a daily basis.
- You prefer to work with different people and don’t enjoy spending time conversing with clients or doing activities together one-on-one.
- You like having standardized supplies and a uniform environment for working.
