Home Care Service Tips: 

Optimizing the Job Application Process

If you're a home care aide, home health provider or child care provider – consider yourself to be in the right line of work. These jobs are becoming more and more in demand everyday. The home care sector is expected to grow 50% by 2018, and throughout 2011, home care aide jobs are expected to pop up on a national level.

So what can you do to secure one of these positions? How can you groom your work history, resume and overall first impression, to optimize your success at landing short term, long term, part time, or full time home care aide work? Here are a few tips:

• Make yourself as transparent as possible.

Use as many references you can think of, linked to anyone related. If you were a great babysitter for a particular family, list them as a reference (after getting their consent, of course). If you volunteered anywhere for a period of time, list that as both a reference and part of your qualifying experience.

• Don't try to come across as perfect if you're not completely squeaky clean.

   

If there is something glaring in your past that will inevitably be uncovered by background checks, don't attempt to cover it up, or pretend as though you've never had problems. If you were a terrible teenager and got into trouble, fess up to it. Be honest with those hiring for these positions. At the least, they will respect your forthrightness and honesty, even if you don't get the job. Or, depending upon what it is, it may not be enough of a reason not to hire you. He or she may consider that aspect of your background to make you more trustworthy, just for owning up to it. If you try to hide it, and a background check reveals it – you can be sure they will not trust you around their children or loved ones.

• Ask yourself what you would look for in a home care provider, and what would earn your trust?

   

Many people conduct very thorough background checks, clearances, FBI and fingerprint background checks, credit checks before they entrust their family members and/or children to home care provider – and rightly so. After all, regardless of what your resume says, you are still a total stranger to the hiring party. What would YOU look for in a person that you were hiring to take care of your kids, or your mother or grandmother, or your sister or brother? What kind of things would you want to know about them in order to make you feel comfortable enough to leave them alone with your loved ones? Typically the kinds of things that would put your trust in a home care provider are same kinds of things that will console and create trust with a potential employer or client.

• Never apply for positions outside of your training, experience or comfort zone, just to get a job.

   

If you've never worked with a paraplegic, don't try it out or experiment on a client's loved one. Not every home aide knows how to care for those with severe mental retardation. Not every nanny can properly care for children with ADHD. If you specialize in home health care, child care, or general home aide service for people with certain types of disabilities or handicaps – then stick to those, and only those. Likewise, don't apply for positions that require working with people that tend to try your patience, or even make you uncomfortable. You will more likely end up taking out your frustrations on the poor person in need of care, and rob them of providers who could handle them with much more patience and experience. Don't wander outside of your training or your comfort zone, just to land a job.