Caregiving is a Perfect Career for Younger Adults

Professional caregiving is a rewarding job, but it’s also a demanding career choice. For a first-time professional or young adult entering the workforce, professional caregiving may not seem like a doable option at first glance. Still, working as a professional caregiver as a younger adult has many advantages and benefits. 

Understanding the role of a professional caregiver 

A professional caregiver is a trained individual who provides nonmedical assistance to someone in need. Caregivers with Visiting Angels provide at-home care. At-home caregivers go to a client’s home to help with daily activities such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, medication reminders, and laundry. Some caregivers may provide specialized assistance such as transitional care to help a client return home after hospitalization or end-of-life care for clients entering their final stages of life. 

While caregiving is within the realm of health care, it’s important to understand that professional caregiving is not a medical position. As a caregiver, you may not provide medical care, including medication administration, bandage removal, or wound cleaning. If you’re working with a client requiring medical care, contact their doctor or nurse. 

Benefits of a caregiving career for young professionals

Starting a new career as a young professional comes with many nerves and sometimes a bit of imposter syndrome. However, working as a professional caregiver benefits young adults as they embark on their first career. 

Expand your worldview 

As a young adult, it’s common to have a small circle, only knowing people from the neighborhood you grew up in or the college you attended, seemingly people with similar life experiences. As a professional caregiver, you’ll interact with many different types of people, many of whom are older and have lived very different lives. Meeting new people opens your worldview and makes you more compassionate and empathetic.

Not only will you have diverse clients, but you’ll also work with people who have different backgrounds, skills, and interests. Professional caregiving is a wonderful way to meet people and grow comfortable interacting with those different from you. 

Learn transferable skills

Transferable skills are anything you learn in one environment, such as school or work that you can apply in a different setting. Some of the top transferable skills you’ll learn as a caregiver include communication, leadership, dependability, critical thinking, relationship building, and organization. 

• Communication: How you relay information to clients and coworkers is one of the essential skills you’ll need as a professional caregiver. 
• Leadership: Caregiving will help you grow as a leader, take charge of situations, and feel more confident in your decisions. 
• Dependability: Clients depend on you to show up and care for them. It’s your responsibility to ensure they’re safe and comfortable at home, and your dependability will grow as you continue caregiving.
• Critical Thinking: There’s no standard day-to-day caregiving, and there will be times when you need to use critical thinking skills to make the best decisions for your client.
• Relationship Building: You’ll learn to build meaningful and trusting relationships with your clients, and doing so will only make your job more enjoyable. 
• Organization: You’ll quickly learn how staying organized will help your caregiving career. Not only will you want to keep yourself organized to make work run more smoothly, but you’ll also want to keep things organized for your client.

Flexible scheduling 

Professional caregiving provides a lot of flexibility in scheduling. With part-time options available, caregiving is the perfect career for young adults in school, starting a family, or slowly transitioning into a full-time career. In addition to having a part-time option, caregiving also has flexibility in the times of day you work. If you want mornings off for class or nights free to catch up on homework, the team at Visiting Angels will work with you to find clients who meet your scheduling needs. 

How to start your caregiving career with Visiting Angels

Visiting Angels Flagstaff is hiring compassionate, hard-working, and dedicated individuals to join our team of caregivers. Our Flagstaff office is one of the nation’s top locally-owned and operated home care agencies providing nonmedical care to seniors throughout Flagstaff, Payson, ShowLow, and the surrounding areas.

Working with Visiting Angels means you’ll receive competitive pay, flexible hours, bonus opportunities, paid training and time off, reimbursable mileage, one-on-one client interactions, and a supportive learning environment to help you thrive as a professional caregiver. 

If you’re ready to start your journey as a professional caregiver, send us your information or contact us online with any questions.