Being a Personal Assistant (or ‘Personal Care Assistant) has many rewards – here we look at the top reasons why you might want to consider this role.
You love caring for people
If you enjoy looking after and caring for other people, you’ll get a lot of job satisfaction as a PA! Personal Assistants make a real difference to people’s lives. They help people who have health and social care needs to remain independent. Knowing that your work has given somebody so many benefits and has helped them to remain in their home rather than having to go into care is extremely rewarding.
You enjoy meeting new people
As a Personal Assistant, you’ll get to meet new and interesting people. People need care at all stages of life, so you might find yourself looking after someone who is a similar age to yourself, or someone who is struggling later in life. You’ll also find that at times you need support in your role, perhaps because you need a break or holiday. At this point, you’ll turn to other Personal Assistants or Carers to help you fulfill your role. Many PAs enjoy the friendship of a network of other people who do similar work to them.
You want a career
A Personal Care Assistant is a type of carer and can be a career in itself, or a stepping stone to other roles. Having completed your basic training, you might decide to study for NVQs or complete the Care Certificate. There is plenty of room for personal development and progression within the role.
You need a flexible job
As a Personal Assistant, once you’ve found your first client, you may decide to take on more clients and build up to a full time role. The beauty of this job is that it is completely flexible – you can work for one hour a week or 48 hours – depending on your availability. If one client no longer needs care, you can take on another or not – your hours are completely in your hands. You can also fit you work around existing commitments, such as children.
You want to be in control of your job
As a Personal Assistant you can also choose what type of work you do and which clients you take on. You might feel most confident looking after clients who are the same gender as you, or you might be happy to look after both genders. You may want to care for people of a similar age or you might like the idea of facilitating an elderly person. You may be confident carrying out personal care, or you may just want to assist with cleaning and shopping. The job is extremely flexible and gives you a high level of control over your role.
You hate the 9-5
As a Personal Assistant, you can set your own hours. You simply take on the clients that have needs which work with your commitments.
You’ll likely find plenty of demand for Personal Assistants in the area that you live. This means you won’t have to travel too far – so there’s no stressful rush hour commute and no travel expenses to worry about.
You want job satisfaction
Whether you plan to stay a Personal Assistant or you want to progress into other roles, you’ll know that you’re always making a difference to other people’s lives. You’ll often find yourself in challenging situations where a client is struggling to cope with their illness, disability or the unfortunate consequences of old age. You’ll find ways to help them overcome these challenges and to lead a better life. The results of your hard work will be right in front of you and you’ll also find you appreciate more the little things in life that you might take for granted. You’ll leave work every day feeling that they have done something to help another person. You will never get the same satisfaction from an office, administrative or managerial role.
Whether you’re a new PA or you need support, ukpas.co.uk is the community you’ve been looking for. With training, updates and the ability to contact other PAs, we have everything you need to be an effective Personal Care Assistant. Click here to register.