If you talk about a country like Canada, Personal Support Worker (PSW) jobs are in high demand. However, you must consider it if you are still struggling to get a well-paying PSW job in a country with high demand for Personal Support Workers. It would be best if you analyzed what stops you from cracking interviews. Figure out the skills required for such jobs.
Get in touch with PSWs who have been serving the industry for years, and seek guidance on what skills you should hone and where to apply. The more information you have about Personal Support Workers, the better you can prepare yourself to land your dream PSW job. Remember, irrespective of the industry you are from, a few things will remain constant everywhere, and one of them is having the right set of skills.
Below are the top five skills that can help you land your dream PSW job in today’s crowded job market.
1. Ability to Conduct In-Depth Research
If, as a Personal Support Worker (PSW), you take pride in being a health care professional who offers quality care to people in need or assists people with daily activities like bathing, dressing, and eating, you must look for well-paying PSW Jobs in trusted home care agencies. But how will you find those jobs? You need good research skills; otherwise, you won’t succeed.
In short, you should know where to look for Personal Support Worker jobs. And then, conduct thorough research over the internet to find exciting opportunities in your area for Personal Support Workers. For example, if you are from Greater Sudbury, Ontario, you should type a phrase or keyword like “PSW jobs Sudbury” to check out relevant openings in your city. When you use a keyword with location, it helps narrow down your search.
Once you get the search results, you should list about seven to eight reliable home care agencies and then gather more information about each. Besides, reading customer reviews also helps. Eventually, use your judgment to seal the deal with the agency you feel is most reliable.
2. Compassion and Empathy
As Personal Support Workers, senior care organizations or home care agencies want you to show kindness and deep understanding towards your clients. They expect you to be compassionate and caring to build a strong relationship with your clients and their loved ones. Compassion and empathy are essential because they help us connect with people more deeply and meaningfully.
Showing compassion and kindness to others becomes easier when you realize it helps build trust and understanding in your relationships. You create strong bonds when you demonstrate that you care about the other person’s feelings and experiences.
So those looking for Personal Support Worker jobs must learn to be compassionate and empathize with others.
3. Ability to Maintain Calm
As a Personal Support worker, you must handle people with different temperaments, from peaceful and short-tempered to relaxed and analytical. While you might enjoy the company of some of your clients, chances are you will also meet those who are challenging to deal with, and that’s when you need to maintain calm.
It would be best to behave patiently with emotionally unstable people whose moods change occasionally. Since you are there to help them, the agency that hires you expects you to be patient and generous while handling people with excessive sensitivity and irritability.
If you have a patient who doesn’t cooperate and feels resentful about their treatment, you should try to understand the reason behind it instead of getting angry at them. Remember, remaining calm in difficult situations brings emotional maturity and a deep understanding of human behavior. So if you don’t have them yet, you need to work towards them.
4. Good Coping Skills
As a PSW, you often work with patients with severe diseases. So, there will be times when you will lose your clients to such conditions. And considering that you form a close bond with your patients, you need good coping skills to deal with the loss. If you work with multiple patients, you can’t afford to lose yourself to grief. Ideally, your body and mind should always function at their optimum to help other patients.
So one of the essential skills an employer looks for in an ideal candidate is how well they handle grief. If you convince the hiring authority that you recognize grief as a part of your job and don’t allow it to hold you back, nothing will stop them from hiring you.
5. Detail Oriented
Personal Support Workers are expected to be detail-oriented, meaning they should be able to consider small details about the patients, their illnesses, and their routines while helping them. Talk about assisting the patient with activities like hygiene & grooming, meal planning, accompanying to hospitals, or helping in therapeutic exercises; they must get down to the nitty-gritty of the problem to offer quality care.
Being detail-oriented also means a Personal Support Worker should be able to observe patient health and behavior and bring it to the notice of those in charge. If a patient experiences any new problem, the Personal Support Worker should be accountable for reporting it. A PSW should also pay attention to the care plan and ensure that their client receives the care they are entitled to.
So, if you plan to join a home care agency or a senior care facility as a PSW, hone your attention to detail skills.
Apart from that, Personal Support Worker jobs also require you to be flexible & adaptive, physically fit, trustworthy & honest, and good at following procedures.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a career in the healthcare industry that allows you to bring a world of difference in people’s lives without forcing you to undergo years of rigorous training, look no further than a PSW job. All you need to do is arm yourself with the skills mentioned above and have an attitude of helping people. With the right mindset and training, you can join the ranks of dedicated healthcare professionals at Plan A and make a positive impact on the lives of those in need.
