Do I need experience to be a Support Worker?

What Skills do I need to become a support worker? Do I need experience? Does personal caring experience count? I don’t have any previous training, is that okay?

These are all frequent questions that our recruitment team gets asked, especially when we attend job fairs in the community. So here are the answers to those questions and more!

Do I need previous experience to be a support worker?

No experience necessary! We are looking for people who are motivated and caring to join our organisation. When talking to candidates we are looking to meet somebody who has an interest in caring for others and somebody who is passionate about supporting others to achieve their goals.

We provide a large range of training to all our team members when they join us, and during regular intervals to ensure that our support workers feel confident carrying out their duties. Many of our training sessions are run by in-house managers who know the people we support very well; we feel this helps to make our training bespoke and gives our support workers the opportunity to discuss real-life situations the face in their daily practice.

What skills do I need to be a support worker?

As a support worker you should be caring, attentive, passionate about helping others and have a willingness to be adaptive. We provide person centered support to individuals with a ride range of needs, you will need to tailor your practice to meet the needs of the person you are supporting that day. You will be working as a team, so good communication skills are a must too!

Does my personal experience of care count?

Absolutely, many of our team joined us after a personal experience of caring for a loved one or a friend. We don’t require our support workers to have had previous experience before joining us, but of course any experience you do have can be helpful in your personal growth in the role. Providing care and support for somebody is an incredibly rewarding experience, and some people look to change their professional occupation after their personal experiences of this.

I don’t have any previous training, is that okay?

That is completely fine! All our team members attend our core training sessions when they start their roles with us, and then at regular intervals throughout their time with us. We believe that it is important to provide core training and regular refresher sessions, so all our team have had the same training experience which has been delivered with Silva Care’s ethos and Core Values.

What training sessions do you offer?

We have a large range of core training that all our support workers attend regularly. These include:

Medication
Safeguarding and DOLs
Crisis Prevention Intervention Safety Investigation Training (CPI/MAPA)
Autism
First Aid
Epilepsy
Manual Handling
Communication
Health and Safety
MIDAS Transport
In addition to our core training, we do source bespoke training for teams when required and we have a range of optional training sessions that include:

Prader Willi Syndrome Awareness
Key Worker Training
Mental Health Awareness
Mental Health First Aid

Where can I talk to the recruitment team about applying for a support worker role?

You can reach our recruitment team during our office hours by calling our head office number – 01179 562 411. Our friendly recruitment officer will be able to discuss the role with you and answer any questions you might have.

Alternatively, you can also email our recruitment team at onboarding@silvacare.org.uk with any questions or queries. We look forward to responding to you within 2 working days.