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When it comes to choosing the right career option, the path to the most fitting decision can be very confusing. Opting to work in the community sector can not only be a very rewarding experience, but it could also be very beneficial to your career, owing to the high demand for workers in community services. A career in community services will enable you to put your emotional and empathetic qualities to use by helping people who are facing challenges and hopefully leading them towards a better life.

The first step towards any career is gaining the right qualifications. Likewise, there are an array of courses to undertake that could kickstart your new role and help you give back to the community.

COURSES

Certificate IV in Ageing Support

One of the most sought-after courses in the industry, the certificate IV will teach you pertinent skills required to improve the quality of life of the senior population. You will support the health and wellbeing of older people. The course itself lasts for 35weeks and leads to a work placement in a range of aged care facilities. On the completion of this qualification, you will possess the skills and the knowledge required to undertake job roles like an Accommodation Support Worker, Personal Care Worker, Care team leader, and many more.


Certificate IV in Disablity

The CHC43121 Certificate IV in Disability Support is a nationally recognised qualification that will help you support individuals in both community as well as residential settings. You will look after the wellbeing of people with disabilities, foster their needs to make them feel empowered and give them a level of independence. As a disability support worker, you will be working without any supervision and be responsible for taking decisions.

You could choose from among a myriad of professions after your course completion, like Lifestyle Support Officer, Community Development Officer, Senior Personal Care Assistant, Disability Support Assistant, etcetera.


Certificate III in Individual Support

With the CHC33015 Certificate III in Individual Support, you will get familiar with all the concepts and skills required to provide personalised assistance to individuals who require support due to factors like ageing and disability. This course will train you to work in a commercial and/or a residential setting and practice a level of autonomy to make decisions as to provide support and take responsibility for the same. You will apply theoretical, factual as well as practical knowledge once you complete the course and start working. When you complete all units of this course, you will have a lot of options as to what roles you can undertake. Some of them include In Home Respite Worker, Nurse’s aide, Community Access Coordinator, Planned Activity Assistant, Accommodation Support Worker, and Personal Care Assistant.


Diploma of Community Services

If you’re looking to serve not just individuals but social groups and communities as a whole, this is just the course for you. The CHC52021 Diploma of Community Services will give you pertinent skills required to supervise workers, volunteers, coordinating and creating new business opportunities. This qualification reflects the roles of community services, case management and social housing workers involved in the managing, co-ordinating and/or delivering of person-centred services to individuals, groups and communities.

A Statutory & forensic child, youth and family welfare specialisation must be completed to meet the minimum education requirements for child protection and youth justice practice in Victoria. In addition, you will have to complete a minimum of 100 hours of work placement to successfully complete the qualification.

On the completion of this course, you will be qualified to work in different job roles like Community Care Manager, Coordinator of Volunteer Work, Family Services Coordinator, Community Access Coordinator, Case Coordinator ( Community Services), etcetera.

These are few of the most popular courses chosen by people in Victoria wanting to get into working for the community. The availability of courses also depends on the state you are living in. But all in all, studying the courses for gaining the skills and knowledge will pretty much give your career a head start.

WORK PLACEMENT

As soon as you finish all your units, you will be required to do some work placements as part of your Diploma or Certificate. The goal is to give you actual work experience before you formally start working for an employer. These work placements hold a lot of value for your potential job as:

  • You will be aware of the know-how of everything before you begin working;
  • It will add to your experience;
  • Can help you build networks and get references.
FINDING WORK

Once you complete your placement, you will find a lot of options already available. Community workers are highly demanded at present and there are many opportunities available and the best way of finding them is by building networks. As you do your work placement (or even in your day-to-day life), interact with people who are in the same field and you will find it very easy to get a good job through them, since they could possibly recommend you to someone they know. Other options include going online and searching for jobs on websites like Seek , Gumtree, et cetera. Most employers publish their job vacancies on these and you will find many when you browse through them.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

The community sector is set to witness a lot of growth in terms of employment in the future. According to Job Outlook, the number of people who are working as Welfare Support Workers is set to grow from 46,700 in 2018 to 52,100 in 2019. Further, The weekly earnings of all jobs in this area reach an average of $1,460.

To say the least, community services is a field that is set to prosper. If you are passionate about it and considering to turn it into a career, you are most definitely going in the right direction. Find out how Kal Training can assist you with your career. Call us today on 1800-244-438.