Have you ever considered a career in senior care? Working with seniors is one of the most rewarding career paths for many reasons. Whether you choose to make it your lifelong career or simply spend a few years caring for seniors, you are sure to benefit in many different ways. Here are just a few.

4 Reasons Why Careers in Senior Care Are so Rewarding 

1. Learn from Senior Residents

When you work with older folks, you can learn a lot from them. Not only do they have incredibly touching, funny, or meaningful stories to share, but they’ve picked up more than a few nuggets of wisdom throughout their time. They’re always open to giving a smile, kind words, or a bit of information to the staff. 

They can also teach life lessons, like how to balance excitement and disappointment or the best ways to find happiness. From hearing their stories or interacting with them, you can learn important lessons. They also tend to have a more positive outlook and are quicker to offer a smile to their caregivers.

2. Build Strong Bonds

When you work in senior care, you quickly develop strong connections with your fellow team members and seniors in your care. You will likely get to know your coworkers until they feel like family. Just the same, after caring for elders for some time, you’ll probably begin to feel like family to them, too. After all, chances are you’ll meet their children, grandchildren, and other loved ones over the years.

3. Secure an In-Demand Job

There will always be seniors in our world, and they will always need care. When you choose a career in senior care, you know that you’re choosing a secure field with plenty of job opportunities for years to come. Depending on the senior care facility you work for, you may be able to work in various areas across the organization. 

For example, here at Episcopal Retirement Services, we offer many levels of elder care, including memory, skilled nursing, and residential senior care. Still, we have programs that extend beyond that, too. Our community-based services, like Deupree Meals On Wheels, Living Well Seniors Solutions, and Parish Health Ministry, are all outreach programs that require qualified professionals who are passionate about serving our area’s seniors. 

4. Focus on Care

After choosing a career in senior care, you want to select a facility focused on care, both for the seniors and for their team. By placing care at the heart of everything, you will know that they will support you throughout your time with them. Here at ERS, we believe that taking great care of our employees means they will take great care of our residents. 

We support this mission by creating a community atmosphere that emphasizes the need for care. Our team values collaboration, kindness, and helpfulness — and these values are lived out every day in our community. We take our time when hiring new team members because we want to be sure that we’re choosing people who will support our mission, fit in well with our team, and care deeply for our residents.

ERS was named a 2022 Top Workplace by Enquirer Media, making this the 13th consecutive year our Cincinnati retirement community has received this honor. We believe that our passion for our mission and our commitment to live it out each day sets us apart and has helped us earn this award. If you’re looking to join a person-centered team in senior care dedicated to serving our residents while learning so much from them, consider ERS: we are now hiring across our Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana retirement communities. Choosing a career in senior care is one of the most rewarding choices you can make.

First published in 2020, and updated in 2022.