This week's featured job is from the Women’s Activities and Self Help (W.A.S.H) House in Mt Druitt.

The W.A.S.H House provides information, referral, community development, counselling, support services and group work for women in the local area.

They are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Part Time Information and Support Worker.

Closing date: 20 February 2012

Find out more about more about this Information and Support Worker role or search for other roles in the disability and community care sector.

Equal pay is to be the order and expectation of the day.

The pay rise campaign, on behalf  of 150,000 community sector workers - predominantly female - has been awarded an historic pay rise by Fair Work Australia in a landmark test case. Read a news article about the decision.

In effect, pay will, over 8 years, rise by 19% to 41%. This is fantastic news - many would agree long overdue. What does it mean for you? Does working in the sector now look more appealing or is it not really about the money?

Sally McManus of the Australia Services Union said of the decision, "We’re happy, in fact we’re ecstatic!” For many it’s about more than the money - it’s about justice and equality. 

Please share your thoughts with us. They may resonate with your colleagues.

I've returned from maternity leave now and wow, it's definitely great to be back in the carecareers team!

While I very much enjoyed looking after our new arrival (Max), on a Full Time basis, I'm happy to be working on such a great project again too...all the while juggling my other roles as a mum, wife, daughter, friend and colleague.

Since I've been with carecareers I've seen it go from strength to strength. It's substantially increased its reach and improved on its success bit by bit.

While I was on leave so much was achieved, which is great news! There are even more people discovering the disability and community care sector as a rewarding career path, and many more employers are advertising with us.

Over the 2011 calendar year nearly 10,000 jobs were advertised on our website which was an increase of more than 111% from the previous year. And in 2011, 5,471 job seekers (to be exact!) registered with carecareers, which means 11,000 people are now registered with us.

Our team has expanded too. Our Project Manager, Mike, started mid last year and we have two additional Talent Officers, Lucy and Jen, who have joined our Irish friends, Patrick and Peter.

We also have two team members who are looking after the schools and university program which is called projectABLE. Jillian is the Marketing Coordinator for the project and Maeve is looking after the new digital components of projectABLE. Both have experience in the disability sector and are excited about encouraging students to consider the many and varied career opportunities within it.

As editor of carecareers my role is to look after the online side of carecareers, including the content on our website, this blog and our social media profiles, like Facebook and Twitter.

I do this so that you can learn about the sector and people with disability, search for jobs, share info and get involved; whether you're just discovering the sector, have been looking for a suitable job for a while, have been working in disability or community care for years, are searching for your own staff or are a client accessing a service.

carecareers is unique and we're all about recruiting people to work in the NSW disability and community care sector. We also want to share true insights into what it's all about so if you'd like to contribute please get in touch with me.

I'm looking forward to the exciting year ahead for carecareers and I'm definitely looking forward to watching our little Max grow, explore and laugh every day (just like he is in the photo below).

This week's featured job is from Civic Disability Services.

Civic Disability Services is a not-for-profit organisation which has been providing services for 50 years to adults who have a disability, mental health or ageing issues.

At the moment they need a Full Time Lifestyle Coordinator in Campbelltown, Sydney.

The successful applicant will be responsible for managing two residential houses within the Campbelltown area and they will have a dual role of management and hands on support.

Find out more about being a Lifestyle Coordinator with Civic Disability Services or search for other jobs in the disability sector.

Closing date: 13 February 2012

This week's featured job is from House With No Steps.

This organisation is seeking an experienced Support Worker to support two men (18 years and 21 years) with autism.

House With No Steps is a leading provider of quality residential, employment and ancillary services to people with disabilities throughout NSW and other states in Australia.

They're committed to innovation, continuous improvement and building strong relationships.

Does this sound like what you're committed to? Find out more about this Support Worker role or search for more jobs in the disability sector of NSW.

Closing date: 11 February 2012