There was much celebration in the carecareers office yesterday when Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that the NDIS would be funded and rolled out in NSW, providing extra care for about 140,000 residents.

The Every Australian Counts campaign has brought together people with disability and their families, as well as advocates and staff from the disability and community care sector, to steadily convince politicians on both sides of parliament to improve services for people with disability living in Australia.

The implementation of the scheme will mean more funding, more consistent services across Australia, and more jobs in the disability and community care sector for you to apply for!

This is a landmark decision for people with disability living in Australia, and an excellent reward for the hard work they have put into lobbying for these changes.

Learn more about the news on the ABC website: Feds, NSW strike deal on disability scheme.

Follow Every Australian Counts on Facebook for more info and to help campaign for the scheme to be rolled out nation-wide.

The Government has created a dedicated Jobs Board for employees and employers working in the Employment Services Industry.  It is now operative.

This website can assist staff looking for work opportunities with DES Providers or Job Services Australia providers.  Staff can upload professional resumes and identify that they are looking for a DES job or a job in the Employment Services Industry.

DES and JSA employers can also use the site to search for potential employees and advertise jobs.
NDS encourages members to register on the site and upload employment opportunities within their organisations.  The more providers register for the site, the more effective it will be as a mechanism for managing the difficult period of transition for DES-ESS providers.

Making a career change can be a scary experience, but it can also be very rewarding. If you’re considering a move into the disability and community care sector, there are a few steps you can take to make the process easier.

I have no experience – where do I start?

If this is your first move into the community care sector, frontline support roles are generally a good place to start. 

Many organisations will offer training to new employees. This will normally be mentioned in job ads. As your starting point, I recommend having at least a valid Australian driver’s licence and a First Aid Certificate (the formal qualification is called HLTFA301C). If you don’t drive, we have some tips for a successful job application. 

It’s also a good idea to get to know the Disability Service Standards.  

How do I apply for a job?

All applications made through carecareers need to be made online.

To search for a role on our website, go to Search Jobs. This allows you to search for jobs by role type in your preferred location. You can also Search for an Employer and set up a Job Alert, which will email you the sorts of jobs you are interested in when they are posted on the site.

If you don’t know what kind of job you’re looking for just yet, familiarise yourself with the jobs we are advertising on our website, regardless of their location. This will help you get a sense of what jobs are out there and what employers are looking for from their staff. Become familiar with the kind of language used in job ads and the requirements generally listed in selection criteria to get a sense of what you’re applying for.

Similarly, if your spectrum for finding work is quite open, you may find doing a search by location helpful. This will give you a sense of the breadth of roles available, and you may be struck by a particular role you wouldn’t have expected to find.

It is imperative that you address each job’s requirements in your cover letter and resume. Always include a cover letter in your application: a good cover letter should include a paragraph (not too long) about yourself and your experience – what can you bring to the advertised role? Here’s our advice on how to write an effective cover letter. 

Many experiences you will have acquired both in your professional and personal life will be relevant to the job that you are seeking. Have you cared for a member of your family? Have you been managed a team? Is there anything you do recreationally that would add something to the role, such as sports or music?

Please also check our Employer Directory so you can see which organisations are based in your area or to do further research ahead of making your application.

The following links might also be of interest:

• Getting Started
• Search Jobs
• Employer Directory
• Frequently Asked Questions

The carecareers Careers Centre is contactable by 1300 637 637 and our Career Advisors will be happy to assist you further in your search.

Learn about Ken’s Career Change:

I have worked in a few different areas in my life, but I had no idea that there was a job I would like so much that it doesn’t feel like work. I have worked in IT, heavy manufacturing, retail, employment and training to name a few. Now, as a business Development Manager at The Disability Trust, every day I get to be around people who inspire, who excite, who challenge, and who are real.

I am the Editor of the monthly newsletter at The Disability Trust, called Your Voice, Your Choice. It is twelve pages long, with a section for local Illawarra and Shoalhaven news with events, classes, programs and so on, for those areas. We also have a section for state, federal and international issues and topics. The current and past editions are available to read online.

In our October edition we featured chairskating, which is a sport in which people using wheelchairs have fun at skate parks. That’s right, dropping into bowls, hand plants, you name it, they are doing it. We featured chairskater Aaron Fotheringham, who is travelling with the Nitro Circus in March and April next year around Australia. Aaron goes on the huge ramps and does backflips off the ramp in his wheelchair, here is a video of him doing a backflip.

In our most recent newsletter we featured Harvey from South West Victoria. As part of my research I spoke to Colleen, a producer on the ABC who worked with Harvey’s mum, Kylie, to put together a blog and short film about Harvey and his life, including his big trip to America to hang out with other chairskaters. The blog gives an excellent idea of Kylie’s efforts and thoughts to ensure her son goes after his dreams. The blogs and short film are available to view online. 

I have two young boys of my own who are just starting to get interested in skating. We go to the local skate parks and they enjoy tearing around on their scooters and trikes. I am not yet comfortable with them taking their skateboards there yet, I think they need to get more practice before they do. I can imagine if I turned up with one of my sons in a wheelchair the kids would look at me weirdly, but the parents would think I was being dangerous. What would you think?

Yet Kylie did this, and loved it so much the journey took them to America and to an event where there were heaps of people chair skating, from all over the world. In my view, it takes a very special parent of a child with a disability who is brave enough to remove some of their child’s ‘cotton wool’ so they can have a full life. Kylie hasn’t just seen through the disability, she just sees what her son can do. 

Kylie is doing this because she passionately believes in her son. The amount of work required to do the activities Harvey enjoys is massive, yet Kylie does it anyway. How inspiring is that? I hope I can be half the parent Kylie is to Harvey for my two boys.

For me, I still can’t believe I get paid to meet and do things with people like Kylie. When I left school I had no idea these jobs existed. I am really glad, and really lucky, to have found a job that gives me the opportunity to really love what I am doing.