Thirty-four people. You'll know them all.
Sitting down with somebody for ten minutes counts as doing the job here, because it is the job. Experience helps. We've trained plenty of people from scratch, including the manager.
Every care home website says it's like a family. So here are some things you can actually check on a first shift, which is a better test.
What we'll put in writing
Rotas four weeks ahead
Published on the same day every month. And when there's a gap we cover it between us rather than ringing you at eight on your day off.
Paid breaks
Your break is on the clock. It sounds like a small thing until you've worked somewhere it wasn't.
Training on work time
Paid training days on shift, rather than evenings and e-learning at home on your own laptop. We pay for your DBS too.
The owners are here
In the building most days. A broken hoist or a rota problem gets sorted the same week by someone standing in the corridor with you.
An NVQ after a year
Sponsored, on our time. Donna started here as a weekend care assistant in 2001 and has been the registered manager since 2014, which is the honest version of a career path.
Rates above the minimum
Our starting rate sits above the National Living Wage rather than on it, and it goes up every April whether the government moves or not.
People stay
Nine of our eleven care staff have been here more than three years. That's unusual in this sector and it's the number we'd want to be judged on.
The hard parts.
It is physical, it is on your feet, and some days end badly. People here die, and you will have got fond of them. Nobody tells you that at the interview and then it happens in your third month.
Some shifts are two hours of paperwork you'd rather have spent with somebody. Christmas Day is a working day for about half of us. And a resident with dementia will occasionally be genuinely unkind to you, and you'll have to not take it personally while still being human about it.
If you've read that and you're still interested, you're probably the sort of person we're after.
Your team goes here, photographed properly, with their names under them. It is the biggest single difference between a careers page that works and one that doesn't, and the one thing we won't fake with stock.
What's open now
Three at the moment. If none of them fit, send the form anyway. Something comes up most months and we'd rather have your name.
Care assistant, days
Full or part time, 7am to 7pm, alternate weekends. £13.10 an hour. No experience needed, full training given.
Care assistant, nights
Two or three nights a week, 7pm to 7am. £14.35 an hour including the night rate. Experience preferred for nights.
Kitchen assistant
Part time, five lunchtimes, 10am to 3pm. £12.85 an hour. Working with Mark, who has run our kitchen for nine years.
Three fields. No CV.
Donna reads these herself and rings people back, usually within two days. If you'd rather just turn up and ask, the kettle's on and that works too.
We reply to everybody, including the people we don't take on. Being ignored after applying for a care job is the most common complaint we hear, and it costs nothing to fix.
You'll need the right to work in the UK and an enhanced DBS check, which we pay for and arrange.
Thanks. That's with Donna.
She rings applicants herself, usually within two days. This is a concept site, so nothing was sent and nothing was stored.