If you are looking for a career with a future, you might want to explore all the benefits of working with seniors. There are many kinds of jobs in which you will be directly interacting with the elderly. Whether you’ve decided what you would like to do for your life’s vocation or are just trying to sort it out, there will always be a place for you if you are truly interested in working with our aging population. Not only will you be of major benefit to them, but you will find that this type of employment can fill a void in you as well. You’ll understand when you begin exploring just these three benefits of working with seniors.
1. Serving a Need
Since the year 2011, Baby Boomers have begun reaching their retirement years. This will continue through 2030, and probably beyond. Bear in mind that not all people retire at the age 65 to 67, so Boomers will continue to retire and will be in need of qualified people who can work with them in any capacity. Take, for example, RNs who make it their mission to serve the geriatric population within assisted living careers in nursing or within support staff. Many nurses specialize in geriatrics as a way to give back some of what had been given to them over the years. While serving a very real need, they are, in turn, enriched in the process.
2. Growing Your Skillset
One of the things you can usually look forward to when working in a field where there is a great demand is that there is a huge amount of potential to advance in your career. Consider for a moment a CNA, Certified Nursing Assistant, who is so enriched by the work they are doing that they decide to move on to a career in nursing. From that beginning certification as a CNA, they move on to advance their degree so that they, in time, become a Registered Nurse and maybe even an RN with a specialization in geriatrics. Landing a job that interests you might be the first step in growing your skillset.
3. A Sense of Accomplishment
Consider that nurse who is making an effort to give seniors the love and support they once received from their own parents and grandparents who are now seniors themselves. It’s a sense of paying it forward for all those little things that they were given along the way to where they are now. There’s nothing more rewarding than a job well done and if that job happens to be something that is answering an inner call,making the job a vocation, that sense of accomplishment just grew exponentially.
Whether you are hired as a cook or dishwasher in a senior residence, a housekeeper, or a director of nursing, you will be giving those seniors much-needed support in their later years. The financial benefits that come along with the job are not nearly as important as the altruistic rewards you as well as the seniors benefit from, and that’s the greatest benefit of all.
