Careers-Employment
Babysitting or Business
First up let me state categorically that home based child care is meaningful and valuable work, mostly undertaken by people with a commitment to meeting the needs of children. Many make a lifelong commitment to providing this service and do not intend to change career directions. However, it doesn?t hurt to be prepared?
Internationally, there is a huge ?home-based? child care industry, with features that make it quite unique in the world of work. For example, home based care is:
? essential in order to keep the wheels of industry turning
? grossly undervalued by the community in general (including many of the users of this service!)
? often greatly undervalued by those providing the service (e.g. ?I just look after kids during the day?)
? typically a self-employed and very underpaid venture
? subject to varying degrees of regulation, if regulated at all
Value what you do
Having worked extensively in the area of children?s services I have come to realise that even staff working in commercial or government-funded child care facilities can underestimate the importance of their contribution to the wellbeing of families and the needs of industry. How much harder then, to maintain a realistic perspective when your work takes place in your own home, unseen and unheralded by society at large! Reframe negative or self-deprecating perceptions about being the provider of child care - recognise that you have undertaken a professional responsibility.
For many carers there comes a point in time where they want to take a different direction in their work lives. However, they may feel that they have few skills to offer a prospective employer after years of working ?out of sight: out of mind?. Consequently, they limit their own opportunities either by not making the attempt to establish a new direction, or by underselling themselves to prospective employers.
Planning what you do
In reality this is no more than a state of mind, or attitude about oneself. Prevention of course is better than the cure, and a properly planned strategy will help you to maintain a positive and realistic outlook, as well as being a great investment in your future.
Plan your home based child care as a BUSINESS. If this sounds cold-hearted, think again. After all, a successful business is as much about quality as it is about income. No business has a viable future without both of these factors. Identify the main functions involved in caring for children, such as:
? planning appropriate activities to encourage and support the development of children. Keep a record of these, for your own benefit and as a way of communicating with parents about their children. A recording system can be very simple, but will project your commitment and competence. In a home based care environment, this attention to quality is paramount. Parents DO NOT want children to be in poor environments, no matter how inexpensive!
? invoicing/receipting fees and general administration. Not only will this satisfy tax requirements in most jurisdictions, but it will reflect an organised approach to administration as well as quantifying the financial success of your business.
Why not think about:
? registering an appropriate business name that describes the activity and furnishes you with the basis of developing a ?brand??
? writing regular fortnightly newsletters for parents, with a bit about what children are experiencing in care and other useful snippets on health, wellbeing, family support services etc?, or, go ?one better?
? establishing a simple, functional and ?family-friendly? website with newsletters and other information? (great inexpensive marketing tool if you are looking to attract new care as well)
? developing ways of collecting feedback from parents and children on a regular and ongoing basis?
Implementing ideas such as the ones above will serve to enrich the quality of your service and will evidence a range of skills in a way that may be beneficial in the future.
How does planning help with future flexibility?
Why would any of this make a difference, if and when you wish to resume a role as a salaried employee? Clearly, if you value the investment you have made in caring for children, you are likely to project this positively to others. A quiet confidence, or self belief conveys itself in many subtle ways. Being able to state that you were the owner/manager of the ?ABC? business (insert your registered business name!) for a given period of time also creates a perception of success.
More importantly, you will be able to articulate your experience from a work/business perspective. Your experience in providing care will enable you to speak with confidence about:
? planning
? marketing
? customer service
? quality assurance
? financial management
? administration
? risk assessment and management
? communication and interpersonal skills
? skills in the use of technology (this would include managing a website, if relevant)
? compliance with regulation (if applicable)
and many other facets of the work you have been doing. In short, you will be able to identify and describe a whole raft of skills that will be transferable to many different contexts. Employers are impressed by demonstration of skills and competencies and are even more impressed when you are able to demonstrate how these might transfer into a new employment situation.
In summary?
Even if you do not want to take up a role as a salaried employee in the future, following the tips above will assist you in providing a high quality service to children and families, increasing your perceived value to clients as well as increasing your ?job satisfaction? and morale. In the event you do want to make a career change, you will have a much stronger platform from which to do so.
Final tip : To make a good start, ensure you remove the phrase ?I just look after kids?? from your vocabulary.
Lewis Stratton has extensive experience in middle and senior management roles and has published over 300 articles relating to Human Resources, Management and Recruitment & Selection. More information available at www.progressenterprise.com/jobready.htm or www.progressenterprise.com |
Lewis Stratton
Tags: child care, employment, competencies, self employed, home, Similar articles
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