Community services are one of the biggest and fastest growing sectors of the Australian job market. If you’re looking for your first job or want a career change, then targeting a position in community services is a great choice.
If you’re currently unsure what direction to take in your work life, then read on to discover more about the world of community services and why it’s worth considering.
Community Service Work Is All About Helping Others
If you’re a people person and you’ve always wanted to be involved in a job where your efforts make a positive difference in the lives of other people, then that’s exactly what you’ll be accomplishing on a daily basis as a worker in community services. Just about every job, career and task in this industry ar
e about making a difference and helping people.
Rather than choosing a career path that may have little or no personal satisfaction other than earning an income, community service work will provide you with that personal satisfaction you crave. You can go home each day knowing you played your part in making someone else’s life better.
The Job Roles Are Many and Varied
Community services has to be the industry that provides the most variety as far as possible jobs and careers go. It’s a big industry that offers a broad brush stroke of work possibilities, another reason careers in this field are so enticing.
Even if you start off in one job role within community services, with some more training, you can diversify and either do something related or completely different. Under the umbrella of community service work, there are literally dozens of jobs and careers.
Let’s list just a select few:
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Disability support worker
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Youth worker
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Counselling roles
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Aged care
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Community care
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Probation officer
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Community service manager
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Psychologist
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Registered nurse
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Family support services
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Crisis intervention worker
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And many more options…
You Can Earn a Good Income
Naturally, how much you can earn each year will largely depend on the type of job you have in the community service industry, but there is certainly the possibility of bringing in a healthy income.
Some people erroneously believe that jobs in community services is all about unpaid volunteer work. Sometimes this is the case, but most people working in community services are in paid positions, some of which are quite lucrative.
For example, if you’re working as a psychologist in the community, you can expect to earn upwards of $90k-$100k per year, while at the same time helping people improve their quality of life. That’s just one example. Even disability support workers bring in more than $60k annually in most cases.
A career in community services can be a financially rewarding pursuit.
Skills and Attributes Required
One asset community service workers need is natural empathy. Your job will involve helping others, so empathy is essential and will help you relate to the plight of other people. The help and care you provide will be exemplified by your level of empathy and compassion.
People who work in this sector need to be good communicators and having good organisational skills is also essential in many of the job roles. Leadership qualities can also be a bonus when you embark on a successful career in community service work.
Kick Starting Your Community Services Career
To get started on your career in community service work, you will need some training if you don’t have any prior industry experience. The best way to get started is to complete the Cert 3 Community Services course, which is a nationally recognised certificate course.
The course can be accomplished in just 12 months if you do it full time. For those people who have other commitments, there is the option to complete this certificate course over 2 years part-time.
There are no formal entry requirements and successful completion of the course will allow you to apply for entry-level community service positions.
The Wrap
If you’re looking for your first job or a career change, why not give community services a try? You’ll find it very rewarding on more levels than one and you can sleep easy each night knowing that you’ve made a difference.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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