5 reasons to start a career in disability services

Post by Open Colleges on March 6th, 2020

** This is an updated post**

If you’re looking to make a real difference in someone’s life, then look no further. A career in disability services might be just for you! Over four million Australian’s have some form of disability, and there’s currently a great demand for support workers.

Are you fed up with the regular 9-5? Do you want to positively impact someone’s life? That’s great! Quality support workers are truly worth their weight in gold. Could you be one of them?

Here are five more reasons why a career in disability services might be right for you:

You’re ready for a new challenge

When you wake up in the morning, are you excited to go to work? Do you feel inspired? Perhaps it may be time to start thinking about a change of career. While it can be a daunting prospect, there’s nothing more exciting than opening yourself up to new opportunities. If you’re looking for a career than inspires you, challenges you and makes you want to get out of bed every morning, disability services is an ideal choice.

When you work in disability services, you have a profound impact on someone’s life. You’re providing care and support to someone who needs it most and helping them to become more independent and confident in their own abilities. Every day is a chance to do something different and make a difference.

You want to help people

We all want our work to mean something and have an impact, however small. If you’re feeling like the work you do is no longer as rewarding as it once was, and you want to make more of a valuable contribution, it may be time to switch gears. Perhaps you’ve always been someone who has taken on a caregiver role with the people in your life, or maybe you like to motivate others and thrive on social contact. A career in disability services is a great way to harness those skills – and your desire for change – to help others.

You want greater job flexibility

Perhaps you’ve had a life change recently, whether that’s starting a new family, relationship or moving to a new area. Whatever it is, you’ve realised that your priorities have changed. Perhaps you’re looking for part-time work only or may be you only want to work certain days of the week? No problem! What you used to value in a job is now different, and your job no longer matches your lifestyle.

If you’re looking for more flexibility and choice in how, where and when you work, a career in disability services can provide just that. As a Disability Services Worker, chances are, you will most likely be doing shift work, which means you can throw out the typical 9-5 desk job and replace it with something that fits into your lifestyle. You will have more flexibility to choose the shifts and days you want to work.

You want to be challenged

Do you feel like your skills are being utilised to their full potential in your current career? Are you being challenged enough to feel fulfilled?

A great reason to choose a career in disability services is how diverse the role is. You’re constantly being challenged and learning something new – about yourself and the people in your care. You could be doing anything from facilitating group outings for the people in your care to helping with daily household chores. You could be creating programs to help your clients develop their own skills and abilities, or simply providing emotional support and companionship. You’ll be meeting new people and having new experiences all the time.

Most importantly, you’ll be pushing yourself to do better every day, to get the best possible outcome for your clients. If one thing is for certain, you will never be bored!

You want a stable career with more job security

We all want job security, because let’s face it: life is getting more expensive. If you’re looking for a stable career, this is one industry that can offer you reliability and room for growth. National Disability Services chief executive, David Moody, said that there’s a huge demand for disability support workers, “At the moment, the estimated shortage is about 120,000 workers across Australia.”

And it looks like the demand is set to increase. According to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, there will be approximately 245,000 jobs Australia wide by 2023. This is largely being driven by Australia’s ageing population and the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Within the next five years, the NDIS will provide more than $22 billion dollars in funding to an estimated 500,000 Australians with a permanent and significant disability. This means even more job opportunities for disability support workers.

There’s also increasing demand for childcare and homecare services. Conditions are ideal for anyone looking to get into this sector, especially when it comes to job security.

There are also lots of different paths you could take with a career in disability services, from a Behavioural Support Officer in a respite centre to a Disability Support Worker or a Senior Personal Care Assistant in a group home.

Now might be the time to start that rewarding career you’ve always wanted. And disability services could be the perfect place to start!