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Residential support workers look after the physical and mental wellbeing of children and vulnerable adults in care.
You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; on a rota
There will be
3.8% more Residential support worker jobs in 2029.
In your local area
As a residential support worker, you might:
You could work in the community, at an adult care home or young people's care home.
Your working environment may be emotionally demanding.
You can get into this job through:
You could take a course at college to learn some of the skills and knowledge you need to do this job.
Courses include:
Many courses include work placements, so this could be a good way for you to get experience.
You could apply to do an Adult Care Worker Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship, or Lead Adult Care Worker Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.
You'll usually need:
You could start as an assistant support worker in a children's or adult care setting. You could then move into a residential support role through training and promotion.
You can get voluntary experience in a number of ways, which can help when applying for paid jobs. This might be from:
To apply directly for jobs in residential support, you'll need a qualification and paid or voluntary experience in the social work and care sector.
Experience in fostering could also be helpful.
You'll need to:
Personal qualities are very important in this job. Employers will be looking for:your ability to build positive relationships with people; flexibility, initiative and ability to handle change; kindness and compassion; an undertsanding of safeguarding issues when working with vulnerable people
You can find out more about becoming a residential support worker from Think Care Careers.
With experience, you could take on more responsibility as a senior support worker or residential support manager.
You could also train to become a social worker or counsellor.