How to Get an Aged Care Job with No Experience: Pathways and Qualifications

Are you a caring, compassionate person that puts the needs of others before your own? Australia’s ageing community needs people like you.

As the Australian community grows older, the demand for skilled aged care workers grows along with them.

In 2018, an estimated 3.9 million Australians were aged 65 or older. That’s 16% of the whole population, and it’s only expected to increase from there — 21% to 23% of Australians will be over 65 by 2066. Those Australians are vulnerable; to look after themselves, they need support.

So, if you’re an empathetic person and want to give back to your community, why not make it your day job? Aged care can be demanding, but more than anything, it’s rewarding.

If you haven’t worked in aged care before, don’t let lack of experience stop you — starting your career in aged care is simple, and you can get started right away. Find out which pathways and qualifications will get you where you want to be.

To begin your career journey in aged care, you have to decide which path you want to follow: do you try out a traineeship, or do you want to study? These are the two main pathways within the industry, and both pathways have their own advantages. What you choose to pursue depends on what suits you.

Studying aged care

While getting qualified isn’t technically required in the aged care industry, there are clear advantages to studying aged care. The most obvious advantage is that, without a doubt, getting qualified will make you more hireable.

Many employers are more likely to hire you if you’re already qualified; it proves to them that you already know what you’re doing. This essentially means there’s less supervision, less training, and less stress involved for your future employer. In the job interview, this is going to immediately improve your chances.

A lot of aged care workers choose to study — 51.2% of aged care workers have at least a Certificate III/IV. Since the recent Royal Commission inquiry into the safety and quality of aged care in Australia, that percentage is likely to rise with the possibility of minimum and mandatory qualifications being introduced soon.