The right place at the right time

For teenager Flavia Delgado, getting her first job in the care sector was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Her mum had an interview with Caremark to become a Care Coordinator and brought Flavia along as she was interested in the sector and had gained social care qualifications at college.

As luck would have it, there were also interviews going on for a Recruitment and Marketing Officer so Flavia seized the opportunity and the next day was told she’d got the job.

Her job sees her organise recruitment and marketing at Caremark Leeds Bradford, checking references and undergoing a lot of training. She also works in home care support on weekends.

“I felt if I was going to work in recruitment at Caremark I needed to know what being a carer was all about and that’s why I work part time at weekends,” said Flavia.

“At school I was interested in  becoming a midwife but after going on workshops and work experience I realised that meeting and helping older people was something that made me happy so I decided to focus on social care.”

Flavia likes to challenge herself and is currently studying for a degree in business and marketing.

“It’s an area that really interests me so with that and my roles in recruitment and home care support I have all my interests covered,” she said.

“The biggest thing I have learnt is that everyone is different, some clients can appear rude but it’s usually down to their circumstances and you need to be calm and patient.”

Outside of work Flavia, 18, enjoys going out with friends and travel. She’s planning a city break to Amsterdam and summer holidays in Portugal visiting relatives.

As a teenager she is a master with social media and hopes to be able to use those skills in Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok to help her role in recruitment and marketing.

On the home care support side she says professionalism is key.

“You need to be caring and have patience and if you are going into someone’s home you must be on time, it can be very annoying for a client if you are late,” said Flavia.

“Being professional and getting done what needs to be done is vital however it’s also important to find time to chat, that breaks the ice and helps the client to relax.”