If you love working with people and need to decide on or change your profession, it’s well worth exploring some senior living careers. There are retirement community jobs to suit almost any schedule, interest, and skill set, and they can set you up for a lifetime of success. Here are just a few of the benefits of working with senior citizens.
1. Variety of Career Options
Senior living jobs aren’t limited to caregiving and aide roles, although those certainly offer rewarding work. It really does take a community to provide comprehensive services to seniors, and you might be surprised at the diverse range of jobs available in senior living communities. These can include, but are not limited to:
- Medical jobs (primary care physicians, neurologists, geriatricians, nurses, and certified nursing assistants [CNAs])
- Psychology jobs (psychologists, counselors, other types of mental health workers, and licensed clinical social workers)
- Caregiver, aide, or resident advisor jobs (working with seniors and their families and medical teams)
- Administrative professionals (receptionists, administrative assistants, office managers, and the like)
- Teaching and event planning jobs (enriching seniors by teaching a variety of classes and/or planning activities, such as arts and crafts, music, woodworking, physical fitness, and more)
- Leadership jobs (managing staff and coordinating various community events and projects)
- Marketing and development jobs (admissions counselors and marketing staff, and in nonprofit communities, development officers and fundraising staff)
- Culinary arts and hospitality jobs (chefs, bakers, restaurant and café managers, servers, housekeeping, maintenance, and more)
- Personal care jobs (hair stylists, manicurists, and the like)
2. Flexible Schedules
Unlike most office jobs, jobs working with seniors don’t necessarily require a Monday-to-Friday or 9-5 schedule. Depending on whether you have pre-existing commitments, you can choose to work in a full-time or part-time capacity, and you can choose a shift that works with your schedule. Multiple scheduling options are great for college and graduate students, people with childcare or parental caregiving responsibilities, and people who already have part-time jobs that they’d like to keep.
3. Career Stability and Opportunities for Growth
Many senior living professionals are in high demand, and careers in senior living also offer plenty of opportunities for growth. That’s partly because Baby Boomers and other seniors are living longer and healthier lives with the benefit of greater advancements in medicine. All of this means you’ll enjoy job stability and exciting possibilities for specialization and promotion. For example, you might start as a part-time receptionist or restaurant server as you explore career options, then train to enter roles with more leadership responsibility or specialization.
4. Competitive Salaries
Because retirement community professionals are in such high demand, you’ll also enjoy competitive wages and benefits packages. This means that you’ll not only have the chance to enter a rewarding career that keeps you mentally engaged, but one that can support you and your family throughout your lifetime.
5. Connections With and Insights From Seniors
If you love interacting with individuals who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, jobs working with senior citizens may be your ideal fit. No two days will be the same, and there’s plenty to learn from people who have traveled farther along life’s path than you have. You’ll have the chance to hear some incredible stories and get a sneak peek at what your life might be like one day. These benefits, as well as the chance to build meaningful relationships, can change your perspective and inspire you to live a fuller life yourself.
6. Opportunities To Make a Difference
Anyone who loves helping older people stands to gain immense job satisfaction from working in a senior living community. No matter what career path you choose in this regard, you’ll have the comfort of knowing that you’re helping seniors to enjoy their golden years and taking worry off the shoulders of their family members. If you choose to work for a nonprofit continuing care retirement community (CCRC), you’ll also take pride in the fact that your employer truly puts senior needs first—not profits.
Enjoy a Fulfilling Career With Chapel Pointe
Chapel Pointe is a faith-based continuing care retirement community committed to serving and enhancing the quality of life for people aged 62+ in Central Pennsylvania. We’re honored that our greater community selected Chapel Pointe as “The Best Place to Work in Cumberland County.”
Few careers offer the opportunity to make a difference in another person’s life every day, but that’s exactly what each Chapel Pointe employee experiences daily. As a mission-driven organization that puts people first, Chapel Pointe demonstrates our respect for our staff by offering a stable career, good staffing ratios, competitive pay, and benefits for full-time and part-time team members.
Since the beginning, our mission has been to ensure that everyone is treated with love and the utmost respect. Experiencing our core values—trust, integrity, faith, service, and innovation—lived out every day at Chapel Pointe reassures seniors and employees that they are making the right decision by welcoming us into their lives. Contact us to learn more about our community or support our mission by making a donation today!