Caroline Toll is a former carer, having cared for her husband for five years after he had a stroke. She has been heavily involved with carer organisations in her home county of Somerset for over 24 years, and also used to train managers in people skills. In this piece, Caroline discusses how carers develop and use essential management skills every day that can be transferred into the workplace when applying for jobs, volunteering opportunities or any other roles.

“Organising a routine can feel like an uphill struggle when the situation can change from minute to minute. However, having a basic structure to a day or week can be an achievement in keeping a sort of normality to life. As a carer you are using and improving vital project management skills that are highly sought after by employers. Here are just a few that unpaid carers use every day.”

Setting goals

“Having a reasonable aim of how you would like the situation you are in to be, without putting an unrealistic expectation on yourself or others, demonstrates your ability to set priorities and targets.”

Being flexible

“Flexibility is being able to respond when the situation changes. Sound familiar? Your adaptability and resilience are key to this and rely on your abilities in forward planning and contingency planning.”

Assertiveness and communication

“Being assertive is extremely useful – that means being persistent without becoming aggressive and making sure that your voice is heard both at home and with professionals. They need your information to do their jobs well. After all, you know the person you care for better than they ever will. This is known as being an ‘expert by experience’ and demonstrates your powers of negotiation and communication.”

Delegation

“To ask for and get help can be difficult if you feel that it is giving up on a responsibility, but in most cases it is essential for you to have breaks. Sometimes it is welcomed by the person you are caring for, sometimes refused. Professional and other assistance, when you can get it, can really help in areas such as working with the person you care for, cleaning the house, mending and fixing things, doing some gardening and helping with transport. Having some sort of timetable is important if you are organising paid carers, other professionals, friends and your own breaks, once again utilising your strengths in time management.”

Managing a budget

“Budgeting can be daunting, particularly if you are having to find out about sources of financial help, official and other. However, the chances are that you have the financial management abilities to manage money, and keeping an eye on the balance of income and outgoings will be part of life.”  

Looking after yourself

“This brings me to the all-important topic of self care. If you don’t look after yourself – firstly, you may not be able to continue to care, and secondly, you and the person you care for will not benefit from the continuing quality of your caring. We all have our limitations and facing them and working with them is better than reaching crisis point. That was one of my hardest learning experiences, particularly when I simply had to put my husband into a care home. I had genuinely done all I was able to, in spite of promising him at the beginning of his stroke that I would not do that. I was not getting reasonable sleep, which could have been dangerous for us both. Let’s face it, none of us is perfect or has limitless resources, but our career management skills are vital to ensuring the best outcome for both you and the person you care for.”

“So, these are my thoughts which, I hope, may help boost your self confidence and be useful if you are applying for paid work. The list of skills is not complete but hopefully you can now say to a prospective boss 'I’ve taken time off to look after [whoever]’ while underlining the skills involved in caring. Good luck!”

You can find out more about returning to work and the range of skills that you have to offer a potential employer on the Carers UK website.