SENIOR LIVING WORKFORCE FACTS AND MESSAGES
The people who work in senior living—at all levels—are a special group. Mission-driven, they lead with compassion and care. Everyone in a senior living community, from a high school student busing dinner tables to a visiting maintenance repair person to a business accountant, gets to know residents. They make it a point to bring happiness and meaningful interaction to residents’ days—and they themselves say the residents provide the high points of their working days.
LEARNING AND CAREER PATHING
• Senior living provides multiple career paths and opportunities to quickly climb to leadership positions. On-the-job training, tuition reimbursement programs, certification training, online education, apprenticeship programs, and more are prevalent throughout the industry.
• Providers often provide time, resources, and flexible scheduling needed to further training and education. Many develop training using advanced methods such as microlearning, virtual job shadowing, virtual reality, and interactive activities.
• Higher education, community colleges, and online professional training are all adding senior living-specific skills to their class and degree offerings, both because of the great need and because their students are well-positioned to find jobs and success.
WIDE RANGE OF CAREERS
• Health and personal care: Senior living offers positions such as personal care aide, high school diploma); nursing assistant or certified nursing assistant, high school diploma and CNA certification; medication technician, may require certification; licensed practical nurse (LPN), often an associate-degree level education or bachelor’s degree; registered nurse (RN), often bachelor’s degree or more; and several types of memory care certifications. Other positions include dietitian, wellness director, physical therapist, and infection prevention and control specialist.
• Management and business: The growth of the senior industry has opened opportunities in areas including accounting, human resources, executive directors and general managers of communities, sales and marketing, community relations, operations, investments, and strategic planning.
• Technology: The global “agetech” market, estimated to hit $2 trillion by 2025, encourages entrepreneurs and startups as well as opening positions designing tech integrations, voice tech, wi-fi, scheduling, recruiting, telehealth, and more.
• Dining services and hospitality: Positions include chef (culinary training and experience), dining services manager (culinary and management experience), concierge (often requires customer service experience), and housekeeping director (housekeeping and supervisory experience). A chef position may include developing special menus or leading cooking classes.
• Other growth areas: Architecture, design, interior design, maintenance, HVAC, solar and renewables, and security.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
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