Become A Carer

Here at Chesterford Homecare we understand that, if we want our care staff to do their very best for our clients, we need to do our very best for them. We also understand that, if you apply to a new care agency, the last thing you want is for the recruitment process to drag on for weeks and weeks, only to be told when you have finally been accepted and completed your induction training that they have no work for you at the moment.

That’s not how we do things at Chesterford Homecare.

Our aim is to get you interviewed, inducted and out working as soon as possible. To minimise delays, we have streamlined both our recruitment process and our induction training. After a short telephone interview, we will email you an application form, which you will need to complete and return online. You will then be invited to a face-to-face interview, ideally here at our offices in Little Chesterford, which is just off the M11 a few miles south of Cambridge and on the railway line from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge. however, if this is not possible due to your location, we can conduct interviews remotely via teams/zoom.

If your interview is successful, we will then ask you to complete a DBS application form (unless you are already a subscriber to the online DBS update service) which we will process immediately and also send off reference requests to your current employer and your previous employer. After all required checks have been completed, you will be invited to complete a number of mandatory online training courses, as well as practical, face-to-face training in Moving and Handling, First Aid and Basic Life support.

Live-in carers

If you are joining us as a live-in carer, you will be provided in advance of details of your placement. On the day you are due to start work, you will be driven to their home to meet them, and you will conduct a thorough handover with the carer you are replacing. After that, it’s down to you, although your Care Manager will phone you at least once during your first few days and will also visit you if time permits. You are also free to contact the office at any time during normal working hours, if you have any questions about anything. We also run an out-of-hours service, but this is to be used solely in case of emergency.

Visiting carers

If you are joining us as a visiting carer, and dependent on your skill set and previous experience you will spend some time accompanying one or more experienced colleagues as they do their rounds (known as “shadowing”). When our Care and Compliance Manager feels you are ready, you will then be allocated your own schedule, at which point we are confident you will be perfectly capable of covering your care calls on your own.