5 Best Ways To Prepare For A Career In Community Services

Does a career in community service sound like something you’re gung-ho about dedicating your life towards?

If you’ve nodded affirmatively, you’ll be pleased to hear that this career path is one of the most fulfilling careers around. Community services, whether it’s a charity or social services, are also filled with countless job openings across Australia, from Perth to Melbourne. And they’re growing year by year.

Find yourself interested, but unsure where to start? Community Services courses provided by sites like Train Smart can help you get ahead.

Here are some other great ways to prepare for a community services career.

Ask Yourself the Right Questions

Choosing a course sets the tone of your entire career trajectory. Needless to say, the reflection process can be daunting. For a community services-oriented career path—you’ll have to reflect long about your motivations. You’ll also have to stay committed to it to the very end.

 Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help clear and shape your perspective.

Do I…

• Enjoy interacting with people from all walks of life?
• Want to be the voice to the marginalised and disadvantaged folks?
• Want to help empower families, communities, and individuals to unlock their potential?
• Like developing positive and friendly relationships with faces, new and old?
• Want to advocate for human rights, social justice, and equity for those suffering?

If you find yourself nodding in agreement to all points, then a community service career may be rewarding and fulfilling for you.

But passion and advocacy should not be the only basis for your career inclination. 

Here are other things to keep in mind:

Research your City’s Opportunities

Does your city (or the city you intend to live in after graduation) have vast opportunities for a community services degree? If you aren’t sure, scout job websites to see whether the list of openings is plentiful or bone-dry. Then gauge off that.

Remember, you’ll be job hunting against many other community services graduates, so competition will be stiff. While you’ll still have four or so years until you get a diploma, follow the trends of the industry to see whether it’s a viable and practical choice or not.

Here’s a current Australian report: Community Services jobs are flourishing in Australia right now. LinkedIn’s 2021 ‘Jobs on the Rise’ report shows that social workers’ roles, such as youth workers, social services assistant, and social services coordinator, are highly sought after due to the cascading effects of the pandemic.

Educate Yourself with a Community Services Course

No one gets to become a social worker without undergoing some form of relevant education or experience. While working as a social worker can be incredibly fulfilling, it’ll require a lot of brainpower too.

To alleviate this, enroll in a course that’ll offer you relevant knowledge that’s applicable once you’re deployed. If you’re looking for a good starting point, Train Smart’s course provides a comprehensive list of topics to study while also allowing you to engage with a leading team of Health and Community Services Trainers. These industry leaders can help you digest course content and provide feedback that’ll help you achieve your career goals.

Network with the Right People

It doesn’t matter whether you’re still a student or a working professional looking to switch your career. Many organisations inside or outside universities host social events with professionals like social workers who can share valuable insights about the industry. This can give you a true-to-life glimpse of what it’s like to work day by day in the community services sector.

That’s not all. Connecting with the right people also expands your horizon for more opportunities, like getting your foot in the door in the industry. Maybe they’d tip off the recruiter to let you into their company, for example, just because you’ve exchanged a pleasant chat. So never fail to set a good impression!

If you can’t go to events or if there’s no opportunity available near your area, websites like LinkedIn can be a useful tool to reach out to these people. 

Volunteer in an Organisation

You’ll be doing a lot of work in the same line as volunteering in the future. So you should have no doubt in your mind that this activity fulfills you.

Volunteering doesn’t only help the people or cause of your picking. Future recruiters would also see that as an advantage in your resume since it shows that you’re genuinely passionate about your work. Aside from that, you can develop more practical skills through volunteer work than theorising and memorising concepts in the classroom.

Volunteering can expose you to a wide range of real-world efforts. Australia has a lot of organisations that focus on wildlife and marine life conservation efforts, for instance. You can also choose to go abroad to volunteer and uplift impoverished nations across the globe. Whatever path you choose, knowing whether you enjoy volunteering or not is best realised earlier than later.