A new job site called Care Home Jobs is to be launched in January 2010. It’s been live in beta version for just over a month. And yet it already has a few thousand jobs for carers, managers and registered nurses in care homes across the UK. Plus, it already boasts some household brand names advertising their nursing positions.

Co-founder and director, Matt Farrah, is unequivocal about the reason why the site’s got off to such a flying start:

The demand for registered nurses and nursing managers in care homes is substantial. How we correctly staff the institutions that offer care over the coming years is a serious subject.

I think we’ve enjoyed such amazing early success because we’re the first jobs board to take the industry seriously.

It’s difficult to quantify the exact size of the care home industry. There are many thousands of elderly care homes. But it’s a complex field covering care home, nursing home, domiciliary and residential care organisations. And it’s not all about elderly dementia patients either.

Matt believes the care industry is going to be one of the most important job sectors of the next decade:

Care, whether it’s learning disability care or care of the elderly, is a critical issue for everyone. We’ve a massive population which is relatively wealthy, increasingly more able to pay for care and proportionately getting older. We expect care and demand quality care when we get it. It’s why it makes headline news every week.

As one of the directors also behind the jobs board Nurses.co.uk [ www.nurses.co.uk ], we asked Matt why he wanted to branch out into another niche within the nursing industry?

They are two very different sites. Care homes is not a sector within acute nursing. A critical care nurse does not have the skills to work with dementia patients, or vice versa.

As a director who attends nursing events, Matt believes specialist job boards should play a crucial role within the industry they serve.“I attend industry events as often as I can. I think it’s important. I meet student nurses at career fairs and talk to hiring managers. Those conversations teach me a lot.

What fascinates me is the recruitment of experts – bringing the right people to the right jobs as efficiently as possible. I think it’s because we try to understand the job seeker and put their skills first that we’ve enjoyed so much early success.

Source:  Care Home Jobs