A companion is a kind of social worker who helps sick, elderly, or recovering people with chores around the house. They assist them in their hygiene practices, administer their medication, and make sure they keep healthy and get appropriate exercise.
Companions also simply keep people company. They have a conversation or play chess with their patients and generally help people feel less lonely and emotionally more stable. They make social life easier, too, by planning events and accompanying their patients to them.
Being a caring and empathetic person is essential if you want to be a companion. Having nursing training and experience in CPR will come in handy as well, just as physical strength for situations when you need you to supply the energy for both of you.
What is a Companion?
What Does a Companion Do
There are certain skills that many companions have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, integrity and interpersonal skills.
How To Become a Companion
If you're interested in becoming a companion, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 26.8% of companions have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.2% of companions have master's degrees. Even though some companions have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Companion Job Description
Companion Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of certified nursing assistant you might progress to a role such as registered nurse eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title nursing director.
Average Salary for a Companion
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Companion
The role of a companion includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general companion responsibilities:
- Perform all duties outlined in the client's care plan/service agreement demonstrate competency in all areas of meal preparation
- Manage residents' appointments by providing transportation using company vehicle
- Attract, retain and develop a world class companion diagnostics (cdx) development team
There are several types of companion, including:
Home Health Aid
Role:
While, you may believe home health aides only work in their clients' homes, that's certainly not correct. Aides can also work in group homes or even day service programs. Generally, you'll only need a high school diploma to become a home health aid.
Your days and responsibilities as a home health aide will vary, depending on how many clients you work with. Some days you'll only work with one client for the entire day, then other days you may find yourself with 4-5 clients for shorter time periods. It's definitely a job that will keep you on your toes. You'll never know what to expect each day.
- Average Salary: $27,249
- Degree: High School Diploma
Nanny
Role:
As a nanny, you'll probably be responsible for getting the children to their responsibilities, whether that's school or extracurricular activities. You might have to pick them up from school and those other activities as well.
Your hours as a nanny depend on the family that you're working for. Some people might only need you for part of a day each day while others will need you from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. We weren't kidding when we said a wild ride.
- Average Salary: $40,262
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
In-Home Childcare Provider
Role:
In-home child care providers supervise the children and prepare their meals, attend to their hygiene, and make sure they are well-rested. They come up with fun activities and educational games, play outside with the children, and generally offer every activity a child would do at a public daycare center. The only difference is that, in this case, the children are fewer, they are in a more familiar and secure setting, and they receive the undivided attention of the care provider.
You should consider this job if you are patient and caring, if you are not intimidated by dirty diapers and capricious kiddies, and if you do not mind giving detailed daily reports on the behavior of the children to worried parents. Oh, and if you love children, of course.
- Average Salary: $32,161
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Companion Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active companion jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where companions earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Companion Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennsylvania | 3,950 | $27,998 |
| 2 | California | 2,404 | $31,284 |
| 3 | New York | 1,848 | $31,423 |
| 4 | Florida | 1,720 | $21,459 |
| 5 | Illinois | 1,652 | $27,953 |
| 6 | Texas | 1,580 | $22,592 |
| 7 | New Jersey | 1,269 | $30,398 |
| 8 | Michigan | 1,256 | $26,802 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | 1,250 | $33,504 |
| 10 | Ohio | 1,163 | $31,243 |
| 11 | Georgia | 1,020 | $22,758 |
| 12 | North Carolina | 866 | $23,662 |
| 13 | Indiana | 855 | $22,421 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 758 | $23,898 |
| 15 | Virginia | 746 | $25,492 |
| 16 | Connecticut | 722 | $32,157 |
| 17 | Washington | 685 | $35,777 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 614 | $28,581 |
| 19 | Arizona | 577 | $23,420 |
| 20 | Missouri | 572 | $23,217 |
| 21 | Minnesota | 535 | $27,084 |
| 22 | Oregon | 507 | $33,559 |
| 23 | Maryland | 475 | $24,658 |
| 24 | South Carolina | 468 | $23,151 |
| 25 | Colorado | 415 | $26,822 |
| 26 | Iowa | 381 | $26,392 |
| 27 | Alabama | 371 | $24,871 |
| 28 | Kentucky | 332 | $29,489 |
| 29 | Oklahoma | 236 | $22,848 |
| 30 | Arkansas | 226 | $22,154 |
| 31 | Louisiana | 221 | $20,721 |
| 32 | New Mexico | 215 | $29,484 |
| 33 | Kansas | 183 | $22,256 |
| 34 | Montana | 175 | $31,162 |
| 35 | Mississippi | 166 | $20,791 |
| 36 | West Virginia | 157 | $27,759 |
| 37 | Nebraska | 150 | $26,388 |
| 38 | Idaho | 149 | $25,477 |
| 39 | Nevada | 148 | $33,074 |
| 40 | Maine | 148 | $28,075 |
| 41 | Utah | 134 | $25,920 |
| 42 | Delaware | 111 | $26,038 |
| 43 | New Hampshire | 109 | $30,900 |
| 44 | Alaska | 100 | $33,087 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 80 | $31,219 |
| 46 | Hawaii | 63 | $31,644 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 60 | $29,409 |
| 48 | Vermont | 58 | $34,515 |
| 49 | North Dakota | 51 | $25,693 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 35 | $25,477 |
Top Skills For a Companion
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 19.7% of companions listed companionship on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and integrity are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Companion Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Companion templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Companion resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Companion Demographics
Companion Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among companions, 87.9% of them are women, while 12.1% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among companions is White, which makes up 57.0% of all companions.
- The most common foreign language among companions is Spanish at 66.3%.
Online Courses For Companion That You May Like
1. Transitions in Care from Survivorship to Hospice
This course should be taken after the Symptom Management course and continues building your primary palliative care skills – communication, psychosocial support, goals of care, and symptom management. You will explore transitions in care such as survivorship and hospice. You will learn how to create a survivorship care plan and how to best support a patient. The course also covers spiritual care and will teach you how to screen for spiritual distress. Finally, you will learn the requirements...
See More on Coursera2. Essentials of Palliative Care
This course starts you on your journey of integrating primary palliative care into your daily lives. You will learn what palliative care is, how to communicate with patients, show empathy, and practice difficult conversations. You will learn how to screen for distress and provide psychosocial support. You will learn about goals of care and advance care planning and how to improve your success with having these conversations with patients. Finally, you will explore important cultural...
See More on Coursera3. Traditional herbal medicine in supportive cancer care: From alternative to integrative
Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the...
See More on CourseraBest States For a Companion
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a companion. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Vermont, Oregon, and Massachusetts. Companions make the most in Washington with an average salary of $35,777. Whereas in Vermont and Oregon, they would average $34,515 and $33,559, respectively. While companions would only make an average of $33,504 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Oregon
$33,559
Avg. Salary
2. Massachusetts
$33,504
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$33,087
Avg. Salary
How Do Companion Rate Their Jobs?
Top Companion Employers
Most Common Employers For Companion
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CARE | $32,498 | $15.62 | 37 |
| 2 | Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System | $32,490 | $15.62 | 13 |
| 3 | Omni Visions | $29,801 | $14.33 | 17 |
| 4 | Interim HealthCare | $29,098 | $13.99 | 9 |
| 5 | Brookdale Senior Living | $28,545 | $13.72 | 10 |
| 6 | BAYADA Home Health Care | $28,531 | $13.72 | 10 |
| 7 | COMPanion | $27,711 | $13.32 | 20 |
| 8 | Envoy | $27,342 | $13.15 | 11 |
| 9 | Senior Helpers | $26,872 | $12.92 | 37 |
| 10 | Visiting Angels | $26,648 | $12.81 | 44 |
Companion Videos
