Until the 1950s, you weren't considered eligible for social security benefits working as a personal care assistant. But don't worry because in today's day and age, you are eligible for such benefits. Which is nice, especially since you might be doing some dirty work as a personal care assistant.

The majority of your work will depend on your clients. You may have to help get them dressed or cook for them. You may only need to play card games or read to other clients. Depending on the services you're providing and who you're employed by, you may not be protected by minimum wage and overtime laws. If you're hired by a family directly and only help with playing card games, you're not covered by these laws.

With this in mind, you might want to consider working for an agency. Or at least pick up clients that need help being fed and taking medications. These rules went into effect in 2015, so before then you were out of luck as a personal care assistant. Luckily, the future is bright for personal care assistants now.

What Does a Personal Care Assistant Do

There are certain skills that many personal care assistants 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.

Learn more about what a Personal Care Assistant does

How To Become a Personal Care Assistant

If you're interested in becoming a personal care assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 24.0% of personal care assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.4% of personal care assistants have master's degrees. Even though some personal care assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Personal Care Assistant

Personal Care Assistant Career Paths

Average Salary for a Personal Care Assistant

Personal Care Assistants in America make an average salary of $26,643 per year or $13 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $37,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $18,000 per year.
Average Personal Care Assistant Salary
$26,643 Yearly
$12.81 hourly

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Roles and Types of Personal Care Assistant

The role of a personal care assistant includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general personal care assistant responsibilities:

  • Transfersmedication reminderswalking assistancemeal preparationlight housekeepinggeneral companionshippersonal caresshopping
  • For a home health aide every day will vary. As a home health aide with nursecore you will assist with personal hygiene, housekeeping
  • Easter seals in-home services enables children

There are several types of personal care assistant, including:

Direct Care Worker

Role:

Direct care workers are specialists in caregiving. Direct care specialists' role is known as a noble cause as it takes serving other people. You will be assisting patients who have certain disabilities or illnesses with their hygiene and personal care. Hence you will need to be present by the patient's side for hours. Similarly, you will observe the patient's state while ensuring that they recover from their illness soon. As a result, you will meet with the family of the patients to discuss the condition with them.

You tend to play a critical role in serving society. Hence, you will enjoy a respectable position in society. You will need to possess interpersonal skills which work well with different kinds of people. Being compassionate and having the physical stamina to help patients is also required. Another skill required is the ability to communicate clearly and effectively. Direct care worker exhibits the ability to think quickly and act calmly in an emergency. They earn an average of $24,090 yearly.

  • Average Salary: $29,343
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Companion

Role:

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.

  • Average Salary: $29,246
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Care Provider

Role:

If you're passionate about helping people and making a difference in their lives, finding a job in the health care industry can be one of the most rewarding career choices. Whether you want to follow a career path that's directly related to medicine, or you're just looking for something to suit your skills, becoming a care provider can fulfill all your needs and goals. Care provider is an incredible role with a variety of different fields you could choose to pursue. Working as a care provider brings you options for work settings, generous salaries, flexible schedules, a chance to make a difference, strong job outlook, and various career opportunities. Becoming a care provider (also known as a health care provider) offers you many different kinds of jobs, each with its own unique set of responsibilities. There are many different kinds of health care providers who perform a range of services. In general, a health care provider may be a health care professional with medicine, nursing, or allied health professionals. Being a health care provider, you may also be a public/community health professional.

Working as a health care provider, you may perform a wide array of duties, from primary and hospital care services to diagnostic, rehabilitative, preventive, and palliative; all kinds of health care services to individuals, families, or communities. As a care provider, you'll play an indispensable role in the health care system to prevent and manage common health conditions. Generally, you'll work with a team of medical personnel to diagnose and assist patients, administer medical treatments, perform medical assessments and procedures, and any other task required by the chief health care physician. To become a health care provider, you'll need at least a high school diploma and health care training. However, earning a bachelor's degree or associate's degree in a related field along with prior experience in a professional capacity may help polish your resume. You may need a license, in some cases. You must bear an analytical aptitude, emotional stability, first aid certification, and the ability to manage a busy workload under pressure, as you may work irregular hours, overnight hours, weekends, or holidays. As a health care provider, you may work in various health facilities, such as hospitals, clinics, primary care centers, and other service delivery points.

Choosing a career in health care can be a rewarding career path with a sense of personal fulfillment. Being a health care provider, you may get to make a difference every single time you go to work. Not only that, but you'll get an above-average earning potential, you can expect to make a median annual wage of $25,931, which is a handsome amount to pay your bills. Above all is the occupational outlook of the health care field. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care provider jobs are expected to increase by 36% from 2016 through 2026, which means that the industry will add about 4.7 million new healthcare jobs. Due to a growing population, that will require increasing care with age, the healthcare sector is booming, and the demand for health care professionals needs meet these increasing needs. So, this is a great time to start your career as a health care provider.

  • Average Salary: $29,652
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Personal Care Assistant Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active personal care assistant jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where personal care assistants earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Personal Care Assistant Jobs By State

Personal Care Assistant Education

Personal Care Assistant Majors

15.7 %
11.9 %

Personal Care Assistant Degrees

High School Diploma

31.1 %

Bachelors

24.0 %

Associate

20.0 %

Top Skills For a Personal Care Assistant

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, 16.9% of personal care assistants listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and integrity are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Personal Care Assistant Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Personal Care Assistant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Personal Care Assistant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Personal Care Assistant diversity

Personal Care Assistant Gender Distribution

Female
Female
85%
Male
Male
15%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among personal care assistants, 85.0% of them are women, while 15.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among personal care assistants is White, which makes up 59.2% of all personal care assistants.

  • The most common foreign language among personal care assistants is Spanish at 62.4%.

Online Courses For Personal Care Assistant That You May Like

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1. Essentials of Palliative Care

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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...

2. Foundations for Assisting in Home Care

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This course is intended as a self-study course for those interested in exploring a career as a Home Health Aide or Personal Care Aide...

3. Self-care for Personal Productivity

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4.2
(274)

Learn and apply effective tools and practices to reduce stress, boost productivity, and do more of what matters...

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Best States For a Personal Care Assistant

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a personal care assistant. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Vermont. Personal care assistants make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $32,367. Whereas in New Jersey and Washington, they would average $31,366 and $31,236, respectively. While personal care assistants would only make an average of $31,058 in Vermont, 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. Massachusetts

Total Personal Care Assistant Jobs: 2,380
Highest 10% Earn:
$39,000
Location Quotient:
1.09

2. New Jersey

Total Personal Care Assistant Jobs: 2,114
Highest 10% Earn:
$40,000
Location Quotient:
1.13

3. New York

Total Personal Care Assistant Jobs: 4,141
Highest 10% Earn:
$39,000
Location Quotient:
1.36
Full List Of Best States For Personal Care Assistants

How Do Personal Care Assistants Rate Their Jobs?

4.67/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Personal Care Assistant Reviews

4.0
Jul 2020
Pros

Learning how they’ve experience life good and bad but they always remained happy. How you can do anything in life if you believe then you can achieve it.

Cons

When they are scared because of experiences they may have encountered from someone else.


5.0
Jul 2020
Pros

Working with the patient's and enjoying helping out what they need done..

Cons

Dogs in homes


5.0
Jul 2019
Pros

Helping people to be healthy, has become something that comes naturally for me. It is my gift and passion. I love to see people living their life to their best. Joy is important to me as I see strength in joy and I want to pass it on to others hopefully.

Cons

Lifting people sounds a bit challenging, and I would not want to hurt myself trying to awkwardly support someone; so I would need the knowledge to avoid injury.


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Top Personal Care Assistant Employers

Most Common Employers For Personal Care Assistant

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Northeast Arc$26,818$12.89249
2Care.com$26,038$12.5283
3Maxim Healthcare Group$25,770$12.39157
4Community Home Health Care$25,355$12.19109
5Interim HealthCare$25,226$12.13279
6BAYADA Home Health Care$24,862$11.9584
7Integrity Home Care + Hospice$24,828$11.9498
8Community Resources for Independence$24,798$11.9285
9Accurate Home Care$24,584$11.82131
10Comfort Keepers$24,521$11.79366

Personal Care Assistant Videos

Becoming a Personal Care Assistant FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become A Personal Care Assistant?

It takes 3 years of professional experience to become a personal care assistant. That is the time it takes to learn specific personal care assistant skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.

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