There are many career options available if you are interested in uplifting people’s lives. But people typically ask, “Can we really gain employment via community service courses?” If this is your concern, too, then the answer is Yes. Community service is a really rewarding field as it gives many opportunities to grow and, at the same time, pays you a good salary. You also get involved in facilitating disability services, settling/managing family violence, offering care facilities, and many more.
Here, we will cover more about Community service work, the range of services it offers, and the career opportunities.
Who must pursue Community Service Work?
You can start your career in the community service field if you have these qualities as well as a legally recognised certificate. The qualities are:
- The first and foremost is Passion for helping others.
- Empathy to better understand and build stronger relationships with clients.
- Communication including verbal and non-verbal.
- Organise tasks to prioritise clients’ needs to effectively manage cases.
- Critical and unbiased thinking to evaluate each case.
- Active listening to engage and establish trust with clients.
- Cultural competence to be respectful and responsive to cultural beliefs and practices.
- Patience in understanding the client’s situation and avoiding hasty decision-making.
- Professional commitment to uplifting the lives of clients.
- Advocacy skills to represent and argue for their clients and to connect them with needed resources.
Moreover, a great community service worker has a strong grip on skills and knowledge, which are about psychology and counselling, understanding physical and emotional issues, issues related to care facilities-short-term or long-term care, etc.
What are the major community service courses in Australia?
Certificate 3 Community Services
This CHC32015 – Certificate III in Community Services is focused on producing community services workers who support individuals through the provision of person-centred services and participation in community-based programs. This course has a total of 12 units, where there are 5 core units and 7 elective units.
The pathway of courses is CHC52015 (Diploma of Community Services). As per the Tafe community services course description, with this certification, you’ll gain fundamental abilities in communication, interacting with people of different backgrounds, and handling personal stressors at work.
Certificate 4 Community Services
Graduates of CHC42015 – Certificate IV in Community Services can work as community service workers in various settings and work for family services and community upliftment. This course has a total of 15 units, where there are 7 core units and 8 elective units.
While studying this course, students will gain knowledge about advancing clients’ interests and rights, interacting with a varied range of individuals, acting legally and morally, creating and maintaining networks and cooperative relationships, and upholding workplace health and safety.
Bachelor of Community Services
Students can learn about the philosophy and values that form the foundation of community services practice by enrolling in Australia’s fully recognised Bachelor of Community Services program. The course will be finished in three years because the units are taught concurrently over the trimester.
The 24 units of the course, which are spread out across eight trimesters, cover topics such as community services, counselling, systems and policy, coordination and support, specialist skills, and fieldwork.
Top 10 Reasons to Pursue a Rewarding Career in Community Service
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You can make a BIG difference in people’s lives.
As a community services worker, your sincere efforts will have a profound impact on your clients who are vulnerable in the community, such as older adults, troubled youth, those who are in search of emotional support or anyone having struggles in daily life.
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You will have personal growth.
You’ll feel content when you work in community service. Making a difference in people’s lives will make you happy and encourage personal development. Strengthening the attributes, such as emotional intelligence, adjustment, etc, are kept in the “personal growth” section. Additionally, you will be acknowledged and valued for the work you do.
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One qualification, roles many.
Working in the community sector will never get you bored as you can work with various clientele in the fields of aged care, disability services, indigenous and intercultural support, assistance for asylum seekers and refugees, emergency relief, mental health and counselling, child protection, family services, and so on.
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You can see people grow beautifully.
In most cases, community workers’ relentless efforts, encouragement, and guidance work to help people make good decisions for a better life. Upon knowing such an enhancement in the lives of the clients will certainly make Community service workers satisfied.
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Voice for the rights of people
A community service worker also acts as a spokesperson for those who can no longer live normal lives. Your customers might not be able to defend their rights, so you can do it on their behalf. As a community worker, you will be involved in social, legal, and financial matters and work on them to offer comfort to people’s lives.
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Work for NGO, Government or private sectors.
As a community worker, you can start your career in any organisation, including NGOs. There you can have good experience of professionally dealing with the issues.
Further, if you want to go for private jobs, you can also opt for them. But if you could land a government job as a community service worker, then you can relish lots of facilities.
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You can earn many benefits.
As discussed above, you can work for nonprofits or governmental groups as a community worker. Working in these institutions offers you vacation days, training opportunities, training travel, health benefits, and pensions or retirement plans. For these offers, except pension and retirement, either the organisation will pay the entire cost, or you will also have to contribute some money.
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Choose the location you want- Remote areas or cities
There are community service jobs available everywhere, so you can work wherever you desire in any part of Australia, a habitable area of course. As you gain experience, you can consider researching the numerous employment and volunteer opportunities offered in different locations to choose which one you enjoy the most.
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You can enjoy flexible working hours
Many workers in community service do not have set hours like in nursing homes or banks. Community workers can have a wide range of scheduling options. You can definitely find a lot of job openings that fit with your ideal schedule if you decide to start with part-time or volunteer work.
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You will earn excellent job security.
People’s problems keep rising, and Community service workers are there for help. So, it reflects that the more people with issues, the more the chance of seeking help; hence, more will be a rise in clients for community workers. This hence also shows community service as a field that has job security. So, you may have some legal terms with the organisation for more defined job security.
Community services career pathways in Australia
Community services jobs are just amazing as you would see the best results in salary. Let’s look at the career opportunities you will have started working as a community service provider in the Australian community.
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You can also work in aged care.
Aged care is a big concern for Australia as currently, the old-age (aged 65 and over) population here is around 4.2 million. Australia’s ageing population graph is moving north as there is an increase in life expectancy as well as a decline in fertility rates. To such older individuals, professional old-age care is necessary. That means the demand for old-age care is increasing and will continue to increase.
This will hence bring more opportunities for workers in the industry, including nursing professionals, support workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and even social workers.
In an aged care career, you help older Australians and become their carers to facilitate comfortable and independent living, whether at home, in senior residential care or in retirement villages.
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You can work with people with a disability.
A disability worker always works for the welfare and comfortable lives of people with some kind of physical or mental disability. As a part of the community, the differently abled should be given good care. As a community worker, you can have your learnings and youth work for the welfare and upliftment of such people. To get 101 and personalise services, Individual Support workers are much in demand.
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You can also be involved in mental health support.
Mental health is as important as physical health. Issues with mental health or mental health illness can be caused by organic causes, genetics, environment and many other factors. Mental Health is a big concern as it is also becoming a leading cause of violence worldwide.
Thus, to prevent the emergence of such disabilities or even cure them, mental health care professionals are crucial. Community workers also deal with cases related to mental health. Although anyone can develop mental health concerns anytime, the high risk of organic or age-borne mental disability is found mostly in old adults.
Thus, as a community worker, you can get involved in the mental health field and make significant contributions while also getting handsome pay.
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You can become a counsellor in various fields.
As a community service worker, you can provide people with professional counselling as well.
You can enter the industry of counselling and even specialise in a specific aged group like individuals, couples, families, and groups to help them manage their ongoing issues like grief, substance abuse, relationship problems, etc. You can also opt for a career in career counselling to help students learn about their career opportunities and ways to make a career progression.
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You can work with children and child protection services.
Children are another vulnerable age group. They do need the utmost protection, love, care, and focus. Those community workers who are into shaping the future of Australia can undoubtedly work for child and their protection. These workers have their work child-centred, family-focused, and harm or abuse-free life-focused.
As a childcare practitioner, you must be prepared for some challenging tasks as they require you to have thick skin and understand that it’s a tough position to work in.
During the course of your service, you may have to deal with child protection offices. Moreover, with your help, you will become a hero and role model for children, and that is something extremely precious for an individual as a human being.
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Community service workers can support people with alcohol and other drug problems.
Alcohol and drug abuse destroy an individual’s life and eventually the families. Thus, this has to be checked to provide safety and quality of life. Choosing this field of expertise will help you gain knowledge on such kinds of people, their sufferings, and ways to get them solved.
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Get involved in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services.
With a degree or certificate in community services, you can craft a career to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their overall healthcare, mental health, family and education services and many more.
To specialise in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, you must undertake specific electives that teach the importance of cultural protocols and practices and other aspects of indigenous societies. In addition, there are courses that are specifically designed to prepare students to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The pay scale for a community worker will depend on the role, the state you will work in, the qualification you have, your experience, the organisation you work in, etc.
However, during the course of your duty, do not forget to have a good look at personal care. Your job roles demand a lot of time and effort, so you have to stay fit to tackle them. Make sure every day in life is rewarding for the clients and yourself. You will relish job satisfaction when you work with your heart and soul.
So, don’t just assume you are choosing community service as a way to give back rather, you are learning, growing, and making an impact on the community.
Bright College – The Best College for Community Service Courses in Australia
Bright College is a leading College in Australia offering world-class education to national and international students- with both theoretical and practical knowledge in business, community services, and first aid.
Coming to Community Services courses, we offer CHC33015 Certificate III in Individual Support in Ageing,
Disability, Home and Community, and Ageing, Home and Community. To be eligible for this certification, the candidate must have completed at least 120 hours of work placement, as specified in the Assessment Requirements of the Units of Competency. In addition, you can specialise in the desired field for a targeted group with whom you want to work closely.
To learn more about us and our community services courses or to enroll in our community service program, you can check our website or contact us for further information.
