Most care worker job adverts look the same. "Carers wanted. Flexible hours. Competitive rates. Experience preferred." An applicant scrolling through a job board on their phone sees ten of these in a row and has no reason to pick yours.
A good advert does two jobs. It persuades the right people to apply, and it puts off people who would leave in the first month because the job was not what they expected. Skills for Care's planning to recruit guidance puts it simply: accurate job descriptions and honest adverts help attract the right candidates and make sure people understand the role from the start.
This guide follows our article on how to recruit care workers in the UK, and focuses on the advert itself: what to put in it, what to leave out, and an example you can adapt.
Before you write: decide who you are looking for
Skills for Care's guidance on planning to recruit says to start by identifying the skills, values, behaviours and attitudes the role needs, then reflect them clearly in the job description, advert and application materials.
For a home care role, answer these questions first:
- What runs are you hiring for? Mornings, teatimes, evenings, weekends, live-in, or waking nights. "Flexible hours" means nothing to an applicant who needs to be home for the school run.
- Where? Name the towns or postcodes. A carer who lives in the right place is worth more to your rota than one who is 40 minutes away.
- Is a car really needed? If some runs are walkable or work by bike or bus, say so. You will reach people a "drivers only" advert excludes.
- What do you genuinely need on day one? Skills for Care's Attract page suggests reviewing whether essential criteria are really required or could be learned in the role.
- What values matter most? Kindness, reliability, respect for people's homes and choices. Pick two or three you will actually test for at interview.
What to put in a care worker job advert
1. A plain job title
Use the words people search for: "care worker", "care assistant", "home carer" or "domiciliary care worker", plus the area. "Care worker, Worcester and Droitwich" will be found. "Wellbeing Ambassador" will not.
2. Pay, travel time and mileage
Applicants compare pay first. Give the hourly rate or a range, any weekend or bank holiday rate, and say how you pay:
- Travel time between visits. For minimum wage purposes, time travelling between visits usually counts as working time. Our guide to national minimum wage and travel time in home care explains the rules.
- Mileage, and the rate per mile if you pay one.
- Paid training and shadow shifts, if you pay them.
Check your rates against the current National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates on GOV.UK. They change on 1 April every year, so review your advert template every spring.
3. Hours and patterns, honestly
Say what the hours look like in a normal week: for example, split shifts with a break in the middle of the day, every other weekend, or guaranteed hours if you offer them. Be honest about split shifts. A carer who finds out in week one is likely to leave in week two.
4. What the work actually involves
Describe a real day, briefly: personal care, medication prompts, meal preparation, companionship, and working alone in people's homes with support from the office. Mention the care you provide, such as older people, people living with dementia, or people with learning disabilities. This is one of the best ways to put off the wrong applicants politely.
5. Who you are
Skills for Care's values-based recruitment toolkit has an "Attract" stage about promoting vacancies in a way that appeals to people who share your values and purpose. In practice, say in a sentence or two why your agency exists, and what you expect of carers. Keep it specific. "We keep the same carers with the same people wherever we can" says more than "we are passionate about care".
6. Training and support
New carers want to know they will not be thrown in at the deep end. Say what induction looks like: the Care Certificate in England, shadow shifts before working alone, regular supervision, and an out-of-hours number someone answers. Only list what you really offer. Our guide to onboarding new carers covers what a good first few weeks look like.
7. The checks the role needs
Be upfront. Say the role needs an enhanced DBS check with the adults' barred list, references, and proof of the right to work in the UK. If you help with the cost of the DBS, say so. Our care worker recruitment checklist lists every check.
8. One clear way to apply
Tell people exactly what happens next and how long it takes. A link to a short online application, a phone number, and a promise to reply within a set number of working days is better than "send your CV". Many good carers do not have an up-to-date CV.
What to leave out: fair and lawful wording
GOV.UK's guidance on discrimination in recruitment is short and worth reading in full. The key points for adverts are:
- You must not state or imply that you will discriminate against anyone, including saying you cannot cater for disabled workers.
- Only use phrases like "recent graduate" or "highly experienced" when these are actual requirements of the job.
- Where you advertise can cause indirect discrimination, so do not rely on a single channel that reaches only one group.
- You can only ask about health or disability in limited situations, so keep health questions out of the advert.
Skills for Care's Attract page also suggests including information about reasonable adjustments and encouraging candidates to discuss any support they need. A single line at the end of your advert does this.
Watch out for wording that quietly narrows your pool: "young, energetic team", "mature ladies", "must have 2 years' experience" when you train people anyway, or "car essential" when half your runs are walkable.
Where to post it
Use more than one channel, and track which one your hires actually came from.
- Find a job. GOV.UK's advertise a job page links to the government's Find a job service for England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a different service.
- Your own website. A careers page with the same honest detail, and a link to apply.
- Staff referrals. Skills for Care's Attract page points to employee referral approaches as a way to support both recruitment and retention.
- Local and social channels. Community groups, local Facebook groups, and short posts showing real carers (with their consent) reach people who are not job hunting yet.
- Paid job boards and search ads, where your budget allows. Measure cost per applicant, not cost per click.
An example care worker job advert
The example below is a template. Replace everything in square brackets with your own details, and remove anything you do not offer.
Care worker, [town and nearby areas] Pay: [£X.XX] an hour, [£X.XX] at weekends. Travel time between visits is paid. Mileage at [Xp] a mile. Hours: [Mornings 7am to 11am and teatimes 4pm to 7pm], [every other weekend]. [Part-time and full-time runs available.] About us: [Agency name] supports [older people and people living with dementia] to live well in their own homes across [area]. We keep the same carers with the same people wherever we can. The role: You will visit people at home to help with personal care, meals, medication prompts and companionship. You will work on your own on visits, with the office and an on-call manager a phone call away. You do not need experience. We are looking for people who are kind, reliable and respectful of people's homes and choices. We provide paid induction, the Care Certificate and shadow shifts with an experienced carer before you work alone. Checks: The role needs an enhanced DBS check with the adults' barred list, two references and proof of your right to work in the UK. [We pay for your DBS.] [A full UK driving licence and access to a car is needed for most runs. Some walking runs are available in [town centre].] How to apply: Apply online at [link]. It takes about [X] minutes and you do not need a CV. We will contact you within [X] working days. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will be happy to support you.
A quick advert checklist
| Check | Done when |
|---|---|
| Title | Uses words people search for, plus the area |
| Pay | Hourly rate or range shown, and travel time and mileage explained |
| Hours | Real patterns stated, including split shifts and weekends |
| The work | A short, honest picture of a normal day |
| Values | Two or three values you will test at interview |
| Support | Induction, shadowing and supervision you actually provide |
| Checks | DBS, references and right to work named upfront |
| Wording | No age, gender or disability bias, and only genuine essential criteria |
| Adjustments | One line inviting applicants to ask for adjustments |
| Apply | One clear route, no CV required, reply time promised |
After the advert: keep applicants moving
An advert that works brings a new problem: applicants who arrive faster than you can respond. Good applicants often apply to several agencies at once, so the next few days matter. Have your care worker interview questions ready, and read our guide to care worker retention ideas to make sure the people you hire stay.
How HomecareOS helps
The HomecareOS recruitment portal gives the "how to apply" line in your advert somewhere to go.
- The agency invites an applicant by email. SMS invites are not built.
- The applicant completes an online /apply portal with their application, documents, right to work, two references, DBS details and a health questionnaire.
- The agency tracks each applicant through seven stages: application, documents, references, DBS, interview, offer and onboarding, so nobody who answered your advert gets forgotten. Our guide to applicant tracking for home care agencies explains why that beats a spreadsheet.
- On hire, the applicant is converted into a carer record that is ready to be added to the rota. They are not added to the rota automatically.
Agencies that sign up now get the portal £49 a month plus VAT. Start on the recruitment portal page, read the recruitment feature page, book a demo, or call Phil on 01905 674704.
Sources
- Skills for Care: planning to recruit, part of its safer recruitment guidance.
- Skills for Care: values-based recruitment and the Attract stage.
- GOV.UK: discrimination in recruitment.
- GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates.
- GOV.UK: advertise a job, for the Find a job service.
- GOV.UK: check a job applicant's right to work.