Guidance for candidates

Who this is for

Anyone working or hoping to work in care and healthcare support roles — Support Workers, Healthcare Assistants, senior support staff, team leaders and registered nurses. Also useful if you are considering Personal Assistant work, which has a different shape to agency or provider employment.

Some of this is practical. Some of it is about knowing what you are entitled to, because the people who get treated well in this sector are often simply the people who knew what to ask for.

Getting your application taken seriously

Care recruitment is high-volume and often rushed. A few things make a genuine difference.

Account for your dates

Employment history with clear dates, and a one-line explanation of any gap. Gaps are completely normal — caring for a relative, illness, travel, redundancy, study. An explained gap is a non-issue; an unexplained one leaves a recruiter with a question they cannot answer, and in a regulated sector that stalls an application.

Say what you actually did

"Supported six adults with learning disabilities in a supported living service, including personal care, medication and community access" is worth more than "provided care to service users". Specifics let someone match you to the right setting.

Name the settings you have worked in

Nursing home, supported living, dementia care, mental health, learning disability, complex care, community. These are genuinely different jobs, and being specific gets you sent somewhere you will do well rather than somewhere you will struggle.

Be clear about availability

Days, nights, weekends, sleep-ins, how far you can travel, whether you drive. Vague availability produces unsuitable offers, then a reputation for declining.

Keep your certificates together

Training certificates, qualifications, DBS details and registration in one folder, with expiry dates noted. It speeds up every application you ever make.

Do not put sensitive information in an application

You do not need to volunteer health information, and a well-run recruiter will not ask for it at registration. Do not send your DBS certificate number, your NMC PIN or medical details through a web form. Those are requested later, securely, at the appropriate stage.

Checks: what to expect

Anyone employing you in a care role should carry out a proper set of checks. A hiring process that skips them is not doing you a favour — it means the same corners are being cut for everyone, including the people you would be supporting.

Right to work in the UK

Original documents or a share code. Every employer must do this.

Enhanced DBS check

Standard for roles supporting adults at risk. Consider joining the DBS update service when you get a certificate — it lets future employers recheck the same certificate rather than starting again, which can save weeks.

References

Usually two, covering recent employment. Tell your referees to expect contact.

Professional registration

For nursing roles, verified directly with the register. Keep your registration current — a lapse stops you working immediately.

Mandatory training

Either checked or arranged before you start. Ask who pays for it and whether training time is paid. Both are fair questions.

Health-related requirements

Some roles have occupational health requirements. These are handled through a proper occupational health process by the employer, not by a recruiter asking about your medical history over the phone.

You are entitled to know why information is being collected, what it will be used for and how long it will be kept. Ask if it is not clear.

Interviews, in both directions

An interview is an assessment of the employer as much as of you, and treating it that way makes you a better candidate rather than a worse one.

To prepare: know what kind of service it is; have two or three real examples ready — a difficult situation you handled, a time you raised a concern, a time you got something wrong and what you did about it; and be able to say why you want this role rather than any role.

Questions that come up a lot, and are worth thinking about beforehand:

• How would you support someone who refused personal care?
• What would you do if you noticed an unexplained bruise?
• How do you handle being asked to do something you have not been trained for?
• Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague about someone's care.
• What would you do if you made a medication error?

For the last two, the strongest answers involve raising it and recording it. In a regulated sector, honesty and escalation are the competence being tested — not the ability to have handled everything alone.

Questions you should be asking

Ask these of an employer and of any agency. How they answer tells you what working there will be like.

• What is the pay rate, and what enhancements apply for nights, weekends and bank holidays?
• What are the actual hours and the shift pattern? Are sleep-ins involved, and how are they paid?
• Is training paid, and who pays for it?
• Will I be working alone? What support is available if something goes wrong?
• What is the induction, and will I shadow before working independently?
• How many people will I be supporting, and how stable is the staff team?
• Why is this post open?
• Who do I go to with a concern, and what happens then?
• For agency work: how will I be briefed before a shift, and who do I ring at 7am if something is wrong?

A good employer answers all of these easily. Discomfort at any of them is information.

Your rights as agency staff

Working through an agency does not make you a contractor without rights. Depending on your arrangement, you are generally entitled to:

• At least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for your age
• Written information about your engagement — pay rate, who pays you, and the terms — before you start work
• Paid holiday, which accrues with the hours you work
• An itemised payslip showing your pay and every deduction
• Working time protections, including rest breaks
• A safe place to work and not to be asked to work beyond your competence
• Not to be charged a fee for finding you work. This one matters: if any agency asks you to pay to be found work, treat it as a serious warning sign
• Protection from discrimination
• To raise a concern without being penalised for it

You should know before a shift starts who is paying you, what the rate is, and what the hours are. If you do not know all three, ask before you travel.

Warning signs

• Being asked to pay a fee to register or to be found work
• Vagueness about pay — "we will sort that out later", or a rate that appears first on the payslip
• No written terms before your first shift
• No checks, or being told a DBS "will be sorted later" for a role that clearly needs one
• Pressure to work without training, or being told "you will pick it up"
• No briefing and no named contact for a shift
• Cash payment with no payslip — which leaves you with no employment record, no contribution record and no protection
• Being discouraged from raising concerns, or told that safeguarding goes "through us first"
• Being told a shift is safe to work alone when your own judgement says otherwise

Any one of these is worth questioning. Several together mean walking away, however much you need the work.

Raising a concern

You may be the only person who notices something. That is not a burden you have to carry alone, and raising a concern is expected of you rather than disloyal.

1. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. Do not wait to consult anyone.
2. Use the service's procedures. The provider is registered and responsible for the setting, and must act on a safeguarding concern. Report it and make sure it is recorded.
3. Tell your agency too, if you were placed by one. They should support you, not manage you into silence.
4. Escalate outside if nothing happens. The adult safeguarding team at the local authority will take a concern from anybody, including a worker. Concerns about a registered service can also go to the Care Quality Commission.
5. Write down what you saw, with dates and times, as soon as you can, and keep it factual.
6. If you are a registered nurse, remember your professional obligations apply regardless of who employs you or how short the shift was.

You do not need proof and you do not need certainty. A concern raised in good faith that turns out to be nothing is always the right call. Workers are protected for raising genuine concerns, and any employer or agency that treats you badly for it has told you exactly who they are.

Where Oakline fits

We place people into temporary shifts and permanent roles in care and healthcare across Sheffield and South Yorkshire. Everything in the "questions you should be asking" section is a question we expect to be asked and will answer.

We will never charge you a fee, never send your details to an employer without naming them and getting your agreement, and never quote a rate we have not confirmed. Registering with us does not guarantee shifts, a placement or a number of hours, and we would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise.

Register with Oakline, or read more about working with us first.

General information, not advice.Employment rights depend on your specific arrangement and change over time. This guide is not legal advice. For advice on your own position, contact Citizens Advice, Acas, your trade union or a suitably qualified adviser.