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5 Community Driven Careers to Consider

by Louise W. Rice
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Choosing a career path can be a tough challenge for many people. It is surely one of the more significant decisions of one’s life, but it should be exciting to make as opposed to one that brings you stress. This is particularly true for those who know that they want to spend their time and talents serving their community but are unaware of the best methods of accomplishing these goals.

The best thing that one can do in such circumstances is to consider the many career paths that are truly community driven. By understanding more about what options are out there, you can better decide which jobs would make the best use of your personal talents and skills.

It is also a good idea to consult with those who are already working in such professions to learn just what a day in the life of a community-driven worker is like. This will allow you to see yourself in such a position and get a better idea about whether or not such a career would be a good fit for you.

With more information about your options for building and serving your community, you can make informed decisions about your education and professional development.

If you are currently hoping to choose a career that is geared towards bettering your community and helping those within it, here are five different types of career options that you can consider.

1. Police Officer

Making the decision to become a police officer is one of the most selfless choices you can make. Every day, police officers go to work knowing that they are the mainline of defense between those looking to live peacefully within their community and those who would see that peace disrupted in perhaps dangerous and life-threatening ways.

While many police officers across the country enjoy relatively calm and uneventful careers, you would be hard-pressed to meet an officer who hasn’t experienced their fair share of adversity and anxiety over the job. That being said, this is all part of why becoming a police officer is truly one of the more selfless things one can choose to do with their life.

In order to become a police officer, it is important to go through the proper education and training process. While it isn’t always necessary to earn a university degree in your pursuit of joining law enforcement, a degree will certainly help your chances of landing a good position right off the bat. Furthermore, those who aspire to rise in the police force ranks would certainly need to possess a certain level of education.

Degrees that you might consider in your journey to become a police officer include a Bachelor of Arts in Policing and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Policing. Such policing degrees are available online for those looking for the most flexible and efficient educational process.

2. Paramedic

It can in many ways be said that a career in medicine, regardless of the type of job you pursue, is community driven. That being said, those who work as paramedics are particularly community driven; paramedics are the ones who serve as the lifeline between those undergoing a medical emergency either at home or in public and the local healthcare system.

Working as a paramedic involves remaining calm in even the most distressing of medical emergencies and taking control over difficult and even uncomfortable situations. It is no easy task to administer potentially life-saving care in a public place that could perhaps be crowded and chaotic.

Nevertheless, paramedics assume this tough job and provide how lives are saved each and every day. As frontline workers, they are truly there to serve the community in crisis and medical distress.

Becoming a paramedic in Canada involves obtaining the right level of education, which in some cases could include a university degree, and applying for the proper training and certification. Once you are fully qualified, you can apply to work as a paramedic via an official Paramedic Service.

3. Social Worker

A social worker’s job is largely underappreciated but exceedingly vital to the health and well-being of many within the community. Social workers seek to provide informational and outreach programs to those within a certain community living under less than ideal or even dangerous conditions.

Social workers seek to identify those within the community who would benefit from additional assistance. In some cases, this might mean educating those within an underserved community on basic skills like housekeeping, cooking, and how to live a healthier lifestyle.

In other cases, social workers are responsible for helping those within the community who find themselves living in an abusive or dangerous environment. By providing such individuals with the assistance they need, these vital community workers can effectively remove them from their current situation and help to establish them in a more stable and safe environment.

It should be known that the job of a social worker is not for the faint of heart. You must be able to understand and use the law and governmental programs properly to assist those who are within your care. You also need to have the ability to communicate effectively with those in undesirable situations to best assist them in their journey towards a safer, more stable life.

To become a social worker, it is required that you hold a relevant bachelor’s degree, such as a Bachelor of Social Work degree, from an accredited university. Depending on your situation and goals, you might also need to earn a master’s degree.

Once you have obtained the proper level of education, you need to become a member of a provincial regulatory body based on where you will seek employment. For instance, if you wish to become a social worker in Ontario, you will need to consult a local college in this area.

4. Medical Dispatcher

Another vital job that fits into the category of healthcare is that of a medical dispatcher. These workers man emergency service hotlines to help deliver the right services in the quickest manner possible to those in need.

Whenever you call for emergency services, the person who handles your call serves as the bridge between yourself and the help that you need. They have a great deal of knowledge about how the healthcare system operates and how to best provide you with the specific services you need, even if you don’t know what particular services you need in the midst of a crisis.

Beyond understanding the healthcare system, medical dispatchers are also trained to best communicate with those who are experiencing a medical crisis. They will stay with you on the phone to offer emotional support until the proper authorities and services arrive. Working under pressure is a key part of their role.

This can be an incredibly stressful job, but it is critical to the proper functioning of the healthcare and emergency services systems within the community. It is often a fast-paced job that requires you to have the ability to think clearly and decisively at a time when the individual you are seeking to assist is experiencing distress and potential trauma.

While you don’t have to possess a university degree to pursue this career path, you will need to have gone through the proper training and certification process to become a qualified medical dispatcher.

5. Senior Caregiver

Some of the most vulnerable members of a community are elderly seniors who, for whatever reason, are no longer able to take care of themselves. Perhaps an elderly individual is suffering from a medical condition that inhibits their mobility and cannot continue living independently. That person would then need to enlist the services of a senior caregiver, particularly if they don’t have the right support around them in the form of friends or family.

As a senior caregiver, you might choose to work with a senior directly in their home on a routine basis to assist with daily tasks and the administering of important medication. You could also opt to work within a designated senior-oriented facility or community as a part of a larger staff.

Depending on the particular type of job you wish to pursue, the education and qualification process can vary. Many nurses choose to dedicate their careers to geriatrics and the care of the elderly, a path that requires one to complete nursing school and obtain the proper licensing and certifications. Working with the elderly as your chosen career path also requires you to have a personable nature and patience.

Medical technicians working with the elderly will have their own qualification process dependent on the type of care they will deliver. There are also a number of administration-based jobs within this field that one can pursue even if you don’t have any practical medical education or experience.

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