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Professionally Validate Feelings when you Become a Personal Support Worker

personal support worker coursePersonal support workers care for individuals, assisting them with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) such as washing, dressing, and eating. They’re a positive, supportive presence and are respectful of space, privacy, and feelings. Working with people in their everyday routines means interacting with them during different emotional states. When you support someone who is feeling frustrated, exhausted, angry, or sad, it’s important to make them feel comfortable sharing that with you. Both negative and positive feelings can be validated by you and help your clients feel even more supported. Read on to learn some of the ways you can do this in a professional way.

What if you Become a Personal Support Worker and Don’t Validate Feelings?

If clients feel invalidated, they may start to feel misunderstood, isolated, or unimportant. They may also feel that their emotions are a burden to you. When working with someone new, a client might feel anxious, as you are someone they are not used to and you’re helping them with very personal things. When you make it clear that it’s ok to express discomfort, it can have a diffusing effect on stress and anxiety. When you become a personal support worker, you can see this in practice as you will need to establish trust as a priority with clients.

Daniel Wegner’s theory of “ironic processes” tells us that the more we try to suppress thoughts, the more present they become in our minds. In the same way, if a client feels they should not have certain negative emotions, they will be harder to avoid. By letting clients be honest with you, they are able to process their feelings.

Stay Present in your work after a PSW Training Program

Sitting with difficult feelings or negative emotions is not easy, so many people will multitask or half-listen when other people express these things. As a supportive person in a client’s life, you can give them the validation they may need by accepting their words and not avoiding tough messages. Listening with your full attention can make a world of difference to a person you are supporting.

Sometimes people worry about saying the right thing when supporting – but in your work, you don’t always need to respond. Paying total attention to your clients in a non-judgemental manner offers them safety. Simply being physically present when someone is experiencing pain or frustration with ADLs can make them feel seen and validated in their experience.

Staying present with clients will help you build a trusting, positive relationship

Staying present with clients will help you build a trusting, positive relationship

Use the Information you have about Clients to Understand Them

As you may know from a PSW training program, you could assist people in your career who have barriers due to aging, ability, or illness. From what you know about their personal barriers, you can often gain insight into why they may react or feel certain ways. For example, if a client is frustrated while putting on a shirt in a new way, you may want to validate their frustration by saying something like, “Given that this is a new technique for something you’ve been doing all your life, I completely understand why it would be frustrating.”

New ways to do ADLs can be frustrating at first for clients. Validating this can make them feel seen

New ways to do ADLs can be frustrating at first for clients. Validating this can make them feel seen

This normalizes the way they feel and lets them know there is nothing wrong with their emotions. Normalizing their feelings by acknowledging that other people would be upset in the same situation can also be very validating. Instead of feeling like they need to hide frustration, they can be reminded that it’s a normal human reaction to something that almost anyone would find difficult.

Are you interested in taking a personal support worker course?

Contact KLC College for more information!

Identify Main Issues Using the IDEAL Problem-Solving Model after Office Administration Training

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Office administrators are the backbone of organization and efficiency in a work environment. They’re also great problem-solvers and are able to think quickly on their feet. When you are faced with decision-making challenges in your career, you will need methods in place to be able to clearly and effectively make choices. With solid action plans, your confidence will soar, and you will be in control of your responsibilities.

A popular method is the IDEAL (Identify, Define, Explore, Act, Look) model, outlined by Bransford and Stein in their book, The Ideal Problem Solver, in 1984. It has since undergone various tweaks and modifications for different purposes. Read on to learn how you can use this model to identify the focus of an issue and tackle the most important part.

Why this Strategy will Help when you Become an Office Administrator

An employee is more valuable when they bring solutions to the table, rather than adding problems. Office administrators are trusted with tasks involving human relations, record-keeping, organization, and more – all of which require sharp judgement and good solutions. Taking on projects independently is a fulfilling opportunity for administrators and the more you show your problem-solving skills, the more likely you are to be given these responsibilities. You’ll gain respect from your colleagues and will be able to show off your skills beyond office administration training, demonstrating your worth in the real world with all of its unpredictability.

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Presenting solutions to your manager will show them how valuable you are

Use your Career Training to Identify Problems and Opportunities

A positive attitude is easier when approaching problems with the mindset of opportunity. The first step in the IDEAL model is “Identify”, using facts and information to isolate the root issue at hand. A common example is a leaky roof in the office, where instead of placing a bucket under the leak we would identify that the root issue is a hole in the roof that needs to be fixed before it causes more complications. This might point to an opportunity to check for other holes in the roof or make more repairs (and as an administrator, it would give you an opportunity to step up outside of your day-to-day duties and show leadership). The next step, “Define”, calls for describing potential solutions and strategies, and choosing what will work best using the third step, “Evaluate”. Thinking of pros and cons can help when trying to choose from a list of possible solutions.

become an office administrator

Seeing challenges as opportunities helps you maintain a positive attitude and enjoy your work

IDEAL Leaves Room for Re-Evaluation to Ensure you Chose the Right Issue

The final two steps of the IDEAL model are “Act” and “Look”. After evaluating your options and choosing the best solution, acting on that strategy means using your career training and soft skills combined to apply that solution. After you’ve acted, the “Look” stage encourages you to look back on what you’ve done, see if it worked and learn from the experience. At this point, if the solution didn’t work, you apply what you’ve learned to revise your strategy and try again. Giving yourself time to slow down and evaluate your work will make you a more efficient administrator in the end and keep you learning new things for the duration of your career.

Do you want to become an office administrator?

Contact KLC College for more information.

Interested in Child and Youth Worker Training? How to Lead a Youth Workshop

child youth worker college program

Speaking to a room full of young children and/or teenagers and engaging them through a workshop can be both fun and challenging at the same time. If you’re considering youth worker training, and are hoping to lead youth workshops in your career, you will need to learn how best to entertain your young audience and keep them fully engaged — whether through speaking with them, engaging them in activities, or any other method you choose.

If you love working with children and think this career path might be right for you, read on to learn some of the ways you can lead youth workshops and ensure a gratifying experience for you and all others involved.

Know How Best to Discuss Your Topic with Young People

Leading a youth workshop will require you to have clear goals in mind. You might teach young listeners about important life skills, such as teamwork or problem-solving, or you could lead a workshop that’s tied to school subjects, like arts and crafts, computer skills, or drama. Regardless, you’ll need to effectively organize your ideas beforehand, and writing an agenda of talking points could be a good way of doing this.

Additionally, since you will be speaking to children and adolescents, you will need to avoid complex, overly technical explanations of your subject matter and explain topics in terms young people will understand. Either way, you’ll want to be sure about how best to present your workshop, and what you want the outcome to be.

Keep kids engaged during a workshop by having them participate in group activities

Keep kids engaged during a workshop by having them participate in group activities

Get Kids Involved and Engaged

Youth workshops are most successful when there’s involvement and active participation from everyone, so be sure to prepare activities, group exercises, and other ways your young participants can engage with the workshop to keep things fresh and exciting.

You can split your young participants into individual groups and have them work on activities as a team. You may want to walk around the room and see how things are going, before asking for each group to tell you what resulted from their exercise once it ends. You can openly invite questions from the children and encourage open discussion among everyone during the workshop’s conclusion to gauge how they enjoyed it, and what they learned. Make sure they’re able to participate and freely exchange ideas, so that it can be a fun and fulfilling experience for all.

Be enthusiastic and communicate well with children in your workshop

Be enthusiastic and communicate well with children in your workshop

Apply the Skills You Learn in Child and Youth Worker Training

If you’re studying to become a child and youth worker, you will learn how to cultivate practical skills such as interpersonal communication and patience, and how best to use them with young people. For example, KLC College’s Child and Youth Worker program includes a practicum/work placement, where students take what they’ve learned and apply it to a practical environment. This can be through a paid position or as a volunteer, and can be done either during their studies, or as their program is ending. It can also lead to employment opportunities like working in education, social service agencies, or children’s mental health facilities.

A youth workshop is an environment where your communication skills can truly come in handy, and can be a great way to showcase what you’ve learned from your child and youth worker training in a fun, relaxed setting. Be outgoing, energetic, open and empathetic to the children’s ideas and opinions, and receptive to questions. You’re hoping these children can take something positive and informative out of the workshop, so enthusiasm is the key to success!

Do you want to enroll in a child youth worker college program?

Contact KLC College for more info!

Why Human Relations Skills Matter after Accounting Clerk Training

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Accounting might be a field based around numbers and dollar signs, but people skills are just as important. Why? Because beyond simply crunching numbers, entering data, bookkeeping, and performing other basic clerical tasks, you’ll need to know how best to deal with the people you communicate with daily, both inside your office and out.

Not only will you need good oral communication skills as an accounting clerk, but you’ll need to know how best to harness them. In fact, good accounting clerk courses include human relations as part of the coursework. Here are some reasons why human relations skills are so important to have while you’re studying to become an accounting clerk.

You’ll Communicate Effectively with Consumers After Accounting Clerk Training

Aside from calculating and processing invoices, budgets, and other such financial documents, you may also be expected to communicate with consumers. More specifically, this could mean answering calls and responding to consumer inquiries, dealing with any issues that may require sending them refunds (and issuing those refunds as quickly as possible), or notifying them of unmade payments and delinquent bank accounts. For example, if you were to work as an accounting clerk at an educational institution, you may be responsible for refunding tuition fees, as well as reviewing student accounts to keep track of other fees and necessary payments. Your job may involve a lot of solitary bookkeeping, but you’ll be dealing with the public more often than some might think, and it’s important to maintain a solid relationship with consumers, vendors, and suppliers.

You will have to communicate with others often as an accounting clerk

You will have to communicate with others often as an accounting clerk

You Will Master Your Multitasking Skills in an Accounting Clerk Career

Not only will you communicate with consumers, but you’ll have several other tasks on your hands, involving correspondence with others from within the company. Your job might involve responding to inquiries specific to accounting, helping senior employees with certain tasks, communicating with the reconciliation department, and discussing invoices and expenses with employees in various areas of the company. Furthermore, you’ll be expected to interact with upper management, including direct communication with them to resolve any issues, scheduling conference calls, and getting approval from management on cheque and invoice requests. Since you’ll likely be working in an environment with tight and urgent deadlines, it’s important to choose an accounting clerk training program that will help you learn to manage both the tasks you do on your own as well as the ones where communication across the company is needed.

You’ll learn to multitask effectively in your accounting clerk training

You’ll learn to multitask effectively in your accounting clerk training

You’ll Be Able to Network More Efficiently

In many industries, the name of the game often isn’t what you know, but who you know. If you find yourself at a corporate event or in the presence of industry experts who may be able to help you get where you want to be professionally, the importance of a good first impression cannot be stressed enough. Strong communication skills are important in the accounting world, but even more so when you happen to meet people associated with companies who are searching for candidates in the industry. Furthermore, you’ll be able to exchange knowledge and stories with people who have more industry experience than you, which can prove to be invaluable. Studying accounting and bookkeeping at a career college can give you technical knowledge, and who you meet after that can put you over the top.

Are you interested in taking an accounting clerk course?

Contact KLC College to find out more!

3 Facts about Surface Anatomy for Students in an Occupational Therapy Assistant Program

occupational therapist assistant course

Surface anatomy is a part of gross anatomy, or the study of tissues and organs that are visible to the naked eye. These visible parts are also known as the macroscopic level. Surface anatomy is specifically the external features of the body that can be seen without dissection. For occupational therapy, being familiar with the human body is foundational. Also referred to as superficial anatomy or visual anatomy, surface anatomy allows practitioners to locate landmarks and use palpation, which is physical examination through touching the surface of the body. Read on for some facts about this important part of studying to become an occupational therapy assistant.

1. Surface Anatomy uses Directional Terms from Occupational Therapy Assistant Courses

Directional terms are used in anatomy to be clear about locations on the body as well as to describe movements. The starting point for directional terms is the anatomical position, in which a person is standing facing forward, with their arms at their sides and palms facing forward. From there, we can use terms such as superior or inferior, meaning upper or lower, or posterior and anterior, meaning back and front. These words will allow you to understand and communicate with the occupational therapist (OT) you assist when you become an occupational therapy assistant, for example, when helping with exercises or activities for coordination.

Directional terms may come up in your career when assisting with exercises from the OT

Directional terms may come up in your career when assisting with exercises from the OT

2. Surface Anatomy Establishes Landmarks for after Occupational Therapy Assistant Courses

When assisting an occupational therapist, you may notice that they use bony landmarks to orient themselves on a client’s body, or use them to communicate with you. Much like geographical landmarks like the CN Tower in Toronto or Fort Henry in Kingston, they are used as reference points (combined with directional terms) to understand the map of the human body and stay oriented. This is also a way to refer to areas of concern or focus in ways that both you and the OT you assist will understand. An example of a bony landmark is the C7 spine at the back of the neck.

3. Palpation Inspects Clients Using Surface Anatomy

Palpation is used by many professionals including osteopaths, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and massage therapists to examine the body by touching its surface. After completing an occupational therapy assistant program, you may notice different methods for gathering information that the OT you assist uses. For example, they may use techniques like asking a client questions or observing how they move. Palpation is another method that requires knowledge of surface anatomy and landmarks, using the hands to feel surface tissues and bony protrusions.

Palpation is a method of gathering information about a client, using touch on the surface of their body

Palpation is a method of gathering information about a client, using touch on the surface of their body

Are you interested in an occupational therapist assistant course?

Contact KLC College for more information!

4 Job-Ready Skills You’ll Learn in Dental Assistant Training

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In your career as a dental assistant, you will work under the supervision of a dentist, performing an array of tasks and duties. Dental assistants need to possess a wide range of skills to be effective and successful in their careers. In your training program, you will learn many of these skills that you can apply directly to your first job in the field. From human relations training to radiography and infection control, practical skills will keep you successful and effective in your field.

Read on for some of the job-ready skills you’ll pick up in your program!

1. A Good Dental Assistant Diploma Program Provides Infection Control Training

Often, dental assistants are the point people for infection control in dental offices. It’s a big responsibility and very important to prevent infection and maintain proper safety, screening, hand hygiene, and protection. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario has specific guidelines for standard of practice in infection prevention and control in dental offices.

Dental assistants prepare examination areas, develop infection control protocol, clean up after procedures, and sterilize equipment and instruments. Having infection control skills ready to go for your first job is crucial to your success, as the office may even place you as their infection control officer.

2. Human Relations Skills will Help you after Dental Assistant Training

Human relations skills prepare you to interact with different people effectively, manage and lead others, as well as make people feel comfortable and have positive interactions. As a dental assistant, you will probably be required to calm clients down who are feeling anxious and ensure that people who come into the dental office have a comfortable and positive experience when interacting with you.

Dental assistants often schedule appointments and help clients feel comfortable

Dental assistants often schedule appointments and help clients feel comfortable

Dental assistants are often responsible for interviewing patients, scheduling their appointments and providing customer service with a professional demeanour. Your effective communication skills from career training will help the office run smoothly and ensure that tasks get done.

3. Radiography Training from a Dental Assistant Diploma Program is Essential

Intra-Oral duties include technical procedures, for example dental radiography. Radiographs, or x-rays, are commonly used to evaluate dental health and will be conducted often in a dental office. Dental assistants who are qualified will take and develop x-rays, as well as maintain equipment and proper sterilization of the rooms and instruments used in the process.

Technical skills from your program will help you take and develop x-rays in your career

Technical skills from your program will help you take and develop x-rays in your career

Having training with this technology prepares you for the demands of a busy office with many scheduled procedures.

4. CPR and Standard First Aid will be Required after Dental Assistant Training

Dental assistants are required to assess emergency situations and need training in CPR and First Aid. Getting this training through your dental assistant diploma program is the simplest way to receive updated emergency skills and be qualified for your first day on the job. You must be able to recognize signs of a dental emergency so that you can keep people safe. These skills are also applicable to your daily life, as you can help others and yourself in emergency situations.

Are you interested in dental assistant training?

Contact KLC College for more information.

What is Restorative Care? A Guide for Students Considering a PSW Training Program

become a personal support worker

Training to become a personal support worker can prepare you for a career in a number of different care settings. One type of care that you can play a role in providing is restorative care, which is offered at many hospitals as well as at some long-term care facilities.

Restorative care is a part of the rehabilitation process that focuses on helping patients regain independence to the fullest extent possible and improve their quality of life. Given that PSWs play an important role in restorative care, here’s a quick look at what you should know about it if you want to be a PSW.

Restorative Care is for Patients Who Are No Longer Suited to Acute Care

Restorative care is typically for patients who no longer need intensive rehabilitation or acute care, such as those who have suffered a stroke or traumatic injury. After acute care, restorative care is usually considered a next step of the patient’s rehabilitation. Restorative care helps patients to rebuild their strength and functional abilities at a pace that is manageable for them.

Unlike acute care, which may focus on minimizing illness or injury, restorative care focuses on helping patients regain a sense of wellness. While it is often performed at special facilities within hospitals, it may also be incorporated into long-term care homes as a way of helping residents attain their highest personal level of independence.

The goal of rehabilitative care is to help patients live as independently as possible

The goal of rehabilitative care is to help patients live as independently as possible

You Can Be Part of a Patient’s Restorative Care Team After PSW Training

Unlike intensive rehabilitation, restorative care is a slower phase in the client’s recovery. Fewer hours are spent on therapy sessions, for example, with the goal instead being on more long-term goals. Some days there may be no rehabilitation work at all, with patients undergoing therapy only a limited number of times a week. Restorative care tends to take longer than intensive rehabilitation or acute care does, but it is also less stressful for the client, allows them to build a tolerance for new tasks and activities, and helps them feel more in control of their recovery.

Restorative care helps patients rehabilitate at a slower, more comfortable pace

Restorative care helps patients rehabilitate at a slower, more comfortable pace

During restorative care, the rehabilitation program is created by the therapist and implemented by a team of professionals. When you become a personal support worker, you can be a part of that team, which may also include nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, physicians, speech language pathologists, dietitians, and social workers.

Restorative Care Benefits Both Patients and the Healthcare System

Restorative care has a number of benefits. For one, it is a more appropriate type of care for some patients who no longer require acute care, but who may still need a level of assistance that makes living at home impractical. While every patient’s restorative care is different, your PSW training program can prepare you for helping with some types of assistance that may be needed, such as nutrition and hydration, assisting with personal hygiene, and assisting with medications.

Furthermore, without restorative care, patients may end up staying in a bed in acute care long after they need it. Acute care is usually not set up to provide the long-term, slower paced type of rehabilitation that some patients need. By transferring the patient to restorative care, acute care beds are then freed up for patients who do need them, thus easing the burden on the entire healthcare system.

Do you want to become a Personal Support Worker?

Contact KLC College to learn more about our personal support worker college program.

Want to Become an Educational Assistant? 3 Things to Know About Learning Styles

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Educational Assistants strive to treat each student individually, taking into account their specific needs and how they learn. When working with a group of diverse minds, various learning styles and ways of thinking are present. Common styles are visual (through pictures, images and spatial understanding), auditory (music and sound), kinesthetic (through the hands, body and sense of touch), and linguistic (spoken and written words).

Adapting to learning styles is a great way to make a difference in a student’s life, helping to give them a more rewarding educational experience. It’s also a great way to understand different behaviours and why they may be surfacing, sometimes as a result of not feeling engaged enough by teaching methods. Read on for a few helpful things to know about learning styles, if you are looking at a career as an educational assistant.

Individual Styles to Apply Learning Theory from Educational Assistant Classes

A common misconception is that each person falls under one learning style. On the contrary, children will often respond strongly to a few types of learning, sometimes with a combination of styles working best. As you’ll learn in educational assistant classes, it’s important to meet the individual needs of each student.

You can give students extra assistance that is in line with their learning styles

You can give students extra assistance that is in line with their learning styles

If basic instruction is structured in a way that resonates with most or all students, then individual help can be more tailored to each student’s best way of learning. For example, the teacher you assist may use music to teach a small group, then follow this up with visual instruction for a child who gravitates heavily towards images. This personalizes learning and shows empathy and understanding for each individual on their journey.

Thinking Style will Matter too When you Become an Educational Assistant

Thinking style differs from learning style, but the two go hand in hand when catering class material to a student. The difference is that learning style is how a child receives information best, while thinking style is how they process information best. It can affect how much time they need after a lesson to process, as well as the appropriate pacing that the instructor you work with will use.

Linear thinkers need structure and a sequenced format when they process new information. These children need the first step to be completed before they can move on to the second step. They prefer that things are consistent and predictable, meaning that weaving this into your teaching assistance, while keeping your pacing moderate or slow, will keep them from feeling lost or frustrated.

Global thinkers aren’t as patient with a step by step format. They want all of the information available right away, so that they can see the whole picture. Children who want an entire lesson at once and seem to get antsy waiting between steps will want information faster, with a big picture given before review.

A Growth Mindset Prevents Children From Getting Boxed in

It’s important to maintain a growth mindset when you become an educational assistant. A child may excel with one particular learning style, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t excel in a different learning style a year from now. You may assist a teacher who uses kinesthetic strategies with a student who’s very physical and responds to learning through their five senses. At the same time, this student could be challenged to learn through auditory tools and build their skills with learning through sound.

It’s important to give students room for growth with their less preferred learning styles

It’s important to give students room for growth with their less preferred learning styles

You may be asked to encourage these developments by blending different learning styles when you assist students. Let them learn through combining what they are great at with something they find challenging, making it less intimidating and confusing for the child as you help them.

Are you interested in an education assistant training course?

Contact KCL College for more information.

How to Know If Accounting Clerk Training is Right for You

accounting clerk training

When looking for career training, you might know that you want to enter the workforce equipped with a practical and valuable education, but also feel unsure of which program to choose. It helps to look at your aptitudes and personality traits as they stand, then see if they apply to the profession you might pick. The things that interest you, come naturally to you, and matter to you are excellent indicators of what career would have you feeling the most fulfilled, actualized, and engaged. It’s also probably important to you to choose an education and career path that makes the most of your best qualities. Read on for some good ways to know if an education that can lead to bookkeeping and accounting department management is appropriate for you.

Numbers Matter in the Real World, Not Just in an Accounting Clerk Course

An aptitude for numbers and a genuine interest in math is very important for a career that requires a lot of number-crunching. You won’t just encounter a large volume of math in your courses – you’ll experience it in your future career as well. If you are someone who is comfortable working with numbers and can perform basic arithmetic with accuracy, an accounting program might be a good fit. It is best to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide quickly and accurately without a calculator in hand. If you find yourself very quickly solving mathematical problems with ease, you might make a great accounting clerk student. Additionally, if you have responsibilities to balance while getting your education, it could be worth looking into what a quick, partially self-facilitating accounting clerk course has to offer.

If You Pay Attention to Detail, Accounting Clerk Training Might be for You

Do you notice small details that others often don’t? Are you able to catch typos, inconsistencies, mathematical mistakes and misquotes because you are good at paying close attention? Accounting is an exact science, without wiggle room or the opportunity to take shortcuts. For example, when you record transactions, you must make sure every detail is properly recorded, with exact amounts, whether payment was given, and what the payment was for, in addition to other details. If you are able to pay close attention to everything in front of you, your work will be less prone to error and much more efficient. Inconsistent recording and math can put an accounting clerk on a fast track to jumbled records and a huge amount of stress. Additionally, the more detail-oriented you are, the better you will be at picking up on mistakes made by other people, before they become a big problem. To fine-tune your attention to detail as it specifically applies to accounting, a career training program can offer small class sizes and hands-on training to give you experience for the real world.

With good attention to detail, you can catch accounting mistakes before they cause a lot of damage

With good attention to detail, you can catch accounting mistakes before they cause a lot of damage

Honesty and Trustworthiness is an Important Trait for Accounting Clerks

Are you good at keeping sensitive information away from prying eyes? Are privacy, confidentiality, and professionalism some of your core values? In an accounting career, you will often be handling confidential documents, such as bank statements, payroll records, and files containing other company information. Integrity is a foundational quality for a career in which you will be handling funds. If you have integrity, you will be of great value in the field and to the companies you may work for. Professional office procedures and business law are parts of a career college accounting diploma program, which you can apply to your level of professionalism and respect for confidential info during your career.

Conveying your honesty and trustworthiness will help you in your career after an accounting program

Conveying your honesty and trustworthiness will help you in your career after an accounting program

Are you interested in knowing more about accounting clerk training?

Contact KLC College for more information.

3 Resume Writing Tips to Help You Land a Job as an Occupational Therapy Assistant

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As Canada’s population continues to age, the demand for occupational therapy assistants is expected to remain strong. While there are many opportunities for OTAs, landing the best positions depends largely on having your resume noticed by employers.

Creating a great resume for an OTA position is a bit different from creating a resume for other types of jobs. Employers of OTAs are looking for unique skills and experiences, and your resume is your first chance to prove that you have what they’re after. Here are a few tips for crafting a resume to help you get noticed.

1. Put Yourself in an Employer’s Head When Writing Your Resume

If you want your resume to stand out, you need to think like an employer. That means crafting your resume so that it shows employers what you can do for them. When you adopt the mindset of an OTA employer, you will write certain parts of your resume differently than you otherwise would. For example, when talking about your OTA program, don’t just mention that you successfully completed it, as this tells the employer very little about what skills you will bring to the job.

Instead, go into detail about what you learned in your program and how this can benefit the employer. For example, one occupational therapist assistant course you will study is Introduction to Gerontology. If the job you are applying for consists of working with the elderly, highlight what you learned in this course and how it is relevant to the position.

If the position involves working with elderly patients, mention your knowledge of gerontology

2. Use Keywords to Get Your OTA Resume in Front of Human Eyes

Unfortunately, the first person to review your resume may not be a person at all, but rather an applicant tracking systems (ATS). An ATS typically scans your resume for certain keywords that are important to the employer in order to automatically reject weak candidates. While you won’t have any way of knowing for sure what these keywords are, you can make educated guesses.

For example, if you know the position requires you to mainly work with clients with neurological disorders, be sure to mention that you studied neurological disorders in your program. Specifically, make sure the phrase “neurological disorders” is included in the resume. While you don’t want to stuff your resume with keywords, you should at least make sure you have the ones you think are important sprinkled throughout.

3. Highlight Your Occupational Therapy Assistant Placement Experience

Employers highly value candidates who have experience in the field. While coursework is important, on-the-job experience will help you understand the practical challenges that OTAs face every day. After you complete the theory component of your occupational therapy assistant program, you will complete a 12-week placement. This can occur in private clinics, hospitals, or long-term care facilities.

Even if you’re applying for a position at a different type of facility or working with different types of clients, your placement experience is one of the strongest features of your resume. Employers especially like to see what your achievements were at your placement. So, rather than just listing your job duties, talk about your accomplishments. For example, maybe a client or the occupational therapist you worked under singled you out for praise. You can include this as an accomplishment by mentioning the positive feedback you received during your placement. This shows employers that you’ll make a valuable addition to their team.

Your placement is your chance to highlight your on-the-job experience on your resume

Your placement is your chance to highlight your on-the-job experience on your resume

Do you want to become an occupational therapy assistant?

Contact KLC College to learn more about our programs.