Welcome to Bluebird Care Careers in Edinburgh

I have 10 years’ experience in the care at home sector, all of which have been with Bluebird Care Edinburgh.  I have been lucky to have been able to grow and develop my skills, during this time, from a care coordinator to my current role.  As Head of People it allows me to work with a great team across Edinburgh, Glasgow and now Ayrshire, to ensure that we recruit, induct and support amazing care staff. I am passionate about training, career development, supporting our employees and creating a positive working environment for all.  As part of the management team, I am in a privileged position to be able to shape the way of the future for our customers and employees.

Outside of work, I am mum to Edith who keeps me on my toes but teaches me a lot about myself and the world.  I have a wonderful husband Neil, who makes me laugh daily and reminds me that I can achieve whatever I set I mind to.  I love to keep fit and still use my personal training days to help others, achieve their goals.

I have been involved within the recruitment industry for over 30 years at various levels throughout my career, being REC accredited and part CIPD qualified.

I truly understand the importance of listening, engaging and delivering for prospective candidates, having latterly worked for a large health organisation managing a large area, ensuring medication reached vulnerable people in the community. 

This enthused me to move into a care role that would utilise my skills and add value to the Bluebird Care family ethos; the feeling I get when providing a dedicated and caring individual from initial contact through to first day induction …. Is “Brill”

My career background initially was always secretarial. When my children were small I wanted something that would give me to flexibility to enable me to work from home, so I started a small ironing business with a few clients. As my children moved onto High school I felt the time was right to re-evaluate my career and see what my next challenge would be!

Around about the same time, my mother had been receiving care at home and I was taken with the way the carers dealt with and interacted (or not) with her and the whole thing struck a chord with me. The whole concept of looking after others, less fortunate than myself, in the comfort of their own home really appealed to me so I did some research on the sector. Upon reading, it made me want to make this my new profession as I felt I would be good fit for any good organisation willing to take a chance on someone who never did this type of thing before, but someone who had a good heart and was keen to learn.

I applied to Bluebird Care Edinburgh, as I’d heard great things about them, was interviewed and offered a role which I readily accepted. I really enjoyed the initial week induction training and felt I was ready to start my new career as a Care Assistant.Being a Carer really made me feel that I was making a difference, I loved going into my Customers houses and making a difference to their daily lives.It made me realise that even the little things meant such a lot to them. My role gave me such a feeling of job satisfaction that I have made a difference to people lives.

I have been with Bluebird Care for 5 years now and have really enjoyed it all. I am very keen to progress my career and when a position became available working as the  Recruitment Resourcer, I jumped at the chance to further enhance my care sector experience. I loved seeing how the new staff progressed, from my initial contact through to the delivery of care and some of the wonderful comments from both colleagues and customers alike.

I have a passion for learning and developing people within the workforce and overall care sector and I am proud to say that my new role as People Development & Engagement Officer has re-invigorated me and I am thoroughly enjoying this new role within Bluebird Care, as I still feel that I can make a difference, but just in a different area.

I started off my Career working in a lawyers when I left school but found this very boring. I then moved onto the Examinations Department within the National Board of Nursing and Midwifery for Scotland which I found very interesting when meeting with all the Health Care staff who put together the exam papers. I wanted to travel so worked in Australia for a year. When I returned I wanted to move into nursing and worked as an auxiliary for a couple of years. I was then offered a position to help run and build up a cleaning business which I jumped at as this was the challenge I was looking for.

After 20 years we had built this to a National Company employing more than 1000 staff and ended up as Director of Finance and Administration. I found there was no longer a challenge for me then decided to set up my own cleaning business, this quickly turned into more of a care role as I ended up helping the older Customers with personal care as well as their cleaning. I enjoyed helping others less fortunate and able than myself and went to work with the disabled as a support worker – empowering them to improve  and enjoy life, while doing this I worked as a Supervisor for a Care at home company which I also found I had so much job satisfaction from helping others.

It was after this I moved to Bluebird Care in 2011 . I have had varied roles within the company enjoying each of them. I left my full time job to become a Mum in 2013 but did not want to stop working with Bluebird Care so I returned  part time in their accounts department and love my job and the company I work with. In 2017 I increased my hours and became Office/Finance Manager. I love a challenge and making improvements where I can but the best part of working for Bluebird Care is when you think you have had a bad day then you speak to one of our Customers who are so thankful for the little things in life that our Carers do for them – this makes any bad day simply fade away.

I have worked in the care industry practically all my working life since leaving school. I started working in a care home as a care assistant where I worked up until I left to have my daughter. I returned to work in a part time roll until the birth of my son when I left to care for him. I joined a care agency and worked in various care homes around Edinburgh which I combined with a part time retail job. I first began working in care at home after joining Allied Care in 2007. I loved the way I could give someone the help and care they required to stay in their own home and retain a level of independence and dignity.

I found that I much preferred to work in the care at home sector as it allowed a much more personal service that I gained great satisfaction from. My first spell at Bluebird Care was in 2010 as a care assistant, I immediately loved the place and quickly noticed how differently they saw how to treat both customers and carers alike. They work to very high standards, something I love. During my role I have met some great people both employees and customers.

In 2012 my dad was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. I spent the next two years providing care for my dad at home on a daily basis whilst also working full time with Bluebird Care. Unfortunately in 2014 my dad passed away,which left me devastated. I took a break from working and left my role at Bluebird Care to allow me to grieve and get a perspective on my life. After a good period of time, I decided to return to work in my role as a care assistant in 2015 with bluebird Care Edinburgh, it felt like coming home.

An opportunity recently became available for a Supervisory role which I applied for and was successful. It was a massive step for me as I thought I would be a care assistant for the rest of my working life (which I was happy to be), but after some soul searching, I felt I had more to offer and still do!

I am extremely grateful for the confidence shown in me and I am so excited to further my knowledge and to meet the challenges my new role will bring.     

After a long and varied career in different sectors within the retail Industry which ranged from working on the shop floor at entry level, to eventually working my way up the career ladder to Manager of a large well known clothing retailers. Although I enjoyed this work very much I felt I had progressed as far as I could and was eager to find a new and different challenge.

After doing some research into into the care sector, I was very interested in knowing more about it and where I could fit in. I applied to an advert within Bluebird Care Edinburgh as a Care Assistant, as I had read excellent reviews about them and I wanted the best training out there. I was interviewed and offered the position, which I accepted immediately.

After completing my Induction training I was out providing care to customers in their own homes and it was such a rewarding job. Coupled with the induction training, I received fantastic ongoing support, which gave me great re-assurance and bags of confidence. I continued in this role for the next few years continuing to grow as a Care Assistant and building my knowledge through Bluebird Care training courses. Through my visits to the office, I became aware of an advert for the position of Support Co-ordinator which I felt would suit me, primarily as I felt I had the customer and carer knowledge to fulfil this role. I applied, was interviewed and was offered the position. 
I worked in this position for 6 months and during that time picked up a huge amount of knowledge of not only the existing systems, but also the new Webroster rostering system. This also gave me a valuable insight into all the work that is involved behind the scenes too.

I’m loving my new role within Bluebird Care