If I had to reduce all the factors I consider as a veteran home care aide agency administrator when evaluating a candidate's suitability to work for our Agency, to just a few, I would say that the qualities that attract me most among qualified home care aides, are a distinct sense of sincerity, kindness and courtesy.  Of course, it's not always easy to detect the kindness and sincerity of a person when meeting them for the first time but if you allow enough time to get acquainted with them during the interview process, and you conduct the interview in a relaxed and friendly manner, their personal qualities will, more often than not, become apparent.

Since our clients are almost exclusively seniors, many of whom are frail and disabled, it is of the utmost importance that we do a good job of selecting the right person to work with them in their homes.  I'm very proud of the batting average we've acquired over more than two decades of hiring home care help. Of course, we don't only rely on qualities.  We place a high value on their skills and experience as well and conduct careful background and reference checking.  But, I'm pleased to say, we must be doing something right because word-of-mouth referrals have always been a mainstay of our business through the years.

The reason I find courtesy to be such a good measure of a caregiver's character is that it generally reflects a person's sense of decency and respect for others.  It also is a good indicator to me of their humility and self-discipline.   Courteous people don't usually come late to work, impose their thoughts and feelings on others, or do unethical things,  gossip among co-workers or betray our client's confidentiality, etc.  And courteous behavior speaks eloquently to the gentleness of their spirit.   

Polite people tend not be overly-assertive or overly-inquisitive. They tend not to lose their decorum when confronted with combative clients. They take pride in themselves as professionals and tend to maintain professional boundaries.  They don't burden our clients with their personal hardships or take advantage of their kindness to ask for special favors. 

Not all the seniors we are asked to provide care for are sweet and kind.  Quite a number are grumpy, irritable and downright disagreeable, understandably so, because they are in pain and have experienced losses of function and/or beloved family members.  But the test of good manners, an old adage says, is to be able to put up patiently with bad ones.  I get the most personal satisfaction out of the reports I get from seasoned, courteous professionals that a formerly grumpy senior has become gentler and more cooperative in response to the consistent kind treatment they receive from our caregiver(s).  My experience in home care, as in my life, affirms the famous biblical commandment, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Shirley Cohen
Founder and CEO