NSW Central Coast aged care provider Alino Living has partnered with Employment and Training Australia (ET Australia) on a new recruitment program.

Designed to address the issues the sector is facing with employee recruitment and retention, the program also aims to train young people and help them consider a career in the industry, according to Melinda De Luca, Executive Care Manager of Alino Living.

“In partnership with local training organisation, ET Australia, we have co-designed a program of aged care employment that is suitable for our organisation that identifies needs of our services and its participants.

“This program supports our recruitment process and will continue to feed our staffing pool year-round by offering a combination of theoretical training, work placement and traineeships for entry-level job vacancies,” she said.

The program involves six weeks of orientation and onboarding, with one full day per week of training with ET Australia, one with Alino Living’s Clinical Nurse Educator, and one on the floor of a residential aged care home with a buddy.

This is followed by three weeks of intense buddying with a work partner, which Cath Roden, ET Australia’s Training College Manager, says will provide the students with the skills and confidence they need to deliver quality care.

“These types of programs have been running via training organisations for some time, but what makes this program unique is how it is tailored to the students and the needs of Alino Living, with the program completely customised,” she said.

Alino is the largest independent Not For Profit aged care provider on the Central Coast, having formed from the merger of Central Coast Community Care Association (CCCCA), Adelene, and Vietnam Veterans Keith Payne VC Hostel in March.