I have written before about the difficulty of recruiting suitable assistants to work in our community home. This is not surprising because in Nicaragua there are no training courses that prepare people for working with people with an intellectual disability, and almost no services for this target group. In fact there is no such thing as a Sector for people with disabilities in the country.
There are of course people who are well-intentioned and are looking for work. If we are lucky some apply because they know it is social work and they have some affinity with people with a disability. But the majority apply because they seem to think that having good intentions is enough to qualify for the job.
Procedure
Of course we have a fully-fledged selection procedure: a curriculum vitae with a formal letter of application (of which 90% are incomplete and meaningless), an informal conversation, a formal interview followed by a psychological test for promising candidates But even then we have a lot of staff turnover, for day workers as well as for employees living in our home.
Most of them we have to dismiss, usually after a one month trial period. To a few we give some extra time hoping that they will settle down and show their full potential. But it rarely works out that way. So we regularly have to say ‘good bye’ and start again preparing new people for the job. It gets tiresome at times.
Carmen
But we also live in hope that we will eventually get the right people! And it is surprising and encouraging that so far we have always found a new candidate at the right time. I’m happy to present Carmen to you (see picture). She is exceptional as we had no reservations whatsoever about renewing her contract after her one-month trial period. And Esmeralda, who replaced Anielka as the resident home care assistant two weeks ago, is making a promising impression so far. Let’s hope she keeps it up!