No experience needed to start new $20 an hour jobs in long term care

With 7,000 new jobs opening up in long term care homes, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix is urging hospitality and accommodation industry workers who were laid off because of COVID-19 to switch careers.

Experience is not necessary since some jobs include paid on-the-job training.

“The program we’re putting in place will provide a path for interested applicants to receive formal, on-the-job, modular training,” Dix said during a COVID-19 news briefing, Sept. 9. “New hires in the program who start in the health care support worker position will receive paid training that leads to full qualification as a health care assistant.”

The trainee position starts at about $20 per hour and rises to about $23 when fully qualified, he said.

Not all 7,000 jobs are for support workers. There will be 2,000 hired to help prevent infections while others will be in the cleaning and food service areas.

READ MORE: More money, more flu shots and hiring of thousands of workers planned to fight COVID-19 this fall

There are currently more than 30,000 B.C. residents who have been laid off in the tourism industry.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.