According to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term care (MOHLT), there are 90,000 Personal Support Workers in Ontario.

Most of them are employed and current PSW jobs are spread all across the healthcare industry.

Majority of PSW’s work in a wide variety of facility and community based setting in the cities of Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga.

Where to look for Personal Support Worker Jobs

There are many online and offline places to look for job postings.

In Hospitals and Long-Term Care Homes (Nursing Homes) jobs are usually posted as “internal postings”.

What this means is, first a job opening is offered to current employees of the healthcare institution. It is posted on the Job board on site and also on the internal website to which only current employees have access.

If no one applies or no one is deemed suitable enough for the job, it is then opened for external applicants.

With advancements in technology and ease of processing, most employers accept online applications only.

If you are looking to work as a PSW, you can search in the following box for your dream job or you can visit our PSW Jobs page. 

Below is a list of Facility and Community based healthcare settings that offer Personal Support Worker Jobs. By no means is this list exhaustive. There may be many other places that hire PSW’s.

Common Healthcare and related institutions where you can possibly start your job search are:

Facility Based Settings

Medical Facilities

• Hospitals (Acute Care)
• Sub Acute Care Settings such as Convalescent care
• Mental Health Facilities
• Rehab Facilities
• Long-Term Care Homes (Nursing Homes)
• Hospice Care Homes
• Respite Care

Residential Facilities

• Supportive Housing Facilities
• Assisted Living Facilities
• Retirement Homes
• Group Homes

Community Based Settings

• Private homes
• Private Escort Duty
• Social and Family Services
• Alzheimer’s Programs
• Community Day Programs
• Adult Day Care

The role of PSW’s in Ontario is evolving. Due to economic constraints, employers are changing policies to create jobs for Personal Support Workers in a wide variety of care areas such as Intensive Care Units (ICU), Cardiac Care Units (CCU), Emergency Departments (ED) and Surgery to name a few.

With such a broad spectrum of employers offering PSW Jobs, the chances of getting one right after you graduate are more than excellent.

Future of PSW Jobs

Future trends for Support Worker jobs in Ontario are very encouraging.

Healthcare has always been the safest bet for a stable job. Now is the best time in history to make the best of it and PSW makes for an excellent career choice

Over the next few years, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term care has committed to fund 2080 new full time PSW Jobs.

Personal Support Worker Jobs in Ontario are plenty and they are going to be even more in years to come.

Couple of reasons fuelling this trend are:

• Government of Ontario has acknowledged, as described further in the article, how critical a role PSW’s play in delivering healthcare, and
• Contribution PSW’s can make to address the fiscal challenges currently faced by Ontario Healthcare System.

ONTARIO SENIORS AND SUPPORT WORKERS

Ontario is the most populous province in Canada.

The entire population is aging and it is aging fast. Seniors (age group 65 and up) are the fastest aging group.

Presently, 14.4 percent of Ontario residents fall into this group.

Due to high number of seniors that require healthcare services, Ontario’s Health Care System is starting to show signs of distress.

It is expected to worsen in the years and decades to come, primarily due to manifold increase in the number of seniors.

Check out the graph below to depicting an 8.9% increase in Ontario senior’s population in the next 25 years.

Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care have acknowledged the current problems and future challenges.

It has formulated an Action Plan for Ontario’s Healthcare.

Key focus of the plan is to:

• deliver the best possible healthcare while reducing costs, and
• introducing fiscally viable healthcare workforce.

To make this happen, a transformation of the current model of health care delivery system is required.

One way to make this happen is by substituting more home and community care for less acute and residential care.

Majority of home support is and will be provided by Personal Support Workers.

CURRENT PERSONAL SUPPORT WORKER JOBS

Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care estimates 90,000 Personal Support Workers in Ontario, one of the largest healthcare workforces and a virtual backbone of the health care delivery system.

PSW jobs are spread across healthcare providing institutions.

Majority of PSW’s are employed in a wide variety of facility and community based settings in the city of Toronto and it’s suburbs of Brampton and Mississauga.

Check out the following graph to get an idea on where the current Personal Support Worker Jobs are.

In Public healthcare settings, all the employed PSW’s get paid a total of two billion dollars each year.

According to one conservative estimate, the need for care workers in this category is expected to double in the next five to ten years.

FUTURE OF PSW JOBS

As mentioned above, Ontario Government has acknowledged this fact and has taken steps in the right direction.

Two commendable changes that have already been implemented are:

• A freeze on the total amount of compensation for doctors and to use that money to hire more Personal Support Workers.
• Increased home and community care funding by four percent over the next few years.

As the Healthcare Action plan is further implemented, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will be adding four million hours of community based care by PSW’s over the next four years.

This translates into 2080 new full time PSW Jobs in Ontario over the next few years.

Did you know that as of 2012, there were over 67,000 students attending private career colleges in Ontario? 

We can safely assume that the number has increased significantly since then.  More than 600 private career colleges in Ontario offer diploma programs.

Out of these, about 118 offer Personal Support Worker diploma programs. 

Personal Support Worker programs are also offered at traditional public community colleges, district school boards and at other institutions and organizations that will be discussed later. 

If you are interested in training to become a Personal Support Worker in Ontario, you might easily be overwhelmed by all the different education possibilities. 

How can you figure out which program is best in general and, more importantly, best for you? 

BENEFITS OF PRIVATE vs. COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The best place to start is to think about the benefits of community colleges versus private career colleges, generally. 

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology such as such as St. Clair College and Fanshawe College, are considered tried and tested, their names are widely recognized, and their credentials are readily accepted as valid. 

They also tend to offer more extensive and thorough course work, as well as the security of knowing your instructors are qualified and properly vetted. 

They receive government grants and funding, and therefore are able to usually offer lower tuition, as well as better facilities and resources.

This gives you the best of both worlds. 

Also, better facilities and resources, for example the equipment, are especially important considerations in a program like the Personal Support Worker program.

It’s very difficult to learn how to properly make a bed or learn about medical equipment without having access to beds and said equipment! 

Choosing a community college also provides peace of mind and assurance with regard to the quality and suitability of the curriculum and other program components. 

PRIVATE COLLEGES

While private colleges require more scrutiny by prospective students, well-run colleges do have some advantages. 

They tend to have smaller, sometimes much smaller, class sizes, providing more one-on-one time with the instructors, and therefore more time for “hands on” training. 

They also offer “fast-track” type programs, and often allow the student to finish his or her training in a much shorter amount of time. 

An example of a full-time private career college PSW program time frame is four months, whereas community college full-time PSW programs are usually eight months. 

However, community colleges usually have the advantage with regard to tuition. 

Community college program tuition is usually around $3,500 to 4,000, while private career college tuition ranges from around that level to as much as $7,000!     

DISADVANTAGES OF PRIVATE COLLEGES

As mentioned earlier that private career colleges do require more scrutiny from prospective students, you have probably already guessed that some of them may be a bit shady and dishonest. 

If so, you are right! 

Unfortunately, there are many problems in the Ontario private college arena. 

Most of these arise from a disproportionate profit-motive since many of them are actually private businesses.

In other words, they arise from greed. 

Corrupt owners want to take students’ tuition money, but they don’t want to bother paying for good facilities, qualified and dedicated instructors, and adequate materials.

One significant problem is the fact that many private colleges engage in false advertising and aggressive marketing.

They try to lure unsuspecting people into enrolling for programs that the victims will eventually find useless, or close to useless.

They do not gain necessary skills, have a hard time finding employment, and establishing a successful career. 

MOST COMMON FLAWS

1. Dishonest Advertising

Many private career colleges indulge in rather dishonest advertising.

You see how many private career colleges mention that they offer a “National Exam” or a “Provincial Exam”. 

The fact of the matter is that no such tests are required in any way in order to work and succeed as a Personal Support Worker. 

They are meaningless! 

Career colleges offer these “exams” simply as a way to make their programs seem better than others. 

2. Quality of Instruction

Another issue is poor quality instructors, who are not properly qualified and/or who behave unprofessionally. 

There are many stories of unqualified, rude, verbally abusive instructors. 

In the MacLean’s magazine 2012 article, “Complaints about career colleges emerge”, there are numerous descriptions of student complaints about private college instructors. 

These complaints include ones about extremely rude and incompetent instructors. 

There are descriptions of instructors swearing and coming to class almost drunk or drunk.  Alcohol could be smelled on the instructor’s breath.

There are also accounts of problems with high levels of instructor absenteeism. 

Students also complain that the instructors simply did not do their jobs and/or were unqualified and incompetent, and that they learned nothing to aid them in their hopes for future careers.          

3. Admissions Office a.k.a Sales office

Yet another concern is unprofessional, dishonest administrative and managerial staff. 

For example, there are “admissions officers” that are really only salespeople, and who lie to prospective students, misrepresenting their colleges’ qualities. 

These people are unabashedly pushy, and overwhelm the prospective student with heaps of glossy brochures, which often do not contain enough (or any) real information. 

It is well-known that some private colleges use contact information given by someone in a simple request for program information, to continually call that person, sometimes leaving numerous voicemails. 

Often, you have to actually spell out to them that you do not want them to call you again, even if you have already told them you are no longer interested in the program. 

Another issue is with the “complaints process” set up by individual private colleges. 

Sometimes, this process is completely inadequate, and it is clear that the administration have no intention of pursuing any student complaints. 

Also, there have been instances of students being denied necessary documentation to deal with their student loans.  

4. Infrastructure

Another issue is lack of proper equipment and other resources, sometimes a severe lack. 

Unfortunately, it is often after registration papers have been signed, tuition fees paid, and the program begun that students realize the reality of the situation.

By that point they are very likely locked in and will lose money and time. 

In the above mentioned 2012 MacLean’s article, we see that students complained about broken and/or missing vital training equipment.        

BOGUS PRIVATE CAREER COLLEGES IN ONTARIO

As you have likely already gathered, dishonest and inadequate (in other words, bogus) private career colleges are a major problem in Ontario. 

You may have read the well-known The Toronto Star article from 2009, “College Sold Fake Diplomas”.

If you have not done so already, make sure to read the article.

This article exposed a very shady private college that was actually selling diplomas! 

It is certainly an eye opener!

It is clear that this problem and all the others discussed above are significant dangers to students, as well as the public as a whole. 

This is especially the case with programs like the Personal Support Worker program.

The disabled, elderly, and sick put blind trust into people who appear to have PSW qualities and qualifications.

If those people have actually not received adequate education and training (which includes experience), they are actually putting people’s health and lives in danger!

Other difficulties obviously arise in the future lives of duped students. 

The relative pervasiveness of the problems with private career colleges (along with lack of college name recognition) makes it less likely for private career college graduates to find employment quickly, or at all. 

Many graduates have found themselves not only in thousands of dollars of student loan debt, but also with no real training in their field and no job!

DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE

It is extremely important to properly and extensively research whatever private college you are considering attending.

Research its reputation among employers, and its status with the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Remember that all colleges are required by law to obtain and maintain registration with the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Make sure that any prospective career college is indeed registered.  

Click here to search for a private career college and see if it is registered and is in good standing with the superintendent of private career colleges.

If a college is not registered, do not even consider attending it. 

But unregistered colleges are not the only danger.  Even if a college is indeed registered, its programs, facilities, and instructors may still have inadequacies. 

The ministry has received, and continues to receive, criticism over its failure to properly inspect and enforce its regulations with regard to private college quality and integrity. 

Over the past few years, as a result of public outcry, there have been improvements made in its enforcement of the regulations, but the ministry still has a long way to go. 

It is imperative that you do diligent research on any private college you are considering. 

Do this research before you begin talking to anyone from the college itself. 

Many private colleges actually employ experienced and sometimes dishonest salespeople to speak to students, and you could find yourself signing something you will regret. 

Also check the database for complaints against, or other issues with, the college.  Make sure to use Google and the internet in general as research tools, as well, and try to find opinions from people who have attended the college.

Don’t just trust the testimonials on the college’s website or in its brochures!

They might be fake.

Additionally, click here to check out the general details you need to know about Ontario private career colleges.

DO NOT BE THE TARGET

Unfortunately, it is often the vulnerable and frightened people in our society, including the unemployed, people with a low income, that dishonest private career colleges target. 

Private career colleges also tend to target new Canadians. 

They are targeted because they are new to the country and do not have the same cultural knowledge about Ontario and its education system. 

Also, they tend to be more likely to assume that the college must be good, or it would not be allowed to stay open. 

This is especially the case when they come from a country that has strong regulation in all areas of education. 

In addition, the stress of moving to a new country and trying to find a new profession or job is very taxing, and can easily distract someone from thinking about more obscure considerations.

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM

In 2009, The Toronto Star published another article entitled, “Ontario Gets Failing Grade on Bogus Colleges”.  This article was a major expose of serious problems, and was a major impetus for change. 

The article described “the Wild West of Ontario’s career college world”, and Ontario was, indeed, truly a wild west. 

Unfortunately, as a result, huge numbers of students were blatantly cheated out of their money and time. 

And when students complained, very rarely was anything done.