Celebrate Caring Careers in November

Purple and blue graphic with a circle and with a heart and the words 'Celebrate Caring Careers' and the words 'Celebrate Caring Careers Month in November'

This is essential, life-changing work – let’s celebrate it!

The Governor has proclaimed November as Celebrate Caring Careers Month in Minnesota.

Celebrate the people who make a difference every day in the lives of older adults, people with disabilities and people with behavioral health care needs across Minnesota.

There are many employment opportunities in aging services, disability services and behavioral health services now - and projected high demand for the coming decade.

Caring Careers professionals work in long-term care, home care, community-based care and in other settings.

Learn how you can help Celebrate Caring Careers Month in November and raise awareness about Caring Careers employment opportunities.

Download a Celebrate Caring Careers fact sheet with a step-by-step guide to elevate these essential careers and the professionals who work in them
- Download a Celebrate Caring Careers step-by-step guide for employers
- Download a Celebrate Caring Careers step-by-step guide for workforce development professionals
Access a slate of Celebrate Caring Careers resources including flyer templates, a fillable certificate, a social media toolkit and more
View hiring, career exploration and other events related to aging services, disability services and behavioral health services in November
Read about some of the many Minnesotans working in a Caring Career whom we are celebrating this month!

2025 Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career

Find work now in a Caring Career!

Begin an in-demand career path with great growth potential and no training beyond high school required to start in many positions. You can start working right away!

Talk with a CareerForce specialist about preparing for and finding employment in home-, community- and facility-based care in your part of Minnesota.
Select this link to find contact information for staff at a CareerForce location near you today or call 651-259-7500.

Why you should Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career:

Employers pay for your initial training in many cases – and they may also pay for future training to help you grow in your career and earn more money.
Many employers welcome employees who are learning English.
There are more than 30,000 job openings across Minnesota in health care and social assistance positions.
You do not need experience working in health care to start many entry-level positions – and many skills you earned in other fields transfer to health care and social assistance positions.
Talk with employers to see how they can work with you on child care, transportation, scheduling, language training and more – employers want to work with you.

Start making a difference in the lives of others today – find your fit in a Caring Career!

View information about top in-demand Caring Careers in aging services, disability services and behavioral health services below. Remember there are also employment opportunities in housekeeping, dietary, maintenance and other roles that don't involve direct care.

Personal Care Aides

These caring professionals support people in their own homes and help them be a part of their local communities, and sometimes provide respite for family or friend caregivers. This type of work is available through agencies or directly for the person who needs care. You might enjoy working in an individual's home if you prefer to work one on one with a person you can get to know well.

Download an informational sheet about what Personal Care Aides do, and how to become one - available in multiple languages

Download an informational sheet about supporting a person in an individual home or in the community

To apply for jobs like this:

Talk with staff at a CareerForce near you about employment opportunities
View current job postings in Minnesota for Personal Care Aides and similar job openings - only 500 postings are displayed, but there are more openings - you can narrow the search based on your home location and change the search focus by using other keywords, using other similar job titles for Personal Care Aides. Some of the professionals working in this role are called Personal Care Attendants, Home Health Aides, PCAs and other titles.

Nursing Assistants

These caring professionals support people in larger settings where many people needing support live together. You might enjoy this work if you prefer working with many different people and having a supervisor or colleague on-site to ask questions. Some of the professionals supporting these facilities are Nursing Assistants, Dietary Aides, Housekeeping Aides, Activities Aides, Trained Medication Assistants (TMA), Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and more.

Download an informational sheet about what Nursing Assistants do, and how to become one - available in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish.

You can learn about finding free Nursing Assistant training in Minnesota in this recent article.

To apply for jobs like this:

Talk with staff at a CareerForce near you about employment opportunities
View current job postings in Minnesota for Nursing Assistants - only 500 postings are displayed, but there are more openings - you can narrow the search based on your home location and change the search focus by using other keywords, using other similar job titles for Nursing Assistants like CNAs or other titles listed above in this description
Visit CaringCareersStartHere.com to search for a range of open positions in aging services, including Nursing Assistants and other caregivers, as well as Cooks, HR Professionals, Maintenance Staff, and more.

Social and Human Service Assistants

These caring professionals assist other social and human service providers in providing client services in a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation or social work, including support for families. May assist clients in identifying and obtaining available benefits and social and community services. May assist social workers with developing, organizing, and conducting programs to prevent and resolve problems relevant to substance abuse, human relationships, rehabilitation or dependent care.

These caring professionals can also support people in group homes managed by licensed service providers, and help people be a part of their local communities. You might be well suited for working in a group home setting if you enjoy working with small groups and coordinating activities.

View more information about people who work as Social and Human Service Assistants.

To apply for jobs like this:

Talk with staff at a CareerForce near you about employment opportunities
Search thousands of Minnesota job postings that are updated nightly here on CareerForce.MN.gov
View current job postings in Minnesota for Direct Support Professionals - only 500 postings are displayed, but there are more openings - you can narrow the search based on your home location and change the search focus by using a variety of keywords including Residential Care Assistant, Social Services Aide and Social Services Assistant.
Search for open positions on the ARRM job board

Behavioral and Psychiatric Health Technicians

These caring professionals support people who are being treated and recovering from mental illness and substance use disorders in a variety of clinical and community-based settings. You might be well suited for this work if you have skill in listening to people and coming up with creative solutions to support quality of life.

View more information about what Behavioral and Psychiatric Health Technicians do.

To apply for jobs like this:

Talk with staff at a CareerForce near you about employment opportunities
Search thousands of Minnesota job postings that are updated nightly here on CareerForce.MN.gov
View current job postings in Minnesota for Behavioral Health positions - only 500 postings are displayed, but there are more openings - you can narrow the search based on your home location and change the search focus by using other keywords, using other similar job titles for Psychiatric or Behavioral Health Technicians listed above

image of woman in a heart shape with the words Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career

Resources to help promote Caring Careers

Participate in job fairs and other hiring events throughout the state - Caring Careers employers are invited to submit a form to add their events to our calendar
Use Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career social media and other graphics - please use this hashtag #CaringCareerMN and tag CareerForceMN if you post related to this campaign so that CareerForceMN, DEED and others can find and share your posts!
Use the Caring Career Pathways informational handout - for you to print and share with career explorers and job seekers - updated 2026
Share this handout showing how transferable skills from food service, retail and office positions prepare a person for Caring Career employment - each occupational title on this handout is linked to the corresponding occupation page demand info, wage data, educational requirements and more
Updated labor market information for the Health Care & Social Assistance industry - helpful for employers, job counselors, educators, career explorers and job seekers to understand current demand and projected job growth
Caring Career Info for Teens - information to use with young people to encourage them to consider working in home-, community- or facility-based care.