Phil's Lifeways career path

Last year around 25% of our hires across our head office and corporate functions were internal. We caught up with Phil Cobley-Jones, an Enquiry, Referral and Assessments Manager for the North West region, who tells us a bit about his experience of moving internally with Lifeways. 

"I started my career in care back in 2011. With no prior experience, I moved from the hospitality industry to health and social care. I began working with an autism specialist support provider in 2011. I saw the company was looking for support workers and something about it really spoke to me, an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives by supporting them to achieve the things that are important to them, I absolutely loved it and felt that I had found the right career for me. 

I started working for Lifeways in April 2016 as a Team Leader. My job was to support individuals with complex physical and learning disabilities and support the service manager. Eventually, I worked my way up to Service Manager for Lifeways, providing support, advice, and motivation to staff teams. I made sure that the people who use our services are supported to be as independent as possible and achieve their goals. 

However, I wanted to pursue other options within Lifeways. I became aware of a vacancy in the Business Development Team through the internal jobs bulletin, for an Enquiry, Referral, and Assessments Manager. I loved working in operations, but the time felt right to explore other opportunities within the organisation, I felt that the role of Enquiry, Referral and Assessments Manager still involved a lot of the things that I enjoyed about working in operations whilst presenting me with a new challenge. In my new department, I ensure that the vacancies within our supported living services and flat schemes are fully referred, completing comprehensive assessments so that the support that we deliver is personalised, focuses on people's strengths, and provides them with the opportunity to maximise their independence"  

To see how you can expand your career in care, head over to our careers page.