Pros
I worked as a care professional for 9 months. You get to choose a lot of aspects about the clients you work with- like if you'll work with clients who smoke or have pets, if you are willing to drive your clients places, if you're comfortable working with both women and men, etc. The pay is a higher rate on friday/saturday/& sunday (by like $2/hour) and for clients with more intense care needs it's like $20.50/hour during the week and $22.50 on Fri/Sat/Sun. If you have kind clients (which most of them are) it's a job you'll look forward to. It's SUPER dependent on the client. Some clients fill up every minute of your shift (assisting them with getting ready for the day, or cleaning around their houses) and others need some assistance but mostly want an engaged listener/companion to keep them company. I brought my yarn and crochet hook in my bag to every shift for when my client was sleeping or wanted to sit and chat with me. If you work hard, show you truly care, and show them respect despite their vulnerable position, your clients will love you.
Cons
If you want to get text reminders for your shifts, you have to be on the text-list for all the times (literally like 5+ a day) that management sends a text begging for someone to pick up shifts. Not fun. Figure out another reminder-system if you can! Also, time is broken into 15-minute blocks. If you arrive to a client's house/clock-in 7 minutes late, you have 15 minutes deducted from your time on the clock. Also, every time you are late you get a point (which counts against you). If punctuality is naturally easy for you, this will not be an issue! But if you often find yourself running a few mins behind, (like me) prepare for judgement from office staff, rather than curiosity/understanding/compassion. I had several clients that specifically requested that I be their primary caregiver because they knew I worked hard, truly cared about them, and would go above and beyond for them. This didn't seem to be recognized by the woman I dealt with in management though. because all she saw was that once a week I was a few minutes late to a shift.