For Erin McDermott, working on the Careers to Love campaign for LeadingAge Pennsylvania (PA) really resonates with her own experience. McDermott, the state association’s director of workforce solutions and member engagement, originally planned to pursue a career as a child life specialist when she was a student at Penn State, but a lecture during a Human Development course changed everything.

“The professor started talking about aging and older adults and I had this light bulb moment and realized this was what I was supposed to be doing,” recalled McDermott. “I changed all of my classes, I did a really great internship in an assisted living community in the State College area.” 

McDermott was hired by that provider when she graduated, working in social services for a few years before transitioning into sales and marketing, then move-in coordination. “Before starting with LeadingAge PA, when I was still in State College, I had the chance to go back to Penn State to talk about my passion for working in aging services,” she said. “I loved showing students that this is a great career path with so many options.”

The Careers to Love campaign, which first launched in 2021, had two phases. “The site was built a few years ago with the idea that it would give people a place to explore and really educate themselves about the career paths that are available, along with education and training requirements and what next steps would look like,” McDermott said. 

The second phase is its social campaign, which runs twice a year, to highlight the website. Additionally, the site has a new Career Center feature that benefits both employer and job seeker. “On the employer side, they can review resumes, boost social posts and add additional branding to their provider page. Job seekers can build a profile and get job match alerts,” said McDermott. “It’s a meeting place that opens up that call to action.”

Career Center proceeds, derived from employer postings, benefit the LeadingAge PA Foundation. “Each job post helps to support our Professional Development Scholarship program and our administrator-in-training and internship grants,” said McDermott. “The scholarships are offered every year to members and staff at any level for those looking to move to the next level on their career path.” 

As part of her role, McDermott routinely meets with students and believes keeping talented employees in the aging services sector begins with that first conversation. 

“It’s about highlighting growth opportunities and the fact that so many aging services providers promote from within,” she noted, adding, “There is some unease about the future of different positions everywhere, but these are human jobs that will always be needed.” 

When McDermott was doing interviews for the 2026 Careers to Love social media campaign, she had interesting conversations with some LeadingAge PA student interns. “The topic was their perspective on aging services. One thing I heard more than once that surprised me was how rocked they were by COVID, how they felt like they needed stability and that a job in aging services had stability,” said McDermott.

Partnerships

Another Careers to Love initiative centers on career growth partnerships—one of the latest is with the Penn State School of Hospitality Management. McDermott recently did a presentation to students with Tom Garvin, CEO of LeadingAge Member Waverly Heights in Gladwyne, PA, also an alumni from the Penn State School of Hospitality Management, who drew parallels between aging services and hospitality. “He talked about the similarities with different departments—culinary, housekeeping, maintenance,” she explained. “So for students who’ve worked in hotels, they realized they can take those skills and apply them to aging services, maybe when they’d never considered that as an option.”