Senior Living Recruitment

Head off hiring challenges

By Yardi Blog Staff on Jul 23, 2018 in News

Today, 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach age 65. As the largest generation in history continues to age, the demands on the senior living industry will increase exponentially. Staffing for this kind of growth is no easy task. In fact, a recent poll showed nearly 80% of senior living CFOs say recruiting and retention is their number one concern as they look toward the future.

The challenge, however, is not insurmountable. Armed with the following strategies, finding standout staff is easier than you think.

1. Be proactive

The recruiting process often doesn’t begin until a staff member vacates a position. But if you’re looking to add to your workforce overall, simply playing catch-up won’t get you very far. Instead, take inventory of all the roles your company hopes to fill or add over the course of the next year, then work with decision makers and hiring teams to plot out short term goals for your company’s growth. Shifting from a reactive strategy to a proactive one allows for more steady, scalable staffing.

2. Inform unlikely prospects

While sixty percent of senior living staff work in resident care, the other forty percent of jobs are comprised of maintenance, administrative, operations, management and food service roles. Communicating the breadth of opportunities is critical to ensure your organization isn’t overlooked by potential job seekers. Consider partnering with vocational schools and colleges to spread the word, get students excited and tap into a new pool of talent while highlighting the range of roles available within your community.

3. Offer unique benefits

A little creativity can go a long way when it comes to setting your company apart. Whether it comes in the form of onsite amenities (think company gym and break room snacks), raffles and giveaways, free education, or extra vacation days, fringe benefits make a great recruitment tool and serve as a differentiator between you and the competition.

4. Find the right fit, right from the start

In an industry where quality of care is paramount, filling an open position is not plug and play. Take time to suss out how potential employees will fit into your company’s organization—both from a cultural and interpersonal perspective. Going so far as to determine which clients will fall under a new employee’s care will allow hiring managers to more precisely match a prospect’s personality and skill set to that of the patients they’ll be caring for. A better the fit from the get-go lends itself to happier staff members and patients.

5. Utilize existing resources

With staffing a known concern in the senior living sector, there’s no shortage of tools available to help ease the pain of recruiting. Industry leader Argentum recently launched Senior Living Works, a website aimed at solving recruiting and retention challenges. Similarly, NCAL, the National Center for Assisted Living, offers hiring materials which outline the most important attributes to look for when seeking new senior living leaders.