There was a time in the not so distant past that home care agencies had distinctly different strategies for sales and marketing compared to staffing and recruitment. But in today’s hyper-competitive market, agencies need to be selling their employment opportunities to prospective caregivers just as much (or more so) than they are selling their services to prospective clients.
As you are planning for 2022, anticipate investing in your strategic recruitment efforts as you do sales and marketing. Many of the same digital marketing strategies used for attracting client and referral sources can also be used to attract new caregiver staff.
Below are our top 5 marketing strategies that you can leverage for caregiver recruitment to help keep a steady stream of candidates coming to your agency as the caregiver shortage continues.
- Paid Google Ads – When people are searching for jobs in your area, you want your website to be top of page and easy to find. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are the fastest and most efficient way to get your agency seen in internet search results. You only pay for the ads if someone clicks on them and visits your website, and you can set a top budget so you will always know the maximum cost. Google has a range of analytic tools that help you monitor who is looking at, engaging with and taking action from your ads. This data allows you to make changes to your ads and test performance in order to optimize results and ultimately bring in more job seekers.
- Facebook – Facebook is so much more than simply a place to share photos and memes. The 2020 Home Care Benchmarking Study revealed that Facebook is one of the top consumer marketing sources, accounting for 28% of revenue, and a successful means for recruiting care staff. With such a global reach, however, it’s important to narrow your recruiting efforts to your targeted area. You can accomplish this by joining local caregiver, home care, and job-related groups, posting job openings (at least weekly), and reaching out to for caregivers who post about searching for employment. You can also create job ads that can be boosted according to your budget. Make sure the content and images you are using are designed to engage and speak to your ideal job seekers, monitor the performance of your ads and revise ads for greater optimization based on your results. Trial and error should be expected as part of the process. Facebook event ads can also be used to promote on-site hiring days and other hiring events that your agency may host.
- Referral programs – Your existing caregivers are a great source of recruitment. Happy caregivers will naturally talk to their friends and family about how much they love working for your agency and encourage them to apply; but offering rewards for referrals gives them significantly more incentive to make strong referrals. Consider giving the employee who referred a job candidate an initial bonus at the time of hire and another bonus once the new hire reaches the 90-day employment mark. Encourage referrals by hosting a monthly or annual celebration for anyone on your team who participates in referring employees, or entering each referring caregiver’s name into a drawing for a significant bonus, over and above the typical reward for referring. Make sure to market your referral program internally with your existing staff by communicating at least weekly with your staff about current openings and the bonus they will receive for referrals that transfer into employees. Setting up an email and/or texting campaign can be an efficient and effective way to get the word out.
- Online job sites – Internet job posting sites continue to be top sources for caregiver recruitment, with Indeed.com in the lead, followed by myCNAjobs.com, Craigslist.org Job Ads, and Care.com. And, caregivers state that the number one reason they chose to work with an agency is because it was the first to offer them a position. Focus, therefore, on responding promptly to applicants (texting is the preferred communication with younger job seekers), and in making the value you offer prominent in your job postings. Bear in mind that the more time that passes after posting your ad, the further down it drops in search results – so update or repost your ads often. In today’s competitive market, you will want to utilize paid ads, which are 4.5 times more likely to lead to a hire and offer more flexibility in titles and wording of the ads. Also utilize non-paid job postings as well for added exposure.
- Blogging with strategic SEO keywords – Regularly posting new, engaging content on your blog that is relevant to consumers who may need home care has always been an important marketing strategy. But in today’s highly competitive job market, savvy home care agencies will also post blog content that will serve and appeal to job seekers. Make it easy for people to apply to your open positions right from the blog post by adding an “Apply Now” button or link to your employment application right from the blog. Remember to always do keyword research to determine your localized keywords job seekers may use when searching for employment and utilize those specific keywords throughout your blog content.
Strong Content and Ease of Process is Mandatory
It is worth noting that none of the above strategies will be effective for recruitment if you have a weak and confusing message or application process. In today’s job market, job seekers have the upper hand and can be selective as to who they want to work for. Make sure that you are clearly communicating why working for you is a great decision for the job seekers that you desire.
It’s important to emphasize what we know to be generally most important to those seeking a caregiving position, in addition to competitive pay and benefits:
- A quick hiring process that allows the caregiver to begin working as soon as possible
- Meaning and purpose in their work
- Good communication with the front office staff
- Thorough training and support
- Flexible schedules
- Dependable hours
Also, think through where on your website you want to send potential job seekers. Make sure that your website content on that page elaborates on why a person would benefit from working on your team, and make the application process as seamless and easy as possible. It doesn’t ultimately help you to succeed in getting people interested if once job seekers arrive at your website, your lengthy application turns people off and they never finish the process to apply. It’s also critical that your application can be easily completed on a phone, as many of today’s job seekers are looking for and applying for jobs on a mobile device.
Maintaining a reliable, skilled caregiver pool to meet the increasing demand for in-home care services isn’t easy. A home care sales and marketing partner, like corecubed, can help you recruit and retain the staff you need to grow your agency. As a certified Google Partner with decades of experience in taking home care agencies to the next level, let us work with you on developing and implementing a strategy for success. Reach out to us today at 800.370.6580 x1 for more information and for additional senior living marketing ideas.