It can be very difficult to find good, trustworthy care employees! We ran a successful recruitment campaign at Care & Carers which helped with providing safe and high-quality care and substantial growth. Here are five points that can help run a successful recruitment process:
1. Act fast!
Once an application comes in, act fast. Even if you know you do not want to process this applicant. Reply anyway! The algorithms used by most recruitment sites and social media measure how responsive you are as an employer and display it to potential applicants. If an applicant sees that you only reply to 60% of applicants within 5 days, they would be more likely to ignore your ad. Becoming a responsive employer can improve your chances of being chosen over a competitor, as the platform will list you higher than others. There are many care vacancies currently, all over the UK. Therefore, there is a high chance that your applicant has also applied to work with many of your competitors. Most carers will join the company that contacts and processes them first. Speed is key!
2. Stand out from the crowd!
There are numerous care organisations serving our older population! It's critical to differentiate yourself from the competition and entice carers to apply to work for you. One of the ways you can do this is by ensuring you have good benefits for your staff. This could be, Paid Leave, Pensions, Mileage payments for example. These may seem ‘normal’ to have, but you may be surprised how many assume that you don’t offer them if it is not mentioned in your job advertisement! So, carers will be keen to see these. But the secret is in how you promote these incentives, so don’t forget to shout about them!
3. Referral
Referral has proved to be an extremely reliable way to get staff. By offering referral bonuses or just asking your team members to refer additional carers, you can encourage referrals from all members of your team! When people join your company who know others that work there, they have a higher sense of loyalty to the company and are more likely to see the process through. Additionally, you can learn a lot about that applicant from the person who recommended them!
4. Expectations
Don’t be afraid to ask the carer how many hours they expect to work, and what they expect to earn per month on those hours. You may be able to meet their expected take-home amount with fewer hours, depending on your hourly rates. This could hugely benefit you by setting you way ahead of your competitors in the eye of the applicant. It also shows them you want to meet their expectations and ensure they are happy from the start! It usually takes time for home carers to build hours. Therefore, it is important to explain to them right the beginning or even pay a retainer until you can fill their expected hours.
5. Staff Retention
Retaining staff is equally as important as getting a steady flow of applications. Without staff retention, all your hard work in gaining applications and processing them will be lost! Think about the training and support provided to the new and current staff. We would recommend getting feedback from your carers and see how they would like to be trained and supported. This will help them to feel valued and, in turn, tailor your processes directly to their needs!
If you only take one thing away from today, let it be the need for speed! Act fast and don’t leave your applicants waiting, or they might move on!