By Stephen Tweed
Last evening Elizabeth and I were in Phoenix, Arizona visiting with friends and watching the NCAA Bowl Championship Series final football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Notre Dame. While Notre Dame came into the game ranked number 1 in the nation, Alabama out played and out coached them by a significant margin and won the game by a score of 42 to 14.
The two things that set these two championships teams apart from the rest of the NCAA are talent and coaching. In last night’s game, Alabama showed more talent and better coaching.
As you get ready to take your home care team into the 2013 Super Bowl of Home Care, where are you with talent and coaching? In your business, every day is the Super Bowl. There are no practices, there are no time outs, and there is no half time. Every day, all day, is the big game.
For the past six years, we have been working on learning how to find and select the best talent in home care so that you can grow your business and get ready for the future. Whenever I speak about recruiting, and especially recruiting caregivers, I quote the head basketball coach from the University of Louisville who said in a newspaper interview a few years ago, …
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the National Basketball Association,
it’s that talent wins and wins consistently.”
Rick Pitino
Head Coach
University of Louisville
What are you doing to find and keep top talent in your home care company?
Top Techniques for Recruiting Quality Caregivers
Beginning in 2008, we conducted our first industry survey on the top techniques for recruiting caregivers. We’ve updated that data, and continue to interview owners and CEOs about what’s working and what’s not in recruiting and selection. Our most recent research shows the following top techniques for recruiting caregivers:
1. Recruiting at Four Year Schools of Nursing
2. Faith Based Recruiting
3. Employee Referral Program
4. Web and Internet Recruiting
5. Direct Mail
While many home care companies still use classified ads in daily or weekly newspapers, the data show that the cost per hire for paid newspaper advertising is much higher, and the quality of candidates is much lower, that the other top recruiting methods mentioned in our survey.
The Next Caregiver Shortage is Coming
We began our research into the most effective techniques for recruiting caregivers in 2006 when the biggest challenge to growing a home care business was the ability to find and keep enough caregivers, and the ability to balance the number of caregivers with the number of new clients. That all changed with the recession of 2008, and it became much easier to staff your cases. As a result of the economic down turn, people clung to their jobs. Turnover decreased, and caregivers stayed longer in their current companies.
However, all of the economic data show that the economy is improving slowly and the unemployment rate in our country is declining. That means your caregivers will be more inclined to change companies or change jobs completely if they find something more appealing.
Now is the time to put your recruiting skills and your personal coaching skills to work to find and keep the caregivers you need to grow your business.
