If you limit your recruiting to Indeed, this might be true. It’s a fact that Indeed costs are spiralling but nowadays Indeed jobs don’t show on Google at all. Nowadays people Google for jobs near them and you can’t pay for ‘space’ on Google Jobs – Google must find your jobs instead.
Relying on Indeed alone is now futile. We found 63% of the applicants to one of our London boroughs through new channels, were new to the sector.
Social media, other job boards and other digital channels are becoming more important, so now carer recruiting relies on a combination of digital recruitment and digital marketing to find the right people. Not many care providers have these skills in-house.
Unless you’re an accountant, outsourcing financial accounts is a necessity nowadays. The same applies to recruiting now. Care teams need to be freed to focus on what only they can do – delivering great care, to more of the people who need it.
Ask yourself whether recruitment is at the top of your list, truly. You may think you or the team are doing well, but how often are candidates getting their paperwork, DBS checks or training fast enough? The great thing about recruitment is that it is successful when you follow a robust process. But if it’s taking longer than 24-48hrs to get key information to candidates, they will be a ‘no show’. Nowadays recruitment must be swift and executed persistently and consistently. It’s a skilled, full-time job, not something to dip into when someone has the time. The candidate can’t help but feel they aren’t that important to you, if they don’t hear from you quickly.
Why wouldn’t your contracts be sent within 24hrs of an offer? Why would you wait longer than a day to give interview feedback? Why not stay in touch during onboarding? The people applying for your role need to start a job right away, they don’t have the luxury of waiting for two weeks. Reach out and onboard them fast.
Carer recruiting never stops. If you earn £500-£800 (or more) gross profit per month per carer, then if you’re not driving recruitment there’s a ‘lost opportunity’ cost holding back your home care growth. If you run a residential home, the impact is high agency costs or staff burnout.
So, if you’re under-resourced and reactive to applicants, a pro-active competitor (in care or elsewhere) will win the applicant over. A tenacious, great candidate experience works. For example, we make up to 4 phone calls, 3 emails and 2 texts/WhatsApp’s to reach and pre-screen individuals, because successful recruiting comes from not relying on CVs alone. The best people can have simply awful CVs, and vice versa.
One day-a-week availability for interviews is not enough. Care providers need to make time slots available most days. If an applicant can’t meet you quickly, they’ll meet the next potential employer instead and, again, be a ‘no show’.
Any gap or leak in your recruitment process is a potential disaster. We can’t blame candidates for dropping out if it’s the recruitment process that’s at fault. An applicant tracking system, like the one we use, highlights where to make adjustments and boost your ROI.
It’s not all about money. Our clients have found success by being open about what’s going on, showing their appreciation to staff, making rostering more flexible around the individual, taking home care workers’ travel times into account, and making other small adjustments or gestures that help staff a lot. Short-term fuel or energy bonuses and extra time off to recharge or access professional support to help with finance or other stresses, are all low-cost, high-value extras. Especially if yours is a great place to work, with a great manager and a great team feel.
The cost-of-living crisis will also inevitably push more people back into work. How you present the care sector and your own service both face to face or on social media is critical too. Potential applicants are going to check you out online and decide whether care (and you) sound appealing.
While the emotional challenge can be tough some days, you know the reward from care work can be incredibly uplifting. It’s time to remind your team and your local community of all the ways you positively impact people’s lives. Make sure your website and social media are working hard for you.
Want to know more? Book a no-strings chat with Scott here.
