How to Get Qualified Caregiver Applicants Through Indeed and Other Job Sites

The home care industry has been going through one of its most trying times. There was a time when getting referrals was the number one priority.

In the past few years that hasn’t been the case. Caregiver shortages have become such an issue that agencies are turning down referrals because they have no staff to care for the clients.

Most likely you are also feeling the pinch of the lack of staff and have embarked on finding new and innovative ways to find caregivers. There are many suggestive ways to attract caregiver applicants but none has the prowess that job sites have.

Job sites like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Monster, and CareerBuilder are well known for bringing together employees and employers and are ranked number one as the best place to recruit employees. The top three recruitment strategies are:

Jobs sites: Indeed.com, CNAjobs.com, Craigslist.org job ads, Careerbuilders.com.
Employee referrals: Caregivers are incentivized to refer to their agencies and this is a very effective recruiting strategy when done right.
Social media: In the past few years, LinkedIn, Facebook ads, Facebook job search, and Facebook groups have a powerful sources for getting new applicants.

Best Practices to Get Qualified Caregivers from Job Sites

While sites like Indeed are great for finding new caregivers, lots of other employers are also posting jobs there. This means it can be tough to find the right people. But don't worry, there's a way to make sure your job posts get noticed and get applications. Just follow these best practices!

1. Competitor Job Post Analysis

You should spend a considerable amount of time researching what your competitors are doing by performing a competitor analysis. This includes the following:

Job titles
Job descriptions
Compensations
Incentives
Bonuses

Begin by identifying your top competitors. Search for "caregiver jobs" on Google and note the top 10 names that appear. Then, cross-reference these names by searching for caregivers on job portals.

If your initial list matches these portals, you're on the right track. These are companies not only with well-crafted job postings but also appealing offers that can help you attract the same caliber of applicants.

Create a spreadsheet with the following columns:

Competitor name
Job descriptions
Compensation details
Incentive information
Bonus breakdown

Fill in the details for each company in your spreadsheet. Look for common patterns in their job descriptions and the benefits they offer to caregiver applicants.

For instance, you might notice pay ranges between $17-22 per hour. Opting for a rate in the middle of this range could be a smart choice.

If mileage reimbursement is a common perk, consider highlighting this in your own job post. This analysis will guide your approach as you craft your own compelling job post.

2. Keep the Post Within 350-700 Words

According to Textio, the ideal length of a job post shouldn’t be more than 700 words. Keep it concise and straight to the point without fillers. Make it a fun, enticing work environment and paint a picture of how a typical day would be for the caregiver.

3. Sell the Company Vision and the Culture

This is important because you want to weed out applicants that don’t match your company's values. Your company culture should make the caregiver want to work in a place that reflects her own values.

If you have reviews from clients and employees, add the links to the job post so that the applicant can have a better picture of what makes your company special compared to others.

Including these reviews and testimonials humanizes your company and gives the applicant the “fear of missing out” vibes.

4. Structure the Job Post

As previously mentioned, look at your job post from the eyes of an applicant. Applicants are going through hundreds of job posts and the ones with too many paragraphs are quickly eliminated. Keep your job description at 4-6 paragraphs at most.

Introduction

Your introduction shouldn’t be more than 3 paragraphs, and this should include: a description of what your company does, a description of the position, and what makes the position attractive to the caregiver.

Job Description

When writing the job description, think like the applicant. They often want to know about pay and benefits first. Make it easy for them by putting these details at the top of the description. This way, you quickly catch their interest before they read more.

Responsibilities

Having a laundry list of responsibilities is a surefire way of scaring the applicant away. Keep it concise with 5-10 bullet points of the most important duties they will need to fulfill.

Requirements/ Qualifications

Present crucial requirements and qualifications as straightforward bullet points. This simplifies the information for easy comprehension.

Closing

Use 2 to 3 sentences to summarize what makes your agency the best place in the world to work. Also, provide them with information on how to proceed with the application.

5. Optimize for Mobile

More than half of the applicants use their mobile phones to apply for jobs. View your job postings on a mobile phone to ensure it isn’t too long or show up in a weird format. Use this feedback to adjust your job post so that applicants have the best user experience.

6. Paid or Free Ads?

The job site algorithms favor paid ads compared to free ones. For you to get the best candidates you might have to shell out a few dollars to get qualified caregivers.

Not only does the algorithm favor paid ads but the job sites are smart enough to provide beneficial features only to paid ads. According to Indeed, paid ads are nearly 5 times more likely to result in a hire compared to free ads.

7. Website Optimization

Caregivers also check your website to learn about your company. Ensure your website is user-friendly and appealing. If it's confusing, lacks information, or looks unattractive, caregivers might not apply. Make your site easy for potential caregivers to find info, contact you, and apply online.

Important Recruitment Metrics You Should Track

Recruitment metrics provide valuable insights into your hiring strategies and guide you toward optimal outcomes. The following are the pivotal metrics to keep a close watch on

1. Cost per Applicant

Cost per applicant (CPA) is a recruitment metric that measures the average cost incurred by an employer for each individual who completes an application for a job position.

It calculates how much money is spent on advertising, sourcing, and other recruitment efforts to attract candidates who ultimately submit their applications. The formula for calculating Cost per Applicant is:

Cost per Applicant = Total Recruitment Costs / Number of Applicants

This metric helps employers assess the efficiency of their recruitment efforts by understanding how much they are investing in acquiring potential candidates.

A lower CPA indicates that the recruitment process is cost-effective and efficient in attracting suitable applicants. Conversely, a higher CPA might suggest that adjustments are needed in the recruitment strategy to improve the return on investment.

2. Cost per Hire

This is a critical metric for a home care agency's recruitment process. It gauges the total expenses involved in bringing a new caregiver on board.

The formula for calculating Cost per Hire in a home care agency context is:

Cost per Hire = (Internal Costs + External Costs) / Total Number of Caregiver Hires

Internal Costs: These encompass expenses related to your agency's internal recruitment team, including their salaries, benefits, and administrative costs.
External Costs: This category includes expenditures like caregiver job advertisements, fees paid to recruitment agencies, background checks, expenses for caregiver interviews, and any other costs tied to the hiring process.
Total Number of Caregiver Hires: This represents the overall count of new caregivers you've successfully hired within a specific timeframe.

Monitor these numbers on a spreadsheet in order to have a clear picture of what is not and what is working. Include on the spreadsheet the number of applicants, the number of interviews scheduled and completed, and lastly how many hires for the month.

3. New Hire Churn (Turnover) Rate

New hire churn rate is a crucial metric to monitor within the context of a home care agency. It measures the percentage of new caregivers who leave your agency shortly after being hired.

This metric sheds light on the effectiveness of your onboarding process, the alignment between caregiver expectations and actual job roles, and overall employee satisfaction.

The formula for calculating New Hire Churn Rate in a home care agency is:

New Hire Churn Rate = (Number of New Hires Who Left Within a Given Period / Total Number of New Hires) × 100

This metric considers caregivers who have left your agency shortly after being hired, often within the first few months. A high new hire churn rate can indicate issues with your recruitment process, onboarding, training, or job satisfaction.

A lower new hire churn rate suggests that your agency's efforts in attracting, onboarding, and retaining caregivers are effective.

Monitoring this metric and addressing its underlying causes can help you enhance caregiver satisfaction, reduce turnover, and maintain a stable and experienced workforce within your home care agency.

Final Thoughts

From the beginning of this article, a point was made to make this about the caregiver and not the employer. In all facets of the hiring process, an employer should involve their caregivers to assist them with what they like about the company so that you can highlight this during the hiring process.

Recruiting caregivers is not an easy task but it can be made more palatable by utilizing job sites and optimizing your job ads using these best practices.