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7 Terrifying Talent Acquisition Tales & How To Prevent Them From Haunting Your Community

October 26, 2020 | Jenna Berris


7 Terrifying Talent Acquisition Tales & How To Prevent Them From Haunting Your CommunityI can’t believe Halloween is less than a week away. And even though this year’s celebration might look and feel a bit different, there’s still plenty of time to tell the spooky stories and spine-tingling tales that get us into the spirit this time of year. To help get you started, I’d like to share a few tales that are truly scary for senior care providers — all centered around hiring.

Sit back with your favorite bag of candy as I share a few of the most common hiring horror stories we hear from organizations and how to prevent them from haunting your community.

The Strange Disappearance Of The Job Seeker

We can’t tell scary stories without recounting one of the scariest, and most common problems plaguing providers: ghosting. For those unfamiliar, ghosting is when candidates seemingly drop off the face of the earth – whether that’s because they found another job, or they just determined your community was not a good fit.

Unfortunately, we rarely learn the real reason candidates drop off in the recruiting process. What we do know is that your process matters. And the more candidate-centric that process is, the more likely you are to impress, engage and hire top talent.

The Tale Of The Frighteningly Shallow Applicant Pool

How can you hire the people you need if you can’t even get them into your funnel? Generating enough quality applicants is arguably the worst hiring problem providers can have.

Make sure you are casting a wide net and getting as many eyes on your postings as possible. Optimize your postings on job boards like Indeed and share all openings across your social media channels. Encourage your employees to share your openings and what they love about working with you on their personal channels.

Since the pandemic takes career fairs and walk-in applicants off the table, consider hosting a safe and socially distant outdoor open house where job seekers can come meet your team and learn more about your community.

Another area that could be contributing to your lack of applicants is your employer brand. Are your job descriptions highlighting the fun and rewarding aspects of working at your community or are they just riddling off a list of responsibilities? Make sure you are selling the job to the seeker to really set yourself apart from the competition. That tone should also be reflected across your social media channels and on your careers page. 

The Account Of Atrocious Online Reviews

Negative publicity could also be contributing to your lack of applicants. Monitor your online reviews on Glassdoor, social media and other employment-related sites and be sure to respond to any negative feedback. Something as simple as saying that you appreciate the comment and are looking into it sends the message that you care about the wellbeing of your employees and take their concerns seriously.

It’s also a best practice to encourage employees who love working at your community to share that positive feedback online to boost your rating.

The Legend Of The Lost New Hire

Recruiters invest tons of time and effort into hiring the best fit for the role. So, when that candidate doesn’t show up on the first day and has taken another job, it’s a huge slap in the face. While you can never predict people’s behavior, you can put practices in place to prevent this from happening.

One way to do that is to stay in touch with people between the time they’ve accepted the position and their start date. In many cases, this could be as long as two to four weeks, depending on how much notice they give their current employer. While this is a great courtesy to their current organization, it also leaves the chance that they could be snatched up by a counteroffer from another community.

Because of this, it’s so important to keep new hires engaged and looking forward to working with you. The tactics for this could be as simple as sending a note or two via email, text or letter that lets them know you are excited for them to come aboard and are there to answer any questions in the meantime.

Recruitment technology on the market today allows you begin onboarding new hires before their start date. OnShift Employ, our talent acquisition software for senior care, has new hires complete pre-hire paperwork in a candidate portal once they have accepted your offer. This means that on day one, instead of focusing solely on paperwork, you can focus on the fun stuff, like meeting new colleagues and residents. As you know, studies show that a strong onboarding program is directly correlated to higher employee retention.

The Nightmare Of Frequent New Hire Turnover

The only thing worse than not showing up on day one is coming on board, building relationships with coworkers and residents, and then throwing in the towel during the first 90 days. To prevent new hires from leaving, give them a reason, or several, to stay. That includes a solid support system, such as a mentor or buddy, that can help them get acclimated and address any questions or concerns.

Be sure to monitor employees’ progress during the first 90 days. Automated new hire surveys, like those in OnShift Engage, are sent at key intervals in the onboarding process to measure satisfaction, collect feedback and correct any issues early. Checking in with new hires shows you’re invested in your employees’ success and wellbeing.

The Mystery Of The Missing Applicant

Playing phone tag is never fun. But if you’re still calling candidates, rather than texting them to schedule interviews, there’s your problem. The data says it all:  90% of texts are read within three minutes and the average response time of a text message is three minutes. Plus, when was the last time you answered a phone call from an unknown number?

Speed is critical in the recruitment world and texting candidates allows you to supercharge the process, while also modernizing your community. OnShift Employ provides automated text message templates that are capable of immediately responding to new candidates before the competition, so you can schedule them for an interview and get them in the door faster.

The Secret Skeletons In Candidates’ Closets

The safety of your residents and staff is your number one priority, so understanding who you’re hiring and doing so with confidence is critical. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of employers who have either did not conduct the needed background checks or did not receive accurate or timely responses, leading to disastrous outcomes – such as poor resident care and hefty fines.

Be sure your background screening service has a track record of providing accurate and timely results. For example, OnShift’s partnership with First Advantage gives our customers access to accurate and thorough background screening reports in real time. This enables them to make informed decisions about each candidate, create a faster, more efficient path to hire and provide a streamlined candidate experience. It’s a win-win for organizations and job seekers.

The Curse Of The Competitive Candidate-Snatchers

You’ve noticed a pattern developing where job seekers are choosing to work for your competitor. This says something about either your reputation, your process, or both. As previously mentioned, make sure you’re closely monitoring your online reviews. However, word of mouth could also be hindering your efforts, so be sure to have regular conversations with employees, collect feedback and measure their satisfaction.

Another reason you could be losing top talent to the senior care community down the street is that a breakdown exists somewhere in your hiring process. Some faux pas include not following up fast enough, not clearly communicating next and steps and not providing candidates with a timeline for your process.

True Story: Your Process Matters

If you take anything away from this post, I hope it’s that your recruitment results are only as good as your process. And that process must be candidate-centric. It’s extremely important that employers continually view and assess these requirements through their eyes. What is the applicant’s experience from application to hire? What does this experience say about your organization? Are you thoughtful, organized and focused on your employees? Or are you just going through the motions, disjointed and trying to meet your hiring quota? Culture is key and an employee’s first look inside that culture starts during the hiring process.

Happy Halloween!

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About Jenna Berris

Jenna Berris is a Content Marketing Manager for OnShift.

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