Are You Making These Recruiting & Hiring Mistakes? Here’s How To Fix Them

Hiring is both a top priority and a top challenge for long-term care and senior living providers. A lot of the struggle is of course due to historically high turnover and a low unemployment rate. But things have changed since the onset of the pandemic. The unemployment rate has risen dramatically, and many providers have seen an uptick in applicants. Unfortunately, many have found that their outdated and convoluted hiring processes just aren’t cutting it and top candidates are slipping through the cracks. Here are some of the common mistakes providers make when it comes to recruiting and hiring, and how to fix them.

1. Not Casting A Wide Enough Net

Even those providers that are seeing an increase in applicant flow should be maximizing their exposure to reach as many qualified candidates as possible. This starts with posting job openings on the hundreds of free job boards like Indeed, Zip Recruiter and Google for Jobs, as well on your company’s social media channels. Encourage your employees to share these posts with their personal networks to further expand your reach. Then, to ensure you don't get bogged down by applicants that just aren't the right fit, be sure to include a few qualifying questions on each application--things like minimum requirements such as certifications or licensure. This can help you automatically narrow down your pool. 

2. Waiting Too Long To Follow Up

Hourly workers don’t stay on the market long. Many apply to jobs en masse and accept an offer from the first community to express interest. To avoid losing qualified candidates to the competition, reach out as soon as possible to secure an interview.

3. Using Outdated Communication Methods

You’d be surprised to learn how many providers are still calling applicants to schedule interviews. Today's workforce prefers to be contacted via text message, with 90% reading those text messages within the first three minutes of receiving them. Texting candidates instead of calling them not only allows you to quickly get their attention, but it modernizes your community and makes a great first impression. 

4. Not Having A Real-Time Status Check For Candidates

A recent Glassdoor survey found that what job seekers wanted most from companies during the recruiting process is transparency and regular communication. In short, they want to know where they stand and what to expect throughout your hiring process. A Talent Acquisition System (TAS) like OnShift Employ gives candidates a timeline of your process, the ability to check their status in real-time and uses automated reminders to complete next steps. Since only 20% of respondents of that same survey said that they’ve experienced regular communication during the hiring process, this is an excellent way to set yourself apart from the majority of your competitors. 

5. Not Implementing A Structured Hiring Process

Due to bandwidth and lack of resources, many providers have made hiring an ad-hoc activity. Having a repeatable, streamlined process in place can help you avoid many common hiring challenges. Again, this is where technology can help. A TAS makes it easy for you to manage your entire process, create customized workflows and easily deliver contingent and final offer letters. The ability to manage your entire process from a single, easy-to-use platform leads to a faster path to hire and puts hours back in your hiring manager’s day.

6. Ghosting Candidates

While candidates going dark on communities mid-hiring process has been a hot topic in the industry, the reverse is also a huge problem. Even if you are not interested in moving forward with an applicant or a candidate that you’ve been in contact with, let them know. Nearly 80% of job seekers say they are less likely to apply for a company that fails to notify them of their status and 3.5X more likely to re-apply if they were notified.

Think about it; how many times have you come across a candidate that you really liked but was not the best fit for the open role? Being respectful of their time and telling them you’ll keep them in mind for future openings ensures they walk away with a good experience. Then, you can put this person into a confidential database, like the one in OnShift Employ, and notify them of future jobs as they are posted.

7. Relying On Clunky Background Screening Tools

Thorough background screening for every new hire is critical to the safety and wellbeing of your residents. But many providers find their current screening process is time consuming and far from user-friendly for the hiring manager and the candidate. Consider using a TAS system that integrates with background screening providers to offer companies a more seamless experience and reliable results.

8. Using A Disjointed Onboarding Process 

Onboarding is an opportunity to create a strong first impression and boost retention. Instead of bogging down your new hire with paperwork on their first day, have them complete all necessary forms prior to their start date. OnShift Employ makes submitting these essentials quick and easy in the candidate portal and organizes everything for the hiring manager so they’re all set on their first day. Less paperwork means more time for the fun aspects of starting a new job like meeting coworkers and residents.

9. Lacking Visibility Into Key Hiring Metrics

Your recruiting and hiring process is only as good as you make it. And that starts with understanding how well your current process is working and where you can refine it. You should be tracking key hiring metrics like applications by location, time to hire, referral reports and applications by stages. OnShift Employ gives you access to 60+ reports and sends weekly updates on the analytics you care most about. From there, you can make informed decisions to optimize your process and see stronger results.