If you open up a care home, you’ll need to ensure everything is just right – after all, this is where people are going to live, and whether they have specific health issues that need to be treated or they’re older and need some extra care because of that, they need to be treated well. It’s your duty and responsibility to ensure that everyone who lives in your care home is treated with respect and kindness, but also that their needs are met, whatever they might be.
That’s why it’s so vital to choose the right staff for your care home. You can’t just hire the first people who apply for the job because you might be putting your residents in danger, or at the very least, you might not be making their lives as positive as they could be. Plus, you have your reputation to think of; a care home with a bad reputation isn’t going to last very long, not to mention the fact that there could be financial and even legal consequences if you don’t do the right thing. With that in mind, here are some of the ways you can make sure you find the right staff for your care home. Read on to find out more.
Write a Full Job Description
If you want to get the best people applying for any open positions within your care home, you’ll need to ensure you write the best, most thorough job description you can. If there are things missing from the ad, you shouldn’t be surprised if people without the right qualifications send in their resumes and cover letters; if they don’t know what you’re looking for or you miss important elements out, they might think they fit the bill. Of course, if that happens, you’ll waste a lot of time reading through those applications and maybe even interviewing people before you realize they’re not the right ones for the job.
It’s best to take your time over your job ad and ensure it’s as complete as possible. Make a list of all the things your ideal candidate needs to be and have, such as assisted living administrator certification, and note them all down in the ad; that way, you’ll only get people who really do tick all the boxes applying, and you can be sure that whoever you hire in the end, they’re everything you need them to be (and an interview will confirm that).
Use As Many Channels as Possible
In the past, there weren’t many options when it came to where you could place your job ad for the right people to see it. For a care home or assisted living facility, you might pay to place it in a medical journal, for example, or perhaps a local newspaper. Because of that, you wouldn’t get many people seeing the ad, and a lot of people who would be perfect for the job just wouldn’t hear about it at all, so you wouldn’t get the wide pool of applicants you need to find the ideal candidate to fill the role.
Today things are different, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of that fact. You can use social media, your own website, and plenty of different job search websites and apps (including specialist ones for your particular industry) to ensure you reach as many different people as possible, which means you’re much more likely to find the right staff for your care home.
You Need a Good Screening Process
Once applicants start (hopefully) applying and you have a lot of resumes to go through and interviews to set up, you’ll need a good screening process in place to save yourself time – you only want to speak to the best applicants, after all.
You’ll need to know what it is that’s most important to you when you’re looking for a new staff member and make that a priority when you’re reading through the applications. It might be you want a certain amount of experience, for example, or perhaps you’re looking for specific qualifications. It might be the person’s values that interest you or their willingness to learn. What about communication skills? What about how they’ll fit in with the rest of your team or with your residents? Knowing what’s most important will narrow down your list so that you only interview the people who are most likely to be right for the job.
Do Thorough Background Checks
Working in a care home is very different to working in most other places, and although background checks are important everywhere, in a care home, they’re non-negotiable, so you must make sure you are ready to do them and to work with the results, no matter what they might be.
Make sure you verify all the qualifications, certifications, and professional licenses that anyone tells you they have – sadly, you can’t just take their word for it, even if you like them and think they’re the ideal candidate; it’s just not worth taking the risk. You’ll also want to check their employment history and contact previous workplaces to get an idea of how they worked and what they were like. Plus, make sure you get references who you can contact as well. These should be professional and personal so you can get a full overview of the candidate from all angles.
Offer a Good Package
You’re asking a lot of anyone who might want to come and work for your care home, and you need them to be as good as possible to help you and your patients, so it’s only fair that you offer something in return. That’s why it’s important to give them a good salary plus benefits that are at least in line with what other similar places are giving their team members.
However, if you really want to get the right staff – the best staff, even – you could offer more if that’s possible. Think about how you could give your employees a great work-life balance, which could include flexible work schedules, a supportive work environment, and so on. Although they won’t be able to work from home, giving them as much help as possible will ensure they do their best work for you and they’re satisfied with their job, and that can lead to a big positive difference.