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Recruiting Online: How You Can Find Qualified Candidates Online (with Nancy Wellinghoff)Assisted Living Today, April 2004 Getting the senior housing industry noticed by the on-line job boards is like getting Horton to notice the Whos. They just don't have a category for our very specialized industry and its professionals. The catchall category is healthcare . But guess what? The healthcare category includes hospitals, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists and every other healthcare professional under the sun. How do we get Monster.com, HotJobs.com (Yahoo), CareerBuilders (the big three) and the other online job boards to set up a separate category for the senior housing industry? (Do we even want them to?) I've asked sales reps and gotten the runaround over and over again. Their answer to my question is twofold. One: Every industry wants its own category and we just can't list them all. Two: You can use keywords to selectively sort resumes related to your industry and filter out unqualified candidates. These answers may placate others, but they just don't solve my problems. To add to my agony, the sales reps at some of these online services do not even know what the senior housing industry is. I quickly become educator of the day by loosely defining our growing industry: "It includes active adult communities, assisted living, long-term care, independent living and continuing care retirement communities, including rental, co-op and entrance-fee lifecare." Their responses are varied. Some say, "Oh, yeah, my grandmother is in a place like that." Others stammer and try to act like they know what I am talking about. It is very frustrating for both of us. My other major gripe with using these generic job boards is that even though I specify "MUST HAVE SENIOR HOUSING EXPERIENCE," unqualified candidates still submit resumes by the boatload, disregarding my specific requirements. There are also many resume services that send candidates "free of charge" but again, their screening tools do not filter out the non-industry candidates. Anyone with any experience at all in sales or marketing for, example, gets forwarded to you, whether they come from the senior housing industry or not. "On average, in US businesses, at least half of all new hires 'don't work out." (Fortune, 2/00)In one instance, a recruiter in Texas had to weed through 150 resumes to find two qualified applicants. A corporate recruiter told an investigator "more than one-half of her responses from the big boards were in no way qualified," meaning she was receiving non-licensed candidates applying for nursing home administrator jobs. Quality of resumes, not quantity, is what really matters in our niche industry. The sales reps are just doing their jobs, but they try to woo us with meaningless statistics like how many hits their sites have. I want to know how many visitors have actually logged on and done some research. What is the solution to this recruiting dilemma? We have several options, including utilizing association job boards, specialized industry boards and executive search firms. There are several specialty senior housing industry recruiters, which often comprise industry insiders. Because these recruiters typically come from the industry, they have developed three unique tools. First, an "insider's perspective" enables them to really understand the position and what it requires of a candidate. Second, they have developed a solid network of respected industry professionals as referral sources. And third, senior housing recruiters have established extensive databases of qualified personnel. They can find the right people to replace key staff members or to successfully launch a new project because they have a true understanding of what their clients are looking for. If you don't have a human resources department or in-house recruiter, hiring an executive recruiter is another option. Recruiters work on either a retainer or a contingency fee basis. The industry standard for a search fee is 20 - 30% of the annual base salary of the position you wish to fill, contingent upon hiring the individual. This fee is minimal compared to some hiring and retention statistics. "It costs $7000 to replace a salaried employee, $10,000 to replace a mid-level employee, and $40,000 to replace a senior executive." ( Recruiting Times ) Questions to ask when selecting a search firm
There are some basic rules to follow when choosing a recruiter. Choose a search firm that understands our industry. Work with the recruiter to determine your specific needs. Be open about other search companies involved. Inform the recruiter of your progress, such as resumes submitted, interviews conducted and any pending offers. Return the recruiter's calls and emails! A potentially great hire can become discouraged by a perceived lack of interest. Not keeping the process moving can create "bad press" for you or your company. Review submitted candidate materials carefully. Inform the search company before contacting the candidate directly to clarify his/her qualifications and credentials. Keep the search firm informed during the interview process. Let them assist you with logistics and negotiations. Be open-minded and look at the big picture. Although a candidate may not fit into a specific position, he/she may be qualified for placement in a different position or department within your organization. We are also fortunate enough to have several great associations with job boards including ALFA.com and AAHSA.org. In addition, there actually are services like Monster and Yahoo that specialize in the senior housing industry. JobsinLTC.com, SeniorHousingJobs.com and SeniorPrograms.com are just a few. The technology era has given the senior housing industry a huge gift in enabling us to surf web sites and utilize the services they provide. The challenge is trying to decide what works best for you in finding the right employees to match your corporate and community needs. If you use any of the non-industry job boards, including the big three, and especially if you pay for their services, please request a senior housing category. We, like the Whos in Whoville, will be heard! (Nancy Wellinghoff was Director of the Executive Search Division at Trace Marketing, Inc. when this article was published.) Back to articles |