How Many Caregiver Applicants Does It Take to Make a Hire?
How to hit the right number of applicants to add new, quality caregivers to your team.
According to CareerPlug’s 2022 Recruiting Metrics Report, the average job posting receives 27 applications. In some industries, and for some roles, that number can be substantially higher.
For example, Glassdoor estimates that recruiters can expect about 250 applications per job posting. The factors that influence this number are many: seniority, location, job requirements, schedule flexibility, pay, and even the reputation of your home care agency.
But ultimately, the goal of recruiting is not to just have a large applicant pool, the goal is to have a high-quality applicant pool. Hiring efficiency means lower cost and quicker hires.
What is applicant-to-hire ratio?
Your applicant-to-hire ratio is the number of applicants you receive compared to the number of people you hire.
If you have two home caregiver positions to fill and receive 75 applications, your applicant-to-hire ratio is 75:2.
Lots of factors affect this ratio. Early career openings generally receive more applications than very senior openings do. Similarly, the more hard requirements a role has, like licenses and certifications, the fewer applications you will receive. The reputation of your home care agency will also affect the number of applicants that come your way.
6 ways to improve the quality of your caregiver applicants
While it may take as little as 27 applicants to fill an open caregiver job, the goal should be to have as low a ratio as possible. A large number of unqualified, low-quality candidates will only slow down the recruiting process. As tempting as it may sound, 250 applications for two open roles is not ideal!
What you’re after is quality. Here are 6 ways to fill your candidate funnel with the best new caregivers you can find.
1. Automate candidate sourcing
Candidate automation is a lifesaver when you need a fluid and efficient recruiting process. Automated sourcing and applicant screening can take the tedium off of recruiters’ plates and whittle a 250-applicant talent pool into something more manageable.
And with recruitment automation, home care agencies can tap talent from past applicant pools for new positions and recruit caregivers faster.
2. Source from new talent pools
Diverse teams are more successful than homogeneous teams, and diverse teams are made from diverse applicant pools. To improve the quality of your applicant pool, widen your target audience and tap new sources of talent.
3. Spell out your process for hiring caregivers
Don’t be cagey about what you want from your job candidates. Trick questions and opaque screening processes are unnecessary, and they actually make it harder to sift the best caregivers from the bunch.
In every step of the hiring process, make it clear what you need to know about applicants, the skills and competencies you need them to demonstrate, and the kinds of answers you’re looking for. As you coach caregivers through the application and interview processes, you’ll find it easier to build relationships with your ideal caregiver candidates.
4. Be realistic about job requirements
What is really more valuable, ten years of experience or an excellent track record of client care? If it’s the latter, nix the ten-year requirement and just ask applicants to demonstrate their reputation with references, behavioral interview questions, and problem-solving exercises.
Arbitrary job requirements in job postings can shrink the size of your applicant pool, yes, but they also alienate highly qualified caregivers that fall just outside of those bounds. You don’t want the best potential hires self-selecting out.
5. Train hiring managers on candidate screening
Consistency matters a great deal when you need to bring highly qualified caregivers into your agency. Training your hiring managers on interview techniques and designing a process that is as objective as possible (with tools like candidate scoring processes) will help you get consistent results across your organization.
If your evaluation criteria are consistent, it’s more likely that you’ll end up with a consensus on potential caregivers and whittle the hiring pool efficiently.
6. Set up an employee referral program for recruiting caregivers
An employee referral program will help you recruit caregivers more quickly, lower recruiting costs, and reduce caregiver turnover. Plus, getting candidate referrals via word-of-mouth from your current staff also increases the likelihood that those referrals will be more qualified and interested in joining your agency.
Need help with getting caregiver applicants?
If you need help with getting caregiver applicants and improving the quality of those applicants for your home care agency, reach out to us at Home Care Marketing Pros. See how our digital marketing solutions can help grow your agency and get you where you want to be!
