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We’re Home Care Pulse, a leading provider of experience management & surveys, caregiver/CNA training, and online reputation management.

You’re posting jobs on every hiring platform hoping to produce high-quality applicants. These unique tips and tricks will help you master the art of recruiting caregivers. 

When I applied for jobs as a caregiver, I was looking for a reliable schedule. I was also looking for an employment brand (reputation) that gave me peace of mind that they were going to be a good agency to work for. And lastly, I was looking for decent pay.  

Some of the job postings I saw were so long that I didn’t take the time to read them, while others were too short to tell me what I needed to know about the agency. 

It’s important to touch upon the aspects that make your agency different while not taking the focus away from the caregiver. Here are five tips to improve your job postings:  

#1: Use 100-300 words. 

This may come as a surprise but being succinct and simple is key. According to research by Linkedin, shorter job posts perform better, ranging between 100 to 300 words. This doesn’t mean cutting out important parts of your job posts, but it does mean bolstering the content in your job postings to cover more information in less words.  

During a recent episode of our podcast with Rachel Gartner, CEO of recruitment consulting firm CareWork, she explains:  

I love when people want to share what sets apart their agency, but what we kind of caution people is to not make that the first thing on your ad, because caregivers are not looking for a volunteer opportunity, they’re looking for a job. 

Double down on your differentiators in job postings but make sure that they pertain to caregivers specifically.  

When writing your job postings in hiring platforms, make sure to preview each post before sending it out. Many postings are sent out as a single block of text smushed into one paragraph with number signs and random symbols. For example, some postings contain [TEST] or Sample Caregiver Job Posting. 

This is one example of a job posting without proper formatting and with it being one paragraph, it’s difficult to skim and locate important information. The image has been edited to protect the privacy of the provider. A caregiver with dozens of job descriptions to look at is unlikely to take the time deciphering the text in this posting; instead, they’ll simply move on to the next.  

It’s also important to stay on top of which postings are active and ensure that they’re accurate. One time, I applied for a position titled “overnight caregiver”. When I got a call back from the agency, I was notified that it was a posting that they always kept up and they didn’t actually have any overnights.  

To better organize your job postings, you can use formatting and subheadings. This can help to walk the caregiver through each section of your posting.  

The must-haves:  

  • Title

  • Qualifications required for the position 

  • What to expect and other necessary details

  • Matching your tone to the culture of your agency 

  • Include hourly pay or a range 

This isn’t an all-inclusive list, but a good place to start. There’s enough room to fill in the other information on why your agency is the best place for caregivers to work.  

#2: Use appropriate gender-coded language.  

It’s important to recognize that when they are looking at dozens of job descriptions, they are making split-second decisions that could be influenced by subtle word choices.  

Recent research has shown that specific verbiage can play a powerful role in whether or not applicants apply for a job—specifically, that words and phrases traditionally viewed as masculine or feminine can attract or deter job seekers.  

What researchers refer to as “masculine-coded” language has been shown to be more likely to attract male applicants and deter female applicants, with the reverse being true for feminine-coded language.   

Although AARP reports that 75% of caregivers are female and thus most applicants are female, we recommend avoiding overly feminine- or masculine-coded language in favor of neutral language. This maximizes your ability to attract all applicants and may help ensure better overall gender parity.  

Some examples of masculine-coded language include: 

  • Outspoken

  • Competitive

  • Active

  • Ambitious

Here are some examples of feminine-coded language:  

  • Dependable

  • Collaborative

  • Understanding

For more resources on masculine-coded, feminine-coded, and neutral words, visit Gender Decoder. It’s important for your job postings to remain neutral, to attract a variety of high-quality candidates to your home care agency.  

#3: Post your jobs when caregivers are applying for jobs.  

According to LinkedIn, 57% of applications are submitted in between Monday and Wednesday. While those applications come in, begin collecting data to analyze what works and what doesn’t work.  

During our podcast with Rachel Gartner of CareWork, she explained there are two key metrics you should be tracking: your cost per applicant, and cost per hire.   

See which postings are performing the best, what part of the job posting is making caregivers apply? Repeat the practices that work best and improve upon those that didn’t perform as well.  

You could also incorporate caregiver testimonials that speak to your company culture and how you operate.  

#4: Broaden your target market for applicants. 

Have you thought about how you segment your job postings? There’s a variety of ways that you can use specific messaging to improve caregiver recruitment.   

One way that you can do this is by targeting different generations of caregivers. Each generation has a different outlook on work habits, expectations for a job, and the tone that they are looking for in an employer. More specific messages directed to specific groups are more likely to be persuasive.  

You can also focus on different populations, such as students – or more specifically, nursing students. In addition, you can focus on: 

  • Military families

  • Teachers

  • Babysitters

  • School bus drivers

  • Uber or Lyft drivers

These are only a couple of examples of non-caregivers that you can target in job postings for your home care agency. Each group has a unique personality and set of expectations for a job.  

By using specific keywords to call out to these people, you will get their attention. For example, if you are looking to target military applicants, you could create an ad that explicitly talks about how you’re looking for the kind of commitment, dependability, and integrity often found in military personnel and veterans.  

Keep in mind that due to discrimination laws, you can’t ask Indeed or other hiring platforms to only show your ad to applicants of particular demographics such as age or gender. But you can publish multiple postings, each geared toward a different demographic of potential caregivers.  

#5 Consider using a mindset section. 

What is a mindset section? This is a list of things that your ideal caregivers might say in their head.  

For example:  

  • “I succeed by seeing my patients’ conditions improve” 

  • “Making life easier for my patients is the ideal way to operate” 

  • I am here to help my clients” 

These can help caregivers align themselves with your mission, vision, and values. You can incorporate these into the mindset section as well.  

A mindset section is important because these can help applicants decide if your agency is right for them or not. This can help to weed out applicants that aren’t a good fit and attract the ones that you are looking for.  

Recruitment is an art, and your job postings are paintings.  

Recruitment is an important part of your business, and these tips are meant to guide you in crafting your job postings. This isn’t an all-inclusive list of what to include in your job postings, but they will put you ahead of the game.  

Remember the art of recruitment, and that your job postings are an extension of that art. Your job postings are a powerful tool that can help attract talent.  

In Sun Tzu’s classic literary work, The Art of War, he says “If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.” If your competitors are writing job descriptions that don’t measure up, this is an opportunity for you to get quality talent. Present your home care agency as the one to work with.  

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