It’s no secret that finding and retaining caregivers is a challenge that most home care business owners face. In today’s Drink with “The Hurricane” I will dive deep into one thing that most people stray away from… developing relationships with schools. If utilized correctly it’s a game changer. Watch today’s episode to find out why.
Hi folks, Steve, “The Hurricane” here, and for today’s episode of A Drink With The Hurricane, we are going to talk about marketing for caregivers. So, raise your glass, and let’s toast to your success.
Cheers.
This is A Drink With The Hurricane, the talk show discussing all things growing your home care business. This video is sponsored by Home Care Evolution where we help home care agencies adapt to changing circumstances, transform their business, so that they can thrive for years to come.
So, it’s no secret getting caregivers, keeping caregivers, this is the hardest thing that we have to do. And, I think about my course specifically, it’s called Momentum where I train recruiters, schedulers, office staff, and business owners on how to get and keep caregivers working for their agency. And, one of the biggest things that I say all the time, that very few people actually take me up on, is developing a relationship with the schools in your area, not just the CNA schools, but all of the universities, colleges, and trade schools in your area. In 2009, I was actually the employer of the year for Lincoln Tech. Lincoln Tech, here in New Jersey, offers an accelerated nursing program. And, during that year, I hired 26 caregivers from that school. That’s literally one caregiver every other week or two caregivers a month. That’s crazy, those kind of numbers, right? The reason why I was able to do it is because I got out there. I walked into the school. I asked for the career development relationship, or the career development counselor, or the guidance counselor, or the accounts receivables financial aid department, anybody at the school who’s working with students that need money. The school, they have a vested interest in getting paid. And, they know when somebody needs financial aid, because they’re at the financial aid department. So, when they know somebody is looking for work, they’re going to send people to you.
Another thing that people don’t realize, and one of my clients, Aaron, you see Aaron’s picture here on the screen. Aaron’s one of my top clients. He’s a member of the Home Care Elite Academy. We have a great relationship, did a lot of work together. He did exactly what I’m teaching you to do. And, after going to the school one time, the following week, he hired four caregivers from the school, because a lot of people don’t realize the reason why these schools have career development centers and career development departments is because colleges and universities can get federal funding as well as advertise to get students to want to go to their school based on their ability to get their students jobs. That is one of the highest priorities for a school. And, when you speak to the school about how you’re an employer and you’re looking to hire their students, the schools will listen and they will send you able bodies who are able and willing to work for you. That is a phenomenal way to get caregivers.
The second way to get caregivers is old school, and it’s something that I used to do, and it’s something that many of my clients are doing. You take a look at your current list of caregivers, not available caregivers, just all of the caregivers who work for you or whoever worked for you, and look at their addresses. Chances are, because remember, caregivers they make a certain amount of money. So if caregivers make a certain amount of money, then people who make a certain amount of money tend to live in the same communities, right? Birds of a feather flock together. So, if I find that I have a certain number of my existing or former caregivers live in a specific apartment complex or a specific townhouse development, it is a good idea to make a pull tab flyer, good old fashioned, old school flyer, with your phone number at the bottom. And, they can rip off the phone number and put it on the mailboxes, go down to the apartment leasing office, and talk to the leasing manager. And, here’s the key, it’s all on how you say it. You walk in and you say, “Hi, I am an employer in the area. Do you have people who live in this community who are behind on their rent?” You know what the answer is. It’s yes, of course, every apartment, I don’t care if there’s a hundred units or a thousand units, there’s always somebody who’s delinquent on their rent, who’s on the verge of getting kicked out. So, when you go in there and you ask a question which the obvious answer is, yes, then you say, “Well, if you know somebody looking for work, I’m an employer, I’m hiring. They can earn my money to pay your rent. Would you spread the word?” You know what the answer is. It’s gonna be yes. Then ask them, “Can I put these flyers on the mailboxes? Is there a community board? Can I leave some flyers with you? How can we make this work?” You never know what they’re gonna say, but take whatever they tell you to do as the way to go out and do it and you put out flyers.
In addition to that, put the flyers out at the convenience stores, the laundry mats, and the gas stations that are near these apartment complexes. If you live in an apartment complex and you need gas, you’re gonna go to the gas station by your house, right? So, if there’s flyers there, and again, you walk in and you ask the clerk if you can leave it, most of the time they have a community board, they’ll say, “Yeah, sure.” Or ask them, “Can I put this on the pump?” In a lot of states, people have to pump their own gas. And, if it’s right on the pump, not covering anything, but like on the side, people can see it. They can pull off a tag and boom, you’re reaching your target demographic. So, don’t forget about the obvious old school ways of getting caregivers.
The last one is probably the oldest one, and I know you’ve all stopped doing it, but it’s for a specific type of caregiver. I actually learned this from Dawn, who’s one of my top clients of the Home Care Elite Academy, and she is the owner of Seniors for Seniors. And, what Seniors for Seniors is, it’s basically older adults taking care of older, older adults, right? So, they actually hire people 55, 60, 65 years old to take care of people 80, 90, and 100, and beyond. If you wanna hire somebody who’s an older professional, and think not so much about a caregiver, but think about retired nurses. There are many retired nurses who wanna keep their license active, but they don’t want to be a nurse. They don’t wanna do nurse work. They don’t wanna work at the hospitals. They don’t wanna do all the things. They don’t wanna work all the hours. They want something part-time, one patient, one on one, some companionship with a little bit of personal care. They’re totally down for that. They make amazing caregivers. You’re getting a nurse for a caregiver price, because they’re doing the work because it’s something to do, not because they need the money. And, where do you find these older folks? It’s not gonna be on Indeed. It’s not gonna be on all of the new fangle dangle technology. No, it’s gonna be in the good old fashioned newspapers, because that’s the way that they look for work. So, if you’re appealing to the older generation for retired folks, do what the older generation did for work, which was advertise in newspapers, and put out specifically, ideal candidate would be a retired nurse looking for a way to maintain her license. Like, if you put that exact ad out there, I guarantee someone’s gonna see it and be like, that’s me. I need something to do. I wanna keep my license going. I need to be in a healthcare setting, but I don’t wanna work at a facility. And, boom, you got yourself a great caregiver.
So, here you have three real world tips that many of my clients are doing and using to be able to grow their recruitment efforts and get more caregivers to work for them. If you like this tip and you like all the other videos that I put out, do yourself a favor and come to the Home Care Evolution Conference, where you’re gonna get to spend three days with me and my team, going over everything to completely transform your business so that it’s more optimized and running smoothly with much fewer headaches. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your staff. You owe it to your friends and your family to get this information, so that you can dominate your marketplace without having to put forth any more effort. Three days, do the right thing, click the link below. And, I’ll see you at the Home Care Evolution Conference where I’ll give you everything you need to blow away the competition