Demand for caregivers is greater than ever and with the current job market, you’re competing for caregivers not only with other agencies but with retail giants like Amazon and Walmart, fast food chains like McDonalds, and gig platforms like Uber and TaskRabbit. Here are 101 ways that you can use to recruit more caregivers and ensure that you’re properly staffed.

While you’re almost definitely using some of these sources, there’s probably not an agency in the country that’s using all of them. All of these are ideas that home care agencies listed in the 2018 Home Care Benchmarking Study as being ways that they found and hired caregivers, or ways that we’ve seen other home care agencies or similar small businesses use to recruit.

Keep These 3 Things in Mind

It’s important to remember that not all caregiver recruiting channels are created equal; we strongly encourage you to track the cost-per-hire, number of applicants, and caregiver turnover rate of each channel so that you can continually refine your process.

We also recognize that the circumstances of every agency are different; some of these ideas may be extremely useful in helping one agency hire more caregivers and bring little or no benefit to another agency. We’ve included as many ideas as possible in this list so that you can make your own decision about which caregiver recruitment channels are best for your agency.

Finally, remember that the channels you’re comfortable with using may not be the channels that your target demographics use most often. For instance, caregivers are generally younger than agency management and much more likely to be active on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter. In fact, overall today’s job seekers are much more likely to connect with employers via internet sources vs. traditional marketing sources than they were even a few years ago. It’s very important that your strategy is tailored around the channels that your target audience prefers—not the ones you feel most comfortable with.

Recommended Top Sources

While your circumstances may dictate other sources, these are widely-used sources that we advise you to look into as cornerstones of your recruiting strategy.

1. Employee Referral Programs
2.  Social media, both nonpaid and paid (specifically Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter)
3.  Google Ads/pay-per-click
4.  Open house recruiting events
5.  CNA schools
6.  Job websites, specifically myCNAjobs, Indeed.com, and ZipRecruiter
7.  Recruitment CRMs like Hireology
8.  Networking by a full or part-time dedicated recruiter (if the circumstances of your agency allow)

Related content: The Ultimate Guide to Caregiver Recruitment

Online Sources

While most agencies are already using Indeed, Craigslist, and a few other websites, there are a host of other sites used by job seekers, not to mention social media and other online advertising platforms at your disposal to attract new caregivers. In addition to throwing a wide net, you should take time to ensure that your job postings are engaging, easy to read, and stand out.

9. Facebook ads
10. Instagram ads
11. Twitter
12. LinkedIn
13. Snapchat
14. Local Facebook groups
15. Paid ads on Pinterest
16. Asking employees to share on social media
17. Yahoo Jobs
18. Care.com
19. Glassdoor
20. Career Builder
21. CaregiverHR.com
22. Caregiverlist.com
23. Monster.com
24. Jobing.com
25. Jobs.com
26. CareerJet.com
27. Adzuna.com
28. Juju.com
29. Workable.com
30. US.jobs
31. Jobsintheus.com
32. Jobs-to-careers.com
33. Mightyrecruiter.com
34. JobAccept.com
35. SimplyHired.com
36. Local university job websites
37. Snagajob.com
38. Your company website
39. LDS Employment Services
40. Craigslist
41. GenerationsUnite.com
42. Local career websites
43. Bing ads
44. Ads on podcasts (ideal for national franchises)
45. Pandora ads
46. Spotify ads

Traditional Advertising

47. Church or faith-based newspaper
48. Daily newspaper classified ads
49. Direct mail flyers
50. Direct mail postcards
51. Billboards
52. Other outdoor advertising (benches, signs, etc.)
53. Sponsored signs or advertising at local businesses
54. Penny Saver/Thrifty Nickel or other free local paper
55. Radio Christian or faith-based station
56. Radio stations (both music and talk radio)
57. Regional newspapers
58. Senior directory ads
59. Signs or banners on your building
60. Television ads
61. Weekly newspaper classified ads
62. Yellow pages (online or print)

Postings/Boards

As you throw your caregiver recruiting net wide, consider which local job boards you might benefit from. One benefit of job boards in caregiver recruiting is that they’re usually free and extremely low-maintenance.

63. Regional job boards
64. College job boards
65. Community Center boards
66. Grocery store job boards
67. Library job boards
68. Workforce services job board

Referral sources

Sometimes your referral sources can do double-duty–we’ve had home care agencies report that establishing strong relationships with professional referral partners has sometimes yielded not only client referrals but only referrals as well. Some of these are client referral sources; others are purely employment referral sources. It’s worth your time to evaluate which ones you can strengthen your home care agency’s relationship with to hire more caregivers.

69. AARP
70. American Red Cross
71. Assisted living facilities
72. Chamber of Commerce
73. Church clergy
74. CNA or home health aide schools/programs
75. Current/past clients and their families
76. Employment agencies
77. Hairdressers and beauty salons
78. Home health agencies (Medicare certified)
79. Hospice agencies
80. Hospitals
81. Independent Living Facilities
82. Junior or Community Colleges
83. Nursing Schools
84. Senior Centers
85. Skilled Nursing Facilities
86. State home care associations
87. Trade or technical schools
88. Workforces Services local office
89. Working with local universities to offer accredited internships

Related content: 65 Caregiver Interview Questions to Help You Hire the Right Caregivers

Community Events

Whatever other sources you’re using, it’s important to have some involvement in your community—not only for the sake of recruiting caregivers, but also to extend your reach with potential clients and establish your home care agency in people’s minds. We particularly recommend having a presence at job fairs, care-related community events, and charities like Alzheimer’s Walks.

90. Community caregiver training
91. Health fairs
92. Job Fairs
93. Town parades
94. Booths at wellness events
95. Speaking engagements
96. Sponsorships (Alzheimer’s walk, etc.)
97. Cultural celebrations and festivals
98. State and county fairs

Other Sources

99. Word of mouth (reputation)
100. Reactivation of former employees
101. Other home care agencies (We don’t recommend actively targeting the employees of other agencies as this contributes to caregiver turnover and increases the burden on clients, but it can be useful to create inroads with other agencies so that if they are unable to work with a caregiver’s specific schedule they can pass along the referral and vice versa.)

Retention Starts at Recruitment

For most agencies, caregiver turnover is nearly as difficult a challenge as caregiver recruitment. To counter this, you need to have a mindset of recruiting for retention. Track the turnover rates of caregivers who are recruited through each source and over time you can pinpoint the sources that will yield the most dedicated caregivers.

Which methods surprised you most? Let us know in the comments below!