Caregiver turnover is on the rise and the retention is low. Recruiting the best caregivers is getting to be more of a trial than ever. So, how do you ensure you are hiring the best caregivers? By choosing the best questions to ask in a caregiver interview. As a supervisor, you want to be able to get a feel for what the potential caregiver is capable of and their capacity to grow with your company. This will help you know if you have a high-quality candidate from the start. Using a specific set of questions the right way will help you recruit your ideal caregivers.

Get Right To the Point

Many companies are phasing out the brainteaser questions in interviews. Questions like this can make poor candidates and stellar candidates look like fantastic options. Instead, try asking more direct questions. Some great sample questions could be:

• Have you ever worked with senior adults?
• Do you have any CPR training?
• Are you comfortable with the duties of this position?

These questions are not always a challenge, but help you understand the potential caregiver better, learn their background, and how they could add to your team.

Learn Their Skillset

Many companies use a pre-employment test to measure whether the potential employee is a great match for the company. Pre-employment tests can save you time going through applications and bring you the best-qualified candidates for a face-to-face interview. Tests can also assure everyone is getting the same treatment. They help maintain equality in the hiring process.

If you choose to forgo the testing, try to really target your interview questions and make sure you ask the candidates the same questions to maintain equality. Approach each in-person interview with an open and clear mind. These questions could be what to do in case of a heart attack, how to protect your client’s privacy, or about other basics of elder care.

Pick Their Brain

Make sure to ask the potential candidate behavioral questions about any past situations to see how the caregiver would work in similar situations the company. One method which can help you clearly ask behavioral questions is the STAR technique. The STAR technique is a great acronym to remember while interviewing.

The Star Method:

An example of a STAR question is: Name a SITUATION where you were asked to do a TASK. What ACTIONS did you take towards the task and what were the RESULTS?

By asking questions like this, you can learn more about who the person is, rather than specific skills.

Hypothetically Speaking

Since we have gone over behavioral questions, it is time to see how the potential caregiver would do in a future scenario. You can ask the potential employee a question to see what they would do in an on the spot type of situation. “How would you react if your client fell?” “What would you do if your client became unresponsive?” “How would you deal with an unhappy client?” Questions like this measure how the potential caregiver’s experience could help them and how they would react in stressful situations. Would they act appropriately? Or is there room for improvement?

When choosing a new caregiver, it can be frustrating and feel as though you are never going to find the perfect candidate. By asking the right questions, your caregiver interviews will be worth your time and you will be able to find employees which will benefit and help your company for a good, long while

Need Help Retaining Your Caregivers?

Activated Insights can help you retain those new employees by finding out what they like, or dislike about your company. By increasing your client and caregiver satisfaction, you can increase your caregiver retention and reduce caregiver turnover.

Click here to request a custom tour of our powerful Satisfaction Management program.