Home Care U - Understanding the Recruitment Lifecycle and How to Reduce Drop-Off (Brittany Kase Pt. 2)

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

An applicant lifecycle can have anywhere from 5-20 touchpoints. While speed is important, it’s not always the answer. Brittany Kase of Carework returns to breakdown the applicant lifecycle, tools and channels that can improve the applicant experience, and common stages where applicants tend to drop off.Enjoying the show? Send me a text and let me know!Learn more about Careswitch at: careswitch.comConnect with the host on LinkedIn: Miriam Allred This episode was produced by parkerkane.co

Welcome back to Home Care U. It's great to be with you. I'm Miriam Allred, your host and head of partnerships here at CareSwitch. I hope everyone is doing well. Again, it's great to be back with you. I'm joined again today by Britt Case, an account manager at CareWork for part two. Last episode, we dived into writing and managing ads on Indeed. And if you listened to it, it was an awesome session. If you haven't, definitely go back and start there. I'm really excited today to jump back in with Brent and we're going to be zooming out a little bit and talking about the full recruitment applicant life cycle. Last week was very lasered in on Indeed. This week, we're going to kind of zoom out and talk more holistically about

the applicant life cycle and the process and the steps and the touch points to help you essentially pinpoint where you're struggling and some tips and recommendations to tidy up and tighten up your recruitment process. So I've really been looking forward to this. Britt, before we jump into the topic, could you take a couple of minutes and introduce yourself? Yes, I will. My name is Brittany Case. I go by Britt. I've been with CareWork for almost three years, a little shy of that. And of course, I hold a couple hats within there. So an account manager, I'm a team lead, as well as I do sales for our sales department in CareWork. Last time, I went into a little bit about what each of those did. My heart, I think, definitely lies with sales, which I've had a lot this week.

So that's good, kind of that we're talking about what we do and what we can offer. I went to Virginia Tech, like I said, I was a teacher by trade, kind of stumbled into this opportunity, which has been amazing. That's where I met my husband, have three beautiful children. I'm fighting a battle of illness. If you hear my voice is a little strange this week. But yeah, like I said, I have a passion for care work and in this industry and what we do. And I'm a little less nervous this week. I did mess up last week. I was going to tell you, I said Fisher instead of fishermen. And of course,

my girls at care work will just not let me live that day on, but that's okay. I can laugh at myself. It was a memorable moment, but I do know it is called a fisherman. So don't let that belittle you. You were amazing last week and I'm glad you're less nervous. I know everyone feels a little nervous getting on here for the first time that you were phenomenal. And I'm sorry, you're a little under the weather, but thanks for bearing with me joining us. I know everyone's excited for this round too. So take a drink, take a break, whatever you need. We're here. The place that I want to start, like I said, today, we're going to talk about the recruitment life cycle. We're going to go through, kind of pound through a lot of

different topics, which I think is great. The place that I wanted to start actually is to help some people do, owners, operators do like a little bit of self-reflection. A big part of your job in sales and in account management is actually strategy calls with owners. So a lot of business owners reach out to you and they're like, we need help. And you do these strategy calls, which is where you essentially ask them questions and kind of start to understand their challenges, understand their recruitment funnel and like work through that. So I wanted to ask you what, what are some of those questions that you ask these owners and operators to start to pinpoint, you know, where the issues are in their recruitment process? Yeah. So I would say I deal with strategy probably on two different fronts. Of course, they're, you know, very similar. Obviously you hit it on the head. I think account manager is the most crucial to our clients is we, you're constantly a strategist in that role. So you're weekly meeting with your owners or whoever you're working with in that business. And, you know, it is a forever changing business like like most.

So you constantly have to produce strategy as to what hill we're kind of hitting at. But then I also when we you know, we we don't call them sales calls. It's a strategy call because we really want these people to get on if they are struggling and hear kind of what care work can do for them. And to do that, we need to see where they're sitting at. So I'll talk a little bit more about what I do in a sales call per se and kind of what I touch on then. And then I can get into a little bit of AM stuff. That's kind of what I focus on because that's where my heart really lies is being able to see that tangible impact and then kind of get a sigh of relief at the end of that quick 30 minute call that we do. So when I do calls with owners, I touch on about six, I think, yeah, six points. So the first one is current recruiting team. So who is involved? What roles do they play? Who will we be working with? Kind of, we really just dig

into who is managing and what's going on on that front. Then the second one we go into is recruiting tools and platforms. So we look at what platform they're using, if they feel like it's efficient, if they have any qualms with it and what their opinion about it is, how many they're using, just kind of getting a feel for what they are using as far as platforms, tools, and how they are perceiving that they're working. And then like I said, how effective they've been. And then the third one is the recruiting process. This is where we really dig into, I say, this is the first one I really start. I'll steal your phrase, getting in the weeds with it, because this is the most

important. This is where we're going to make the impact. And it's how recruiting your recruiting funnel and workflow is structured. So what you run through from, you know, we go from ads, like I talked about last week, all the way down to getting them into interview and orientation. That's kind of where our handoff occurs in care work. So we go through all of that and see, you know, I want them to run me down in these calls exactly what they do. How often do you get on your platforms and, you know, how do you pick people out? Do you call them? Do you send them a text? Do you send them an email? When you get them on the phone, what do you say to them? So we go through all of that. Do you send them reminders for interviews? Because that will allow an AM, if they do choose to sign with us, to be able to start strong right off the bat and know immediately from my notes and my perception of what's going on, how they can better

help streamline the hiring process for them. Because we do kind of face two clients. This is a little caveat I'll get off on. We have people that come on these strategy calls that they are struggling with the low workload of recruiting, and I'll touch on this later as well. But then we also have people that the system is broken. So, you know, we could have two ends of the spectrum. We have people who are their system is wonderful, but they cannot just body wise cannot handle it. And then there's people who the funnel is just broken and we need to help fix that because they're not getting people through to that. So it, you know, it always goes into the kind of the direction that we need to, as far as what we

can help them with and fix, possibly fix. The fourth one is going to be current results. So to get them an accurate of, of what I think we can do for them. Again, I need to know results. A lot of people don't have these, which it's okay. They get back to me on, but you know, we talked about tracking metrics and, and things last week, applicants per month, interviews per month, your hires per month. Those are crucial things, you know, other than what I spoke about last week, kind of on the insights, those are things you constantly need to be tracking. Then the fifth is the challenges. So I really want to know, I want them to paint me a picture on what they're struggling with. No call, no shows, because I want to be able to help. And I always tell people, I will be transparent. If I see something that we, you know, may not be able

to help or fix, which is very infrequent. I don't think I've ever said that to anybody, but I want to know what they're facing because we, you know, like I said last week, again, if I don't, if I don't know a problem, I can't fix it. So I want them to tell me every little thing they're struggling with, whether they view it as a scale from one to, you know, a huge problem of 10. And then of course, just organic conversation from there, right? Just insights about their business, where, how they got started, kind of what they're getting a feel for, you know, caregiver first and how they perceive and, and perceive and view caregivers and what they're willing to do and their openness to us changing. Because what I will say is, is we can suggest things, you know, as many times as we can.

But if somebody is not willing to change, I don't know how much change will occur in their results. You know, that's insanity doing the same thing over and expecting different results out of it. So, you know, we really I really try to tell them that as coming into this process, please be open because it may be scary. You may be set in your ways, but you have to be open and willing to change and change things and kind of trust us and trust us as experts in this field to be able to make any sort of impact. So once we get all of that, what I do is I kind of run down a relevant trend and strategies that we can tailor to meet their needs and then give them kind of an overview of what their AM or what their account manager would most likely suggest for them to help them succeed and kind of what that would look like. So that's kind of one section. And then do you want me to go into kind of like what I do weekly with?

Let's pause there for a second because that was a lot, but that was perfect. That's exactly what I wanted. And the reason why I actually had you go through that is people listening to this. Well, there's a lot of value in working with care work and having a third party talk through your recruitment strategy funnel with them. I think people can listen to that and do a little bit of like self-reflection, self-diagnosis, like basically just go through what you said and do it as a team internally. Again, I think the beauty of care work is like there's this third party expert that can actually talk through all that with you. But again, there's large owners, operators that listen to this and they could even kind of go through that process themselves. And I like what you were getting there at the end is you want these

people to be really transparent and open and probably vulnerable. I think a lot of owners, like it's no secret that there's a labor shortage and we're struggling to hire the caregivers that we need. But there's this level of like being vulnerable and honest with yourself and being open to identifying where the issues are. Because, you know, for obvious reasons, sometimes that might lead back to a person or a process or something that like, you know, there's a little bit of tension or friction there, but that's really what you want to get into is like, where are our weaknesses? How do we dial

into those so that we can solve them? So, so that was amazing. I want to actually ask you one question. I know CareWork works with startups to, you know, really large, you know, multimillion dollar businesses, where is your focus? So I can kind of understand like your sweet spot. Do you work, do you know, like the size of a lot of the agencies that you work with specifically? Yeah. And to be honest, I would say it ranges. I mean, we have some that are franchising that are pulling a ton in revenue. And then I have a, I had a smaller one, you know, earlier this year, unfortunately they sold. So I didn't, they didn't get to stay with us, but I mean, they, they were tiny. They were in, you know, like a role setting in a kind of out there state.

So they were tinier. So I deal with people who are, I mean, they could probably get away with, you know, hiring less than five, you know, probably less than our, our basic plan that we have and they would be okay and they're not looking to grow. And then I have some kind of that are in the middle that their goal is not growth. They're sustaining and make a difference in their community. And they're that, I'd say medium level. And then I have some that are under franchises that are pulling, like I said, tons in revenue.

So I would say we don't group AMs based off of the size. We're trained to kind of adjust to what, who they are and what their growth goals are, and then adjust our strategy and our mindset dealing with them based off of that. So yeah, I would say we deal with all across the board. Very, very tiny startups to like you said, you know, under, under franchises pulling millions in revenue. So. Okay. Awesome. Yeah. That's really useful because I didn't know, you know, under under franchises pulling millions in revenue. So okay, awesome. Yeah, that's really useful. Because I didn't know, you know, I know care work works with the gamut. It sounds like you do as well. So throughout this conversation, we'll kind of play to both audiences.

Because again, there's some universal truths and issues that we're going to touch on today. But I think a lot of people listening to this will say, you know, someone that's just starting or under a million has different recruitment struggles than someone that's doing, you know, 20 million in revenue. So I'll kind of try to walk that balance and dial in and specific instances. Let's save what you do as an account manager and some of like that piece actually till the end, because I want you to speak to that. But I think that will fit nicely, actually, as we kind of wrap up the conversation. The next question I want to ask you is about what, again, what part of the recruitment process are agencies struggling with most? Because again, we're zooming out here,

the recruitment life cycle, there's a lot of parts and pieces and processes. It's pretty complex and there's drop-off and issues with a lot of them, but which area would you say owners are struggling the most with today? Yeah. So I'm going to pick three. I know we touched a little bit on this. I would say the first one is that drop from contacting people to getting them in, right? That's, that's where you can lose. If you're not doing it efficiently is what I will say. You can lose a huge chunk of your numbers. Most people, if you're doing it efficiently, is what I will say, you can lose a huge chunk of your numbers. Most people, if you're doing it correctly, we still might see that.

But I would say second is sourcing. So getting those people on the phone from applicant, you're really getting them to apply and then getting them on the phone and then retaining those good employees as well. Because, you know, I will touch on this many times during this session. The turnover rate is astronomical for 2023. It was almost, I'm going to round up, 80% of a turnover rate for our industry. So, you know, I think retention overall, no matter who you are, whether you're a startup to, you know, a corporation, the turnover rate is going to be

up there because that, you know, that's an average across the board. But if you're doing it correctly, you know, again, every section is going to have a drop. Sourcing is a big one and getting those people on. And then after you speak to them, getting them into that interview to show up is also another huge one that I've seen nationally across. And I would really say, like I said, because a lot of people are not doing this hiring funnel, excuse me, the hiring funnel correctly. So that is where you see the drop. They could put, you know, they could dump, like I said, I've seen people dump thousands of dollars into Indeed and they have a ton of applicants, but they're not getting them in. So I would say that right there,

if you're doing it incorrectly, that's going to be where your huge drop is, is getting them into an interview. I want to dive into each of these specifically and talk about the why and the how to solve some of these. But let's take a slightly different approach and go through the applicant lifecycle. Let's talk about each stage, and then we'll kind of dial into each and explain what are the challenges and what are the fixes. So let's start with the sourcing, which is actually like attracting the candidates, getting out on the Indeed, getting the postings out there, like sourcing, which is like the first bucket. What are kind of, how would you describe like that first piece of the life cycle?

Yeah. So when I speak about these, I'm going to break them down and kind of what's going on with them, a goal, and then some touch points that we could possibly do. So for application, I would say, you know, the application process, it has to be fast and straightforward. We preached on this last week. If it is not fast and straightforward and eye-catching, you're going to lose people right off the bat. So that is kind of the problem set of what we're dealing with is if it's not fast and straightforward application, you're going to start losing people. So what we can do to better that we need to make it easier to apply for candidates, removing unnecessary steps, you know, like going to four different personality tests and,

and a different link to apply. So I always say the first employer to reach out is going to be the first one that they're going to get hired most likely, right? It is a speed game and you have to do it efficiently and you have to do it mindfully, but it is a speed game. So you want yourself to be that first one that's in that inbox of that caregiver applying. Instant, so a touch point for that is instant confirmation. So after submitting, the applicant should receive immediately a confirmation text acknowledging that they are interested,

kind of what the next step is. We kind of do something like, hey, thank you so much for reaching out. This is our number. If you want to give us a text, it's a good time to call. Just like a little bit about, hey, we're going to make contact with you.

Or if you can make contact with us, we're going to set up a phone call. Then contacting, reaching out again, a game of speed, reaching out to applicants quickly. We want to do it within 24 hours. We do do it within 24 hours for care work. So once they apply, you should have no more than 24 hours go by before you're physically getting into contact with them. So applicants, of course, should feel valued, multiple follow-ups through different channels, because again, depending on who, you know, what your ideal caregiver is, we've seen text messages work so well, but you know, a caregiver that's 65, that may not be that main, you know, point of

contact for her as a text message. So if they don't initially come to you with that little, hey, thanks for applying. Please reach out to us at this. Like, let's set up a phone screening. You need to be making contact and start. And this is a good step right here to start building that rapport and pulling those candidates in with showing them what your office environment and brand is like. So this is a really good time to kind of start that organic conversation and really set the building blocks of, hey, we see you, you applied, you're interested, and we appreciate that you are interested in us. And this is how kind of this step is going to work. So again, being transparent, right? So we need to

promptly keep them interested and prevent them from moving on to other opportunities. If you are not contacting them and starting that process, because even quite frankly, even if you are, they're going to keep searching as well. Until they feel like they have a job solidified, they're going to keep searching. So you have to do your best to really get a hook in them

and say, hey, again, showing us like we're a wonderful company to work for. We appreciate you. We're going to keep engaging you so we can get in contact with you and get you in. So that kind of looks like, like I said, the first contact, sending a welcoming text or an email, introducing the organization. Hey, when do you have a time for a quick phone screening? You don't have to call it a phone screen. Text message is ideal for this, like I said, but it also, you have to look at who you're, who you're kind of targeting and they have a faster response rate, right? So, hey, let me know

a good time between two, you know, 10 and two of when I can give you a call for a quick 15 minute phone call conversation. Yeah. Can I jump in and ask a couple of questions about this? I want to dive into this first 24 hours because this is like the key right here. And so the first thing that does stand out to me is like an automated text. The second they hit that apply button, the interesting thing that you're saying is part of that automatic notification is actually like reach out to us. I'm a little surprised to hear that. Do you find that applicants are receptive to that and they're reaching out to the office based off that automated text? Oh, yes. Yeah. And of course, not all the time. I think it just opens up an opportunity to say, hey, we're going to be in

contact with you. But, you know, if you're ready to start right this day, because sometimes you can't get to contacting, you know, everybody the second that you walk in the door. So if you give them an opportunity to, you know, I guess, quite frankly, be tenacious and that can also start setting, you know, people apart as well. If, you know, five of the 20 applicants you have that day, five of them are reaching out saying, Hey, you know, I got your text message. Thank you so much. I'm ready to work. Can you call me at 1030? You know, I'm ready. So I, we have failed as I've seen as a screener and I know just monitoring my screeners and care work will open up and that morning. Oh yeah. Once they import what we call import, basically pulling applicants off the platform, tons of people will message and call and say, basically, Hey, I'm ready to talk. I'm here for

a job because again, the turnover rate is so high. So they are looking. And as soon as they get that message, especially if it doesn't feel spammy, yes, people are like, okay, I'm ready. Contact me. So yeah, it did definitely. Like I said, people are tenacious if they, especially if they need a job and they will, they'll get you, they'll get you nailed down before you get them nailed down sometimes. Yeah. Okay. So this is awesome. So like, this is a great takeaway. Like if you're not sending this automated text, the second they apply, you are missing out on this opportunity because like you're saying, I'm surprised to be honest, I'm a little bit surprised that a lot of people are proactive and reaching out. But again, if you don't even initiate with that text, then you're missing out on all these people. And so I think that's a perfect place to start.

The next question I wanted to ask, you're referencing like this 24 hour period, you need to have a personal, you know, phone call text, like interaction with them. I imagine that even speed within this first 24 hours is key. Obviously, if it's the middle of the workday, someone can respond within minutes, within even an hour. But like we all know, people apply at 10 p.m., at midnight, early in the morning, like 24-7 people can be applying. I'm assuming what you can do is just get to those the next day. But anything that you can share about even get to those the next day. But anything that you can

share about even just speed within the first 24 hours and additional touch points, like do you recommend even three touch points in that first 24 hours? Like break it down a little bit more of like how important is speed right after that application, if it's during the workday or at night, and then maybe additional touch points as well. Yeah. So yeah, I could definitely tell you kind of like what I've experienced within our company and then working with other companies. So one, when they apply, again, I think you need that first initial, thank you so much for applying.

We, you know, we'll be reaching out. Well, I think to speak to what you said too, right. It's all in also to the wording of it. Like people, you know, you, we hear the saying, you know, as kids or sometimes now as adults, I think we're a little bit more aware in our generation of sometimes it's not what you say, it's how you say it. So it kind of is like that with the text message, right? If it's not spammy and it feels very welcoming and maybe that's why, maybe it's an anomaly, but care work experiences it because our AMs do such a great job at crafting that initial text message to make it not feel spammy and make it feel welcoming.

So yeah, I think, like I said, to give you kind of a rundown of what I would see, what I would do if I was at a, you know, a home care agency in charge of recruiting. Applying, you indeed can set up, you can have an immediate message. I would do that within those workout hours. I would at least check it probably two times, definitely once before noon and maybe once before you go home. Because even just saying, hey, you know, thank you so much for reaching out. I'll get back with you. So if I was a recruiter, what I would do, I think in that first 24 hours is definitely once have it automated. I'll use Indeed as, you know, just for conversation. So definitely start as soon as they apply, they need to have a message, a general message. And then I would check it at least twice a day.

So before noon and then before you go home. And then that's when I would send them a little bit more of a welcoming. Hey, this is the number that you can reach. I'll give them a little bit more detail. And then if they're reaching out to you, I would start setting up a time to call. Now, again, that's when you have to keep in mind speed is the best. So if you can make it, you know, that day within the next couple hours or minutes, I would, of course, like I said, we all have stuff going on. So if you need to pull it back to first thing in the morning or whenever they're free,

but I would definitely make sure you're contacting them, you know, within that first 24 hours, at the very least of that initial contact that you get, but really that first 24 hours of them applying. Awesome. Can I ask one more question about, I know we're saying automated message. Do you guys personalize that message, at least putting their first name in that and or any additional personalization? Yes. With Indeed and our software, I think a lot of softwares now, you can do those live tags. So yes, I would definitely live tag that. Because again, what I spoke about last week, psychology, right? People want to feel like a belonging and that people are being, that they're sought after. So as many things you can do to make it personal, then I would do that as many live tags as you can. Okay. And I know that's a little tougher to scale, but again, it goes such a long way. I don't know

about you, but when I get a text from a random number that doesn't have my name, I'm already like red flag, but also my phone will say report junk. Like I think the personalization in that first text again is like setting you apart. And like you said, encouraging them to reach out like, oh, they know my name. You could even go as far as like including something from their application. Again, I know that's tough to scale, but the more you put into it, really the more that you'll get out of it. So that was amazing. Let's, well, a couple more questions. Regarding contacting, you're talking about the demographic. So, you know, maybe the younger demographic is more keen on texting. Some may still be keen on email.

Do you encourage both? Like at any point, do you send out both and hope that they respond to either? Or is it kind of like, let's start down the texting path and then go to email? Can you break down the communication channels a little bit more? Yeah, for sure. I think pretty much everything that CareWork does, you know, I won't say exact because they're, again, there's one-offs, but pretty much every time we send a text message, we send an email as well. And I think that that one, even if they don't ever see that email or don't engage with it, it helps reinforce that, you know, like I do it with my phone bill. Like

I get the text message and then I see the email at the same time. So I think it reinforces that it's not spam, that it is somebody trying to reach out to you that you've given both that contact points to. But yes, overwhelmingly, any type of messaging system is going to, you know, mainly text message is going to be the best. I've seen a huge success with one of my offices uses pre-intent and you know, you can message based on that. So any type of messaging system like that is going to be best because people, you know, especially if you're, you got to give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe something happened, they forgot about the interview or whatever. They're going to feel a little bit more comfortable saying, Hey, can I reschedule? But at least they texted you to reschedule, you know? So you feel a

little bit more comfortable than calling somebody. And again, our generation, if you are honing in on that younger generation, don't do as well socially on a phone. So text message kind of helps get it quicker, get the information across faster and more effective. And then also to kind of mitigate that fear of phone calling in the younger generation. But I think email serves a purpose is what I will say. So I don't, we don't see as many responses to emails if hardly ever, but it serves a purpose. And when you're booking interviews and giving, you know, orientation, all of that stuff, any type of

official documenting and information, I would say do through email. And like what we do at CareWork, we'll send an email of more of the in-depth, all the information they need to know for their interview. But then we'll send a quick reminder and text messages, you know, a little bit shorter, you know, kind of like the platforms, you got to kind of read where you're at and then giving them the direction or the, the kind of the nudge of, Hey, go to your email that has all the information in it. This is just kind of, you know, like the need to know in the text message. But what I will say too, to, to wrap up this is the initial screening has to be on a call because people, what we find people will text, what's the pay rate?

What's the shift? They want to know the fact, you know, and that's kind of a way to lose people when you could have enticed them with a phone call and then told them, because if you just say, hey, my pay is $16 an hour and that may be okay in that area, but then they could hear in a phone call the welcome, the welcomeness and the loving in your voice and the urgency to get them in. And then you could be able to explain to them all of the other benefits that you have that you can't in a text message. So what I will say is, is you can use text to set up an initial phone screening or an initial like real contact basically. But I would definitely stick to the phone call on that part because you can just really like say,

that's the time and that contacting to build that rapport and just have that organic conversation. You hear a mom that has, you know, she's feeding her baby in the background or whatever. She has kids running around and you say, oh, no way, I have three kids too. Like what ages are your kids? And then they feel like somebody took an interest in them.

So that organic conversation can kind of flow from that phone call and you can get a little bit better read on them as well. Okay. So before we jump into the screening, because this is the next really important part, I want to just articulate a couple of things that you said. It comes down to basically like handholding the applicant. And I know that sounds extreme and maybe an extreme way of putting it, but you never want the applicant to feel like they don't know what the next step is. So I would say overdo it on the text, overdo it on the email.

Like if they get frustrated by too much communication, I honestly think that's a good problem to have because you don't want them to not know what the next step is. Maybe they get that text, but then if there's nothing to follow that up or no next step, like they're just hanging in the then if there's nothing to follow that up or no next step, like they're just hanging in the balance and there's 20 other agencies contacting them,

like you're done. So I like what you're saying of like use text and email to reinforce each other, give like some information and context via text, guide them to the email. Hey, here's a lot more information. Here is our step-by-step process that we're going to go through. Give them a lot of information, hold their hand, tell them what the next step is so that you can keep them throughout this really early initial stage. Let's go into screening. Do you, kind of two questions, before we actually get to the literal phone screen, there's a lot of applicants and there might be bad applicants. So I'm assuming there's a pre-screening process, which is just weeding out bad applicants. And that's something that you determine with the agency. Hey, these are the people we don't want

or that we're not looking for. They don't have two years experience, et cetera. Is there a pre-screening process that you all do, whether that's manual or automated? Yeah, I think that there's a couple of things that you can do. First, again, I'll use Indeed for sake of conversation. Indeed has those deal breakers a lot of platforms do where you can set it up. And then if you are firm on those, you know, pick two or three that you're firm on. Driver's license, one year of experience, and auto insurance, say. And then if they answer no to that, it's not always best practice because sometimes people could click the wrong thing and then they're out of luck and you could have lost

a great caregiver. So we try not to do that at CareWork. That's why our team is so vast because we try to run through everybody. We do not disregard based off of resume or pre-screening questions that they answer because it's just not best practice. It's time consuming, but it's not best practice. But if you're somebody who doesn't have somebody like CareWork and you're doing it fast, use those knockout questions. And then you can also too, I've seen where, oh, for, you know, I'll maybe call it a deal breaker. And you could send that out to them and see, hey, do you have these things? You know, this is what we require. If you have these, these, this is great. We'd love to get in contact with you. Again, you have these things? You know, this is what we require. If you have these, these, this is great.

We'd love to get in contact with you. Again, you have to word it softer because you don't want to drive people away. But at least if you text them that, you could have that. If they have a question, you could have that conversation in text message. Well, I don't have two years of experience

like you're asking, but I cared for, you know, my husband for a year and a half and I have one year of professional experience. So you might be able to make a judgment call if you're a hiring manager based off of that. So I think those are two good ways to mitigate that. But what we do at CareWork,

we want to screen them out on the phone screening. We do not wanna screen them out at application, resume, anything like that. Okay, I like that. I'm glad you mentioned that because again, and every agency is different and that's why we're talking like this is like, these are options. Like you can weed people out. If you have hard blockers, deal breakers, like you can, you can leave them out. But I actually like what you're saying is like, still try and have a

conversation with them, try to get to the bottom of it. There might be a little bit of flexibility or wiggle room on those. And then like, you saying, like, let's get to the screening process. Like let's ask them more. Let's get to know them. Let's see if maybe X experience kind of translates to Y and we can work with them. So talk about this screening process. You all at CareWork do the screening calls on behalf of agencies. And this is like an art form to do this screening. And you started as a screener. So, you know, firsthand, like what this is and how this works. So talk about what, what screening is and how you all approach it and best practices for screening in general. Yeah, definitely. Oh my gosh. Yes. Screening is, I could do it in my sleep. There was one at one point before I went on maternity leave,

um, that I was literally in my sleep reciting a phone screening that my husband caught. So it is, I have screened thousands of people, I would say for sure. And then as an AM, I build that phone screening for that client. So still pretty fresh in, even though I don't screen as frequently as I used to. But for screening, I would say best practice again, right? Overall, the theme is going to be rapport, positivity, and we have a trick. You smile on that phone and you're going to feel crazy. But, you know, just like me right now, like nobody's going to be able to see me on this podcast, but I'm smiling and I feel like you can hear the happiness in my voice. So, you know, even though it may be your 50th call of the day, smile because you might turn that entire person's day around

by getting them in for an interview. So, you know, it's a very rewarding position to be in and care where you get to hear a lot of personal stories, but overall theme, build rapport, be organic, try to have your brand come across and then be happy and positive while you're speaking to somebody and give somebody grace, even if they're not back to you. So the way I would run a phone screening, you know, what we do, and if I was a hiring manager, you want to first knock out because you do want it to be efficient, right? So first get those hard stops and ask those. Licensures, you know, CPR, any type of certification that you have for your state, background, can they pass a background, driver's license, all of those hard stops. We cannot move forward

if you have any of these or don't have any of these. Get those out of the way first. Then I would go into, tell me about yourself. Tell me how long you've been in the field, what type of clients you've had, where you've worked, what skills that you have, whatever you want to tell about me, let them speak on themselves and their experience and what they have done. Because you can really start to get a feel for the type of caregiver they are during that. Then I would go into, we call it selling the office. What, what can you convey in a, you know, a 15, 10, 15 minute phone screening about your office? Tell us about the, about you. Tell us about all of your benefits. And again, it kind of like a job ad. So make sure you're giving a little bit about you. Hey, this is what we're really great at. This is what we do. And then run down through everything

that you can do for them, all the benefits that you can give them. Then I would move into extra questions that you would love to know. Are you comfortable with pets? What's your ideal shift look like? What shift availability do you have? Things like that. And then if they meet the requirement, I mean, and you want to, I would do it right there. I would not wait. I would judge it in that phone screening. And I would say, you are looking like a great fit for our company. We would love to move you to the next stage. And a little tip on this, me and one of my owners found that if you don't use the word interview process and you use the word next stage, it actually does help a little bit.

So again, right? It's all in how you say things, not what you say. So instead of saying, okay, well, you can come in for an interview now. Hey, you're such a great fit. You have the qualifications and experiences you're looking, we're looking for as a company. We would love to get you to the next stage to get you in for a job here. Are you available tomorrow at, you know, from this time to this time? So then that's when you move into getting their email, getting their contacting, booking that interview as soon as possible. If you can get them in that day, that's best. And then, like I said, just be aware of how, kind of how you're wording things. Amazing. Okay. This is so, so good. And honestly, this is, I'm just going to say it,

the value of care work. They can do all this screening for you because you were saying like a 10 to 15 minutes phone screen is probably about average. Again, when you think about volume and scale and, you know, dedicating someone's time to this, this is a lot of time. But I think the thing that I'm just taking away here is like doing this due diligence at this level, having this phone screen before the interview and before the next stages, like is so important and so invaluable. You can weed people out right here. And oftentimes you will. And that's just the name of the game when it comes to funnels is like you're weeding people down.

But this phone screen can really give you a taste of them and them a taste of you. And if it's a good fit, you can move really quickly. I imagine, I don't know if you have numbers, maybe I'm putting you on the spot, but like phone screen to interview. If you're doing the screening really well and there is that connection, I'm assuming there's a higher like show up rate for interviews. Do you see that correlation? Do you have any like numbers to back that up? Yeah, sometimes, sometimes not. I think it goes with the trend. I think a screener could do an amazing job on a phone screening and they still suffer because of the area, because of no call, no show rates,

or because of something that we can't control at care work, or maybe you can't control as a hiring manager, getting people in efficiently. We see that a lot, right? We talk about that break and that's to give you, like I said, I guess this will be a little tip. If you can't get them in same day or next day, the chances of them showing up for the interview is slim to none.

Because we tell our screeners at CareWork next day, if not the next day, the day after, do not ever book anybody a week out. But there's some offices, they don't have that capacity that we work with. They have to do one interview on Tuesday or maybe orientations every Thursday or something. And that's all they have to do, you know, one interview on Tuesday or, you know, maybe orientations every Thursday or something. And that's all they have the capacity for.

But you are going to lose people in that because it's a game of speed. So yeah, definitely just, I think getting people in, you know, that was kind of, I forgot where I was going with that, but the tip, get people in as fast as you can for sure. Yes. Speed is so key up until this point. We can talk a little bit about interviewing and like next stages, but I do genuinely think speed through all of the process that we just mentioned,

which is like they submit the application, you're responding first 24 hours of contact, scheduling the phone screening, scheduling the interview, like this part has to be so fast. I think the next part interviewing and like vetting, there's like a little bit of wiggle room there. Like there might actually be benefits to taking a little bit longer to really make sure they're the right candidates. You get the right schedule. You go through the background check. Like the next

portion, I would say there's a little bit wiggle room for speed and timing to make sure quality is there. But the three stages that we just mentioned, there is no wiggle room for speed and timing to make sure quality is there. But the three stages that we just mentioned, there is no wiggle room for speed. It is all about speed leading up to that. I want to clarify a couple of things. The phone screen is a phone call. Do you work with offices that then do any sort of virtual interview or online interview before the office? I know that was big during the pandemic for obvious reasons, but do you see any of your offices that do that or prefer that? Or is it best to just get people into the office as fast as possible? Yeah. And I think this plays into where you're kind of at as a company, right? So I'll give you an example.

One office I work with, they do in-person interviews because she very much wants eyes on the potential hire. And I don't blame her because she does not short on quality at all. But she gives the option that if you are in what we call a hotspot area, or if you're out of 15, 20 miles from the office, but still in that service area, then they allow for a virtual interview. But with the caveat is you still have to come into the office. So still in that service area, then they allow for a virtual interview. But with the caveat is you still have to come into the office. So I think there's a time and place for virtual interviews. If you need somebody quick, you're trying to hire, but then there always is that caveat that you need to make sure obviously that there's quality. So I think there's, like I said, a time and place for virtual interviews and virtual interviews are great as well, especially if you have the system

as an office set up on the back end where you can do a lot of virtual interviews and kind of get that successful interview started. And then understand you may have a dropout rate through, you know, possibly a second in-person interview or whatever that looks like for your office. But like I said, I mean, when people, they want to feel, they want an offer letter, basically. They want to feel like they have a job. So if you can give a contingent offer letter based off of a virtual interview, they are more likely to come in to see that office and to participate in your next steps. So definitely there's a time and place for virtual.

I think it's just really what your office is wanting and what you're wanting as a business. But I also think, again, we always need to have in the back of our mind, and I'll shout this to the rooftops, caregiver first. We need to understand and be caregiver first. And sometimes that is doing a virtual interview and relinquishing that control of an in-person. Absolutely. Meeting them where they are, but also understanding your non-negotiables. Like what do we need to get out of this interview? Can we do it virtually or can we not?

Like that is great. I wanna ask about best practices and tips from screening to interview. Because again, this is another part of the process where there can be a lot of drop-off. And like I was asking you, if there's this amazing phone screen, it seems like, oh my gosh, of course, they're going to show up for the interview. But that is where owners get so frustrated.

There can be this amazing applicant and you have this great connection with them on the phone and then they don't show up for the interview. So even if it's a quick turnaround, 24 or 48 hours, getting them to the office for the interview, what can be done to ensure or to do your very best, you know, to get them to show up? What, what do you all do or what do you recommend in that period of time? Yeah. So this, this might be a little everywhere just because how my brain works, but I'm just going to shout out different things that I've seen that worked. So, you know, it kind of goes back to what you were saying about the handholding. And I don't say that rudely. It just, you sometimes that's what you have to do.

So we have some offices that it has the picture of the building in that text message the day of so they know, right? Multiple touch points, I think, is a big one. I just stated in an office that we do a Monday reminder for anybody that has an interview coming up on that week. And then we do a 24 hour reminder, a 48 hour reminder because life is crazy. Again, you have to be understanding life is crazy. People forget stuff and stuff happens. So multiple touch points, genuine touch points,

I guess I will add on to that. And then doing and saying the correct and genuine thing in those messages, giving them the, you know, this special instructions to get to your office. If you know your office is hard to find and it's down a flight of stairs and it, I have heard and seen people come into interviews, try to call us, you know, getting us on the phone to figure out where the office is at. And then they leave, they made it all the way there. They could have been a great applicant. And then because they can't find it or they get frustrated, they leave. And that goes a little bit back to the turnover rate and just the industry. It's so competitive. So spelling out everything. This is where you need to be. However many reminders for it. This is the address. This is what you need to bring. And don't make them run through a gauntlet

of stuff before they come in as well, I think is important. Hey, this is what we need bare minimum. This is the address. This is how you show up. Here's special instructions. This is what our office building looks like. We've even went with CareWork as far as to attach videos on how to get into the office and maps with outlines on how to get there and where to park. We've seen people, because the parking is a strange situation, be turned away.

So I think, I guess a good overall answer is information overload and kind of walking them through every single step. That is what I have seen help getting them into the interview. I love this. I know it sounds extreme, but I think what owners, operators listening to this can do is put yourself in their shoes.

You know, we as professionals, we live in our calendars. Like we know what our schedule is. These people, they do not have, you know, a calendar that's up to date that they're checking all the time. So those text reminders, that is the reminder they're going to get to show up. And I like what you're saying about being super specific on directions and expectations and like over communicating these things. Again, it's a really good signal to this person that you care and that you're thorough and that you're doing this for them. Like all of these are really good signals to them that you care and just put yourself

in their shoes. You know, we say this a lot in the industry, but go through this process, do it yourself, go apply, go through the, all the automated texts and reminders, go through the phone screening, like do this yourself and see what it makes you think and feel even as the owner of the business, like this is the process that they're going through. And if it's not personalized, if it's not interesting, if it's not setting them up for success, like, you know, there, there are the gaps, there are the things that you need to fix. So I love, I love all of this. We have talked through so many things, which is amazing. And I know I'm like taking you all over, but this has been so great.

I love it. I want to ask a little bit more about demographic because that's a huge factor here. One of the challenges of our recruitment struggles is just the demographic that we're working with. We are talking 18-year-olds to 65-year-olds. Their preferences, their knowledge, their technology skills is so vast. And so how do you all take that into consideration? Are you very thorough, not making judgments, but if they're an 18-year-old and if they're a 65-year-old, you could really cater this information, these texts, this process to them. Do you guys do that or do you try and keep it as generic as possible or just what influences demographic have in some of these

stages and processes? Yeah, I think that, you know, it's pretty broad. I think the world is forever changing. So unfortunately that older generation kind of does have that little bit of lag of where the newer generation might not, they might be more up to speed. And I think you're always going to have that, you know, for with forever as humans, we're going to be 65 one day and our kids are going to be doing something we have no idea. So I don't think you can combat it fully. But I think keeping in mind, again, what your target caregiver is, if you're a seniors helping seniors and you are targeting the 50 to 60, you know, population or whatever that looks like, then I would say keep that in mind for your communication style. And don't be scared to,

you know, I have wonderful owners that do this. Ask for feedback after that interview. Hey, you know, was an email better for you? What did you pull up coming in here? Was a text message okay? Did you prefer a call the morning of your interview to remind you? So I think gathering that data, even if it's not numbers, but it's still data and changing that process based off of what the feedback is. But generally, I would say we keep it pretty broad because it's just the times are changing, things are moving, and we have to keep up with that. You know, just like checking in and checking it, you're clocking in and clocking out, I guess. And all the notes,

you know, all of that is on technology now. It's not like how it used to be writing and paperwork and file, you know, filing things and things like that. So I think we have to keep up with the times. But like I said, if you're a niche agency, then keep that in mind and adjust to that. But yeah, I mean, we see all demographics. I think age is obviously a huge one because we service such a wide range. We're seeing mainly is that 20 to 50 range coming off of what I would say probably a lot of platforms. Because again, if you have an older caregiver, that might be word of mouth or because it was community relations that they figured out. So those aren't always off platforms all the time. And then employment type two is a different demographic that I was going to touch on. There is, you know, a wide range. There's college kids

that are possibly going to be PAs or doctors or RNs, and they're looking for clinical time to get their hands dirty and make sure that that's the field that they want to go into and get experience in this field. And I commend them for that. But you have that where they don't have a lot of knowledge. And then you have a 60-year-old who's been caregiving since she was 16, 17 years old. So there's, again, a wide variety. I know I repeat myself a lot when I say this, but we're just such a unique industry. And then with that, with the experience,

there's full-time all the way up into part-time and supplemental income that we're seeing as well. So again, I would challenge you, I said this last week, do the data on your side as a company and see where your caregivers are coming from. What age are they? You know, these are good demographics to look at.

What age are they? Where are they coming from as far as location? What type of employment were they seeking when they came in full-time or part-time, you know, PRN? And then, you know, like I said, geographically where they're from, and then the experience level as well. I would challenge you to gather that data if you have an ATS system or have a way of tracking those metrics, because that will allow you to adjust a lot on not only how you're communicating, but ads, how you're running things, you know, different people value different things. But if you don't have that niche and you can't get that data, I would say keep it as broad

as you can, but also keep it up with the current times as well. What about, I want to ask specifically about language. I know most are looking for fluency in English, and that's very common and pretty standard across the board, but we're working with such a diverse population. And oftentimes English is not their primary language or their first language. Do you all have any flexibility in that and communicating with them in different languages at any point in this process? Or what have you seen regarding agencies that might be recruiting other ethnicities? Yeah, definitely. So I've had an offices where you know they it's a

whole other language set that they're looking for obviously i think bilingual is is going to be best because those people really do add such a value to the company so i would say don't shy away from that but if you don't have you know geographically if you're just you know if you're in the middle of tennessee very unlikely that you're probably going to have a foreign speaking client. Whereas if you're on the coast of Oregon or Washington, that might be a whole different story. Florida, the coastal, I value in that and don't shy away from it. And then two, we have dealt with that putting up that ad to target those people. And really, most companies, as long as you're fluent and you can understand it as far as conversational base, even if they don't have a bilingual client, that as long as you can communicate, that is okay. You know, it doesn't have to be perfect English. As long as us as a screening team can

understand you, you're okay. But then there are those special clients that we're looking for that we need a bilingual caregiver. And then we just kind of tailor that ad. And we have some lovely ladies at CareWork that speak different languages. So that's what, you know, obviously, if you're recruiting for that, you need somebody in there who's going to be able to help you with that as well. Yeah, I would just say additionally, like AI is another great resource here of translating things. Because again, you likely want this level of English fluency. But I also think it's a differentiator. I've talked to, you know, I think it was recently someone in Chicago that has like a Ukrainian and a Russian population.

And, you know, you can like lean into that, you know, tap into those ethnicities that can fuel your client base and your employment base and like make that work. And so I would just say like, again, meet people where they are, understand like, you know, your baseline, your expectations when it comes to language. But, you know, if you're like leaning into that as a differentiator, communicate to them maybe in their native language and there can be like value and benefit there to work together in that regard. So we're just curious what that looks like. I know we're at time here. You feel so strongly and talk so highly of care work.

I want to give you a little bit of time here at the end to talk about what it is that you do as an account manager. You work very intimately with these agencies on their process and their people and their recruitment. Talk a little bit more about what your day-to-day looks like and how you support these agencies. Yeah. So day-to-day, basically I am weekly meeting. So with our package, if you sign, you get weekly meetings with your AM strategy calls and we go over KPIs, metrics. I kind of run my meetings. I go over ads and what those look like, if we need to change anything. Metrics as far as like how many applicants we have, what are interviews looking like, if I need updates on things, and then of just notes and questions. So that's kind of how I run. And then, you know,

you develop such a great relationship with your AM. It kind of goes from there and you know how she works and she knows how you work. So, yeah, that's my main responsibility, that prepping and making sure all of those points are ready for the weekly meeting. But also to managing daily our screening team and making sure they're efficient with the office. And, of course, we have a quality control. But, you know, my office, my responsibility is an AM. So we want to make sure our screening team is working seamlessly with that. If they have any questions or anything, which those ladies are wonderful and hard workers, and then

constantly managing ads and looking through to make sure that there is no, like the flags that we talked about on Indeed, right? You had to be on those ads and constantly watching. So really my main responsibility is monitoring and watching and then really prepping and gathering that data for the weekly meeting so we can adjust if we need to adjust. Amazing. Well, Britt, this has been so good. These two sessions have been so awesome.

I know you're under the weather, but you have not skipped a beat today. I know this was, we really got into the weeds of these different stages and best practices and tips, which I think is so, so useful. Again, understanding every step of the process is where you can identify your gaps and your weaknesses and dig in and improve those. And so, you know, maybe it's easier said than done, but I hope we've given people information that they can, you know, start to like unpack their recruitment process, unpack these stages and figure out where their weaknesses are. And, you know, just plug here at the end for care work, what Rachel and the team

have built. I think they're up over maybe 85 recruiters across the country. They've recruited over 20,000 caregivers. Like they know what they're doing and they've learned a thing or two. And the beauty of working with them too, is they're so vast and so wide at this point that they know different challenges in different markets. I think that's one of the things that I've learned more from you all is like, you know, the Northeast, like what are the challenges in New York, in New Jersey? What are the challenges in Florida and Texas and Washington? Like you all have done so much in so many areas that you start to like tap into the

local challenges. Because I think when we share all of this kind of more general information, it's like, okay, that's great. But in Connecticut, I'm dealing with this. You will have people in every area. And so you really can break down the local challenges. So Britt, you've done so well. You have represented CareWork so well. I'm so proud of you. If anyone wants to learn more about CareWorks, their website is careworkus.com. And you'll have the opportunity to meet with Rachel, with Britt, with other account managers and have these strategy calls. I think that's a great place to start is just have a conversation with them. Again, be honest and vulnerable and you really will get to identify where some of your challenges are and get through

that. So Britt, thank you so much for being here. I hope you feel better soon. And I'm looking forward to staying in touch with you. You've got a lot going on, but I feel like I've got a lot to learn from you. So thank you. Yes, thank you. You've made it such an amazing experience. Truly, I feel like I just am so welcome on here and I love speaking about care work and what we do. So thank you so much. I really from the bottom of my heart appreciate it. Absolutely. Well, thanks, everyone for joining us today. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Again, reach out to care work, reach out to Brit on LinkedIn, their team is really active on LinkedIn. And so if you've got questions,

comments, reach out to them, don't be shy. And we'll look forward to seeing everyone same day, same time next week. Hey, take care. That's a wrap. This podcast was made by the team at CareSwitch, the first AI powered management software for home care agencies. If you want to automate away the menial of your day to day with AI so that you and your team can focus on giving great care, check us out at CareSwitch.com.