Staff recruitment


training for candidates to be successful. Equipped with this ethos, we welcomed in many new team members who did not have previous experience in the care sector.


Some, such as those who work in our


care home’s catering departments, had worked in hospitality outside of the care industry, but many others joined from sectors not linked to our sector. Graphic designers, retail assistants and café baristas were all welcomed into our care homes and have stayed since the worst of the pandemic has passed to develop rewarding careers. While Sunrise and Gracewell had been


vocal advocates for encouraging those with no or little experience in the care home sector to still consider careers in care, we witnessed a changing attitude within the wider pool of those looking for work. Perhaps buoyed on by the new-found


appreciation for key workers, many candidates who would have previously not considered a role in care homes understood that they could embark on a new and rewarding journey with us. We hope that these expanded


horizons for jobseekers will remain, with those who would have previously turned away from the sector now open to learning more about how they can find a rewarding career in care. Beyond those already within the


labour market, we are also setting up partnerships with Paragon and Lifetime Training to explore welcoming more apprentices into the business. That will not only help to foster long-term


employment within our care homes, but also encourage young people to enter into the care sector and stay for long- term careers.


Technology is key Technology continues to embed itself further within our professional and personal lives and the world of care home recruitment is no exception. Indeed, during the pandemic, the capabilities of technology proved immensely useful, providing us with enhanced efficiencies and improved access to a wider pool of talent.


Incorporating social media into our


recruitment activities was just one example of this. We utilised targeted advertising to reach those candidates who, although may not have been considering a career in care were likely to hold the skills and values needed to succeed. We also started to make use of messaging tools within these platforms to contact candidates directly. That has opened up new and accessible


channels of communication between Sunrise and Gracewell and interested candidates, bringing us closer to them and helping us to recruit greater numbers of team members with added pace. Moreover, the heightened need to


get our vacancies in front of as many candidates as possible also encouraged a greater alignment with our award-winning marketing team. This team worked closely with us to promote our employer value proposition across our external communications channels, including on our social media channels.


By utilising our own internal marketing


strength, we were able to get the Sunrise and Gracewell brand in front of a greater number of candidates, boosting interest in our roles. The added pressures on recruitment


also encouraged us to re-evaluate some of our relationships with partners who had been supporting us in our recruitment efforts. Indeed, driven by a pressing desire to attract new candidates with pace, we opted to negotiate directly with well-known online job posting websites, such as Indeed, nurses.co.uk, carehome. co.uk and TotalJobs. These new relationships have not


only led to a reduction in our costs, but also allowed us to advertise roles with increased flexibility and have rapid contact with applicants. For the high- priority roles, such as care assistant roles in those homes with a sub-optimal level of existing assistants, we also applied a ‘one- click’ apply option within our own internal recruitment website. That helped to increase the number


of applications by removing barriers for those applicants who may have been unable to complete a longer application form. These arrangements remain in place, and we continue to see the benefits of this new approach.


Enhancing the hiring process Alongside the improvements made to attract greater numbers of high-quality applicants, we also went to great lengths to enhance the hiring and induction process for new team members. One of the key successes brought on


by this period was the introduction of a new system of value-based questions when assessing candidates for roles. These questions, which have been


August 2021 • www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 15


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52