Six Tips for Recruiting Home Health Care Employees

The Unstoppable Growth of Home Health Care

• The number of Americans aged 65 and older was 54.1 million in 2019 and is projected to reach 72 million by 2025.

• The home health care industry is expected to grow by a staggering 54% by 2026.

• With turnover rates at an alarming 65.2% in 2020, recruiting and retaining workers is a top challenge.

Now, let’s take a closer look at what this means. America is aging, and not in a subtle way. The numbers are stark: 54 million senior citizens in 2019, 72 million by 2025, and with those rising figures comes a pressing demand for health care services that meet people where they are—at home.

This is no longer a niche market. It’s an industry on the rise, one that is poised to become a cornerstone of our economy. The home health care sector is expanding faster than nearly any other industry, driven by longer life expectancy, advances in medical technology, and an overwhelming preference among seniors to receive care in the comfort of their own homes rather than in institutional settings.

But while the demand is skyrocketing, the workforce supporting this industry is teetering on the edge of crisis. Home health care providers are struggling with employee turnover rates that are downright unsustainable. In 2020 alone, the industry faced an astonishing 65.2% turnover rate. That means that for every 10 employees hired, nearly 7 of them left within the year.

So how does an industry that is growing exponentially reconcile with a workforce that is increasingly transient? The answer: a targeted, strategic approach to recruiting and retention.

Six Essential Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Home Health Care Workers

1. Get Organized – The Foundation of Successful Hiring

The first step in tackling this crisis is organization. It may sound like a simple fix, but in an industry facing high turnover, maintaining accurate and detailed documentation is critical. Home health care providers must create and store well-crafted job descriptions for positions that experience high churn.

Beyond that, the recruitment process needs to be streamlined. Electronic applicant tracking can not only make hiring more efficient but also help maintain compliance and build a strong database of potential candidates for future openings. This is not just about keeping records—it’s about developing a structured, strategic approach to hiring that ensures continuity of care for patients who depend on these services.

2. Background Checks and Personality Assessments – Finding the Right Fit

Given the lower barriers to entry in home health care, hiring the right people is not just important—it’s imperative. The industry’s workforce must be dependable, compassionate, and highly skilled in caring for some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

Employers need to go beyond standard resume screenings. Implementing thorough background checks is a necessity to ensure that those entrusted with caring for seniors do not pose any risk to them. Additionally, personality assessments can help identify candidates who possess the key traits necessary for success in these roles—patience, empathy, and reliability.

If an employer skips this step, they’re not just risking a bad hire; they’re putting lives in jeopardy.

3. Develop an Effective Job Advertising Strategy

In such a competitive market, simply posting a job opening is not enough. Home health care providers must take a multi-faceted approach to recruiting by leveraging technology and strategic outreach methods:

• Use an ATS: Platforms like HiringThing streamline the recruitment process, making it easier to track applicants and stay organized with our white and private label ATS software.

• Target Industry-Specific Job Boards: General job boards are flooded with postings, making it easy for healthcare-related positions to get lost in the noise. Niche job boards like healthjobsusa.com, careervitals.com, and healthcarejobboardnetwork.com ensure that openings reach qualified candidates.

• Attend Local Job Fairs and Community Events: Engaging directly with prospective employees at local events can help foster relationships with potential hires.

• Leverage Social Media: Potential applicants live online, and recruitment efforts should reflect that reality. Advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Instagram can broaden the talent pool.

The key is consistency—creating a unified recruitment strategy that aligns with an organization’s brand and values. If you don’t present a compelling and cohesive image to job seekers, they’ll look elsewhere.

4. Monitor and Analyze Recruitment Outcomes

Recruiting without tracking results is like sailing without a compass—you’ll get somewhere, but you won’t know if it’s where you need to be. Home health care providers must establish robust monitoring systems to evaluate recruitment effectiveness. This includes:

• Identifying which external recruitment sources yield the best candidates

• Calculating cost-per-hire to ensure recruitment efforts are financially sustainable

• Analyzing time-to-hire to assess the efficiency of the hiring process

• Tracking job post responses over time to adjust strategies accordingly

Without a structured approach to measuring success, recruitment efforts risk becoming expensive, inefficient, and ultimately ineffective.

5. Build and Promote Your Employer Brand

In a job market where home health care workers have many options, a company’s reputation matters. A provider must position itself as an employer of choice, not just another faceless organization looking to fill vacancies.

A strong employer brand communicates that an organization values its employees. This includes offering competitive wages, professional development opportunities, and a supportive work environment. Employers that actively invest in their workforce find that retention becomes a natural byproduct of these efforts.

A home health care provider’s reputation is not just built through employer initiatives, though—it’s shaped by word-of-mouth and online reviews. Prospective employees often check sites like Glassdoor or Indeed before applying. If an organization is plagued with negative reviews citing poor management, low pay, or lack of support, recruitment efforts will suffer.

6. Adapt, Analyze, and Improve

The final, and perhaps most crucial, strategy is acknowledging that recruitment and retention efforts must evolve. The workforce landscape is changing, and what worked five years ago may no longer be effective. Home health care organizations must commit to ongoing analysis and refinement of their hiring practices.

By continuously evaluating what is and isn’t working, employers can make strategic adjustments that improve long-term outcomes. This means:

• Being open to feedback from current employees

• Adjusting recruitment tactics based on data insights

• Staying informed about trends in the home health care job market

Recruitment isn’t just about filling positions—it’s about building a stable, committed workforce that can sustain the industry’s rapid growth.

A Call to Action

The home health care industry is standing at a crossroads. On one hand, we have an unprecedented demand for services as America’s population ages. On the other, we face an alarming labor crisis that threatens the stability of the entire industry.

Addressing this challenge requires more than just hiring more workers—it demands a comprehensive, strategic approach to recruiting and retaining the right people for the job.

The future of home health care depends on it. And for the millions of Americans who rely on these services, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

About HiringThing

HiringThing is a modern recruiting and employee onboarding platform as a service that creates seamless talent experiences. Our white label solutions and open API enable HR technology and service providers to offer hiring and onboarding to their clients. Approachable and adaptable, the HiringThing HR platform empowers anyone, anywhere to build their dream team.