Private operator Signature Care is steadily opening new RACs and recruiting for new staff – here’s how they have hundreds of leads on their books, well before they cut the ribbon on Opening Day.
With seven homes now open employing 1,400 staff and another four homes in various stages of construction and development, private operator Signature Care is one of the most aggressive players in the residential care space. “The challenge is not filling the beds – the challenge is recruiting the staff,” says its CEO Fabio Maya – and this is the one piece of software that he uses every day to meet this demand.
With fierce competition for fresh recruits, aged care providers need to be able to quickly determine if an applicant is the right fit for their organisation – or risk losing leads to other operators.
Hiring the wrong person for the job can cost thousands of dollars in training and induction costs and impact on workforce culture.
So, how can you ensure that someone is right for the role – fast?
Family-owned aged care provider Signature Care says it has found the answer.
The operator uses Australian-based predictive hiring software provider Expr3ss! to fill all its roles including managers and head office staff.
The result?
Signature Care has been able to generate far more job leads – and ramp up its facilities faster – which in turn increases its revenue quicker.
Whereas a new aged care home will typically accept residents gradually, Signature Care can take on more residents because it appoints its staff earlier.
“Some providers may have a whole recruitment team focused on finding staff for 150 beds,” said Fabio.
“But we might take on 40 residents in the first two weeks so we can recruit for 60 people straightaway.”
“We can just have one recruiter together with the HR and clinical managers that we bring on board which is much quicker.”
Drawing on databank of 300 applicants
When the provider opened its Cardinia aged care home in November 2022, they already had hundreds of staff lined up through Expr3ss!.
The organisation filled its 144-bed Singleton aged care home, which opened in Western Australia in April this year, in just nine weeks.
Now Signature Care is taking applications for its Tamworth facility, which is not due to open until March 2024 – five months’ away.
“We have already had applications for the clinical manager roles,” explained Fabio. “But we always have around 300 people enquiring so they will be saved through Expr3ss!.”
“Only 50% may be available by the time we come to employ people, but at least we have a databank that we can go to first.”
Signature Care also uses the platform to stay in touch with applicants, advising them on the recruitment process and providing updates on the development and opening dates in addition to their HR team keeping in contact with the databank – ensuring that the provider is still front of mind when the time to hire rolls around.
How does it work?
The Expr3ss! software uses combination of ‘dealbreaker’ screening questions and a unique checklist which surveys prospective staff on their attitudes.
These questions are based on operators’ own feedback from their own exemplar staff – those then generates a star rating for each candidate.
“I use it every day,” said Fabio.
“We have a dashboard that comes up with star ratings of how prospective staff have answered the questions. The portal also gives you a map of where their strengths and weaknesses are in terms of cultural fit.”
This saves a significant amount of time on pre-screening – if someone is rated one star, they can easily be relegated to the bottom of the list.
The software this CEO checks daily
The platform also helps Signature Care to achieve a faster turnaround on hiring than traditional recruiting – essential when an aged care worker or nurse may be applying for four or five jobs at the same time.
“We all look at Expr3ss! on a daily basis because if we don’t act quickly, that person may be gone,” stated Fabio.
The platform helps to automate the hiring process, automatically generating thank you emails in response to applications, requesting police and background checks and scheduling interviews directly.
Expr3ss! also saves all correspondence with prospective staff members and automatically checks their references – referees receive a direct link from the portal which they can fill in and submit back to the employer.
“Once it comes up green that the reference has been done, our managers can then make the job offer and as soon as they accept, it comes up as appointed,” added Fabio.
“Instead of the old system of waiting for a recruiter to come into work, look at the applications and call them one by one, it’s an automated process that works for us.”
