Long-Term Care Recruiting: Sourcing Nursing Students and New Grads

Introduction to Sourcing Nursing Students and New Grads

Let’s talk about attracting the classes of 2022, 2023, and 2024 to long-term care jobs!

Our guest this week is Jennifer Schmidt, Talent Acquisition Manager at Guardian Healthcare, a 49-facility Pennsylvania-based provider of Senior Living and Rehab services.

In general, it’s true that hospitals pay more, are faster-paced, and attract a younger working demographic. However, that does not mean that long-term care organizations do not have similar opportunities for career development or pay increase over time.

Together, we’ll review the perception of long-term care jobs in comparison to the hospital world, debunking some stereotypes about long-term care versus hospitals.

Jennifer will discuss how Guardian Healthcare works to attract new grads and students as well as employ experienced nurses in its facilities.

She’ll also talk about ways healthcare leaders can help build relationships with local nursing programs and collaborate with colleges to create mutually beneficial partnerships.

Long Term Care Hiring: 3 tips for recruiting & retaining Nursing students and new grads

Recruiting brand-new graduates into Long-term care (LTC) nursing facilities is becoming more difficulty as competition for candidates increase.

To survive, LTC organizations must not only offer competitive pay and benefits, but also create appealing working environments if they hope to recruit nurses.

1. Do away with stereotypes and misconceptions

Misconceptions about graduate and college nurses are common: hospitals pay more, attract a younger, crowd and are the best place to start a long & growth-filled career, right?

Not so fast. LTC facilities also offer the opportunity to move fluidly within specialisms & early-career leadership experience for RNs working LPNs and CNAs.

When you’re hiring a new graduate or college nurse, it’s important to get to know the person. Make sure they feel comfortable and welcome at the facility. Provide them with the right tools and resources so that they feel valued as an employee.

You should also consider providing them with a mentor who will show them how things work in your long-term care facility. They’ll have questions about how things are done around here, so don’t be afraid to ask for help when it comes to understanding what makes our organization unique – you were founded on values like compassion and respect for all!

2. Consider a college-targeted recruiting campaign

It’s important to work closely with the colleges in your area to provide on-campus recruiting, job fairs and education for new graduates who are interested in nursing careers. This will help you build relationships with the local community and increase interest in your long-term care facility among future nurses.

Job ads are a great way to reach a large number of people, but you’ll have to make sure that the ad is targeted to the audience you want it to reach. You should also place the ad in publications that are most likely read by those who might be interested in your job listing. If possible, try placing an ad near schools or hospitals where potential candidates may be working or studying—this way they’ll already be familiar with your company when they see your application! Don’t forget to explore a social media recruiting strategy – younger populations heavily use TikTok and Instagram.

3. Set up a mentoring program for new nurses

New nurses need support and education during the transition process, whether they are brand-new recruits or seasoned veterans of other facilities. It’s important to lay out a clear plan for new nurses that includes training, mentoring, and coaching.

A good mentor will be familiar with the facility and its policies, procedures and protocols, as well as how these relate to each other. They should also be an excellent role model for the new recruit; someone who is willing to share their experiences while encouraging them not only to learn but also take initiative where necessary in order to improve patient care outcomes across the board. They will also help their mentee develop an understanding of how they want their own career at this particular facility (or in general) evolve over time–and how they can help achieve this goal through working hard each day at improving themselves professionally while making sure everyone around them benefits from their efforts too! Finally, make sure that whoever becomes part of your organization’s nursing team has access through their supervisor/manager/etcetera any time needed so that no matter when problems arise (and there will always be problems), solutions can quickly be found together instead of having someone needlessly suffer alone because no one around cares enough about them being happy.

Final Thoughts on Sourcing Nursing Students and New Grads

Whether you’re recruiting new graduate nurses into your facility or trying to hire more experienced nurses with different backgrounds, there are things you can do to improve the experience for everyone involved. Looking at the landscape of long-term care facilities in general, you can see that there are challenges to be faced and work to be done. By building relationships with local schools, advertising where young nurses spend time, and offering opportunities for professional development, your facility will stand out from the rest—and become an employer of choice for prospective new hires.