By Thomas A. Parmalee, staff writer, Senior Care Marketing Max
Advantage Recruiting Group specializes in identifying and recruiting qualified Executive-Level professionals to fill key roles in homecare.
Brian Hentz, the company’s national director of business development, notes that both he and the company’s president, Michael Betsch, have extensive backgrounds in home care.
“I’ve worked at Senior Nannies, Right at Home, and Senior Helpers, as well as TheKey, covering territories in six different states” Hentz said. “And Michael has worked in the home care, home health, assisted living and nursing home sectors.”
The two men each bring over a decade of experience in home care to their recruiting firm, which gives them an edge in helping agencies find top talent.
The biggest gap that many home care agencies need help trying to fill – and what Advantage Recruiting Group specializes in – revolves around recruiting and retaining an experienced director of business development, he said.
“In some cases, sales may not necessarily be their expertise,” he said, referring to home care agency owners. “They are not sure what they should be looking for in candidates or how to attract them.”
That’s where Advantage Recruiting Group comes in, as the company can draw on a database on candidates to help expedite the search and dedicate the necessary effort, so that agency owners can get back to running their business.
“There are a lot of headhunters out there who don’t even know what services homecare agencies provide,” Hentz said. “We overcome a lot of those initial hurdles.”
Many agency owners fall back on posting jobs on Indeed, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn and other job boards, which are suitable for hiring caregivers but will not capture the attention of the industry’s top leadership talent, he said.
“I don’t blame them – this is simple and convenient,” he said. “You set it and forget it and see what falls into the net. But unfortunately, it’s not very productive.”
Agency owners tend to get inundated with hundreds of resumes – and the majority of candidates are not remotely qualified for the position you’re trying to fill, he said.
It all just ends up being an extraordinary waste of time.
“The owners dedicate their own time or the time of their primary staff, screening resumes, making phone calls and conducting interviews,” he said. “On average, it takes eight hours a week to go through this process.”
Advantage Recruiting Group’s database of candidates cannot be underestimated, Hentz said.
“You want to recruit them away from another opportunity,” he said. “We need to get your message in front of the people who aren’t searching for jobs. They are happily employed and are not actively searching for another job, but if we can get in front of them and say, ‘We saw you. We recognize your talent, and we want to present you with a better opportunity to consider’ – that is where you get top talent.”
He cautioned agency owners that they cannot expect to land a seasoned professional with 10 years of experience if they are offering $40,000 per year for an executive-level position.
“If you are offering a lower salary, there are avenues where we can go,” he said. “Maybe someone has experience in another field that is something similar, like hospice or home health, or it could be someone fresh out of college who has been in hospitality as a server for several years looking to explore the senior care realm. Then, it’s a matter of putting together an appealing package for that kind of person.”
Easing the Pain
Advantage Recruiting Group eases the pain points of hiring, leaning on its software database that includes a network of 300,000 home care professionals, Hentz said.
“Right away, that really homes in our search and narrows down our pool of candidates – and we can narrow this down further based on state, county and territory,” he said.
This takes away a lot of the work agency owners must do when hiring and results in finding the right candidate faster.
“We do some initial screening, to hit on the key attributes you want in the right candidate,” Hentz said. “Then we narrow it down to about 10 candidates and Michael and I will get on a Zoom call and figure out who the top candidates are and then present three or four people to the owner.”
After that, Advantage Recruiting Group will coordinate interviews and consult with the owner to determine who they think is the best fit for a second interview, narrowing down the pool to two or three final candidates.
“This way, you do not have to worry about deciding between 50 people,” he said.
The goal is to fill any position in 30 days, Hentz said.
“And if the person you hire does not stay for 90 days – whether they are terminated or leave for whatever reason – we will find their replacement with no additional fee,” Hentz vowed.
While Advantage Recruiting Group may occasionally help companies that are allies to home care, it focuses most of its efforts on the home care market, Hentz said.
The charge for the company’s services is based off the candidate’s annual salary, as well as an initial fee to get the ball rolling, he said.
Job seekers do not pay Advantaged Recruiting Group anything – the company is compensated by agency owners, Hentz said.
“But if I know of 50 great applicants in the Orlando area, maybe it would behoove me to look for agencies with job openings, so I can present them with applicants,” Hentz said. “We often get applicants who hear about our services, and they ask to be put into our database.”
Hiring can be a daunting task for home care agency owners, especially those who may have only been operating an agency for a few years or so, Hentz said.
“We inject our experience and dedication, so you can focus on running your business,” he said. “We are going to bring some quality candidates to the table and expedite the hiring process.”
Advantage Recruiting Group is dedicated to the success of a candidate’s placement as well as the long-term success of their client’s business, Hentz said. “It is not a set-it and forget-it deal,” he said. “We are committed to being your go-to resource for any other obstacle that may come, by connecting you with any number of the industry’s leading resources within our trusted professional network.”
