Finding the right candidate can be tough when you run a care facility. You face competition from other facilities looking to recruit amid an industry-wide shortage of staff.
Nevertheless, if you wish to do well in the market, you need to hire the right people. You might have an image of what the right staff member for a position would look like.
However, you must make sure that focusing on that image does not cause you to discriminate against other suitably qualified and experienced candidates based on legally protected characteristics. Here are just two tips to help you avoid problems.
Have people of different ages review your posting
Many job postings are inadvertently ageist. They don’t specifically state they are only looking for people of a certain age, but they insinuate it through their language.
Try passing the text for the posting around members of staff of varying ages to see if any of them find it offputting. Maybe your 48-year-old receptionist points out that she would never refer to herself as “energetic,” and that keeping that word in the text would prevent people her age or older from applying. She might also point out that she would never describe herself as “tech-savvy” but she had no problem quickly learning how to carry out all the computer tasks the job needed, even if a younger applicant might have more knowledge of such things.
Don’t cater to your client’s prejudices
Let’s say you run a nursing home where most of the residents are white. You’ve heard a few racist comments come out of the mouths of some of them and so decide it would be better to get a white applicant for the new position to avoid problems. You cannot do this. You cannot allow people’s race, religion, and other such protected characteristics to enter your thoughts when hiring.
If you are unsure whether your hiring process is acceptable, consider legal guidance to get things right and avoid problems later.