You may have seen the insight below in your Augusta dashboard and wondering: why is this happening? What can I do to increase my number of qualified applicants? Am I doing something wrong?

If you're asking yourself these questions, this article is just for you.

Note: We use the last 50 completed applications in order to calculate the qualification rate. If you made improvements, it may take a few weeks to be fully reflected in the calculations.

What is causing a lower qualification rate?

The good news is that a low qualification might not be bad at all. Here are the top causes:

• As you see in our time to interview article, you may need a low qualification rate in order to be able to process all of the top applicants. We sometimes recommend making your qualification criteria stricter so that you can interview as many of the best applicants as possible. If you’re doing that and it works for you, keep it up!
• If you feel that your qualification criteria are strict to your liking and not getting enough qualified applicants to interview, here’s what could be causing it:
  • You’re not spending enough, especially on Indeed and Facebook.
  • Your job postings haven’t been updated showcasing current hiring needs.
  • You may want to diversify your channel sources. Sometimes one source may not work in your area or may be working well intermittently.
  • Are your pay and benefits competitive in your service area?
  • Are you showcasing your agency in a way that attracts applicants?

What can I do to increase the number of qualified applicants?

Are you spending enough?

If you use Indeed, a common cause is that you may not be spending enough compared to your competitors in your area. There’s a finite number of direct-care worker applicants in your area and the highest bidder will get the most. 

For Indeed, look at the competition score section in this article here.

Are you diversifying your channel sources?

In certain areas, Indeed does not work well or may work well consistently. It goes back to the number of qualified applicants that are actually applying on Indeed. 

We often recommend diversifying channel sources continuously. Some customers have had good results with Craigslist, ZipRecruiter, MyCNAJobs, Facebook, and even in-person events and flyers in community centers! 

Augusta can work with all of those and we have good articles here. 

Are your pay and benefits competitive in your service area?

Indeed has tools to figure out your pay competitiveness. 

We have pay and benefits transparency in our system because we believe it benefits the whole ecosystem. Caregivers know upfront so there’s no misunderstanding and agencies can actually get a real pulse on their compensation.

You may want to review your pay and benefits in order to attract the best applicants.

Are you showcasing the best your agency has to offer?

Caregiver applicants are bombarded with job offers. How can you differentiate yourself from the crowd? Because of the so many job postings, applicants are conditioned not to read wordy job descriptions.

How can you make your value proposition simple and crisp?

Pictures and videos can go a long way. Agencies that showcase real pictures and videos of their staff, with caregiver testimonials usually get more and better hires. What are you waiting for? :)