HealthBridge's In-Home Care Blog

Trusting your instincts and selecting the caregiver that feels right. 

Don't over think it.  Draw upon your intuition and hire the caregiver that you know will work.  Your emotions and instincts there to help you, so use them.  

I'm not talking about ignoring all the data points about what makes caregivers great.  It's a mistake to presume a winning personality will make up for missing skills and experiences. 

I am talking about defining what you need, narrowing down your list and going with your gut. 

Defining What You Need

There are certain skills and experiences that your mom needs her caregiver to have.  Those skills are a "meets minimum" set of standards that all potential caregivers must have in order to move past square one.  

If mom needs help with bathing and dressing, your neighbor's college-aged kid who's home for the summer isn't going to cut it.  Yes, mom would enjoy chatting about her coursework and campus life, but she doesn't meet the minimum requirements of the job.  

The best way to create your list of needs is to do a disciplined needs assessment.  We can walk you through this or you can download our process here.  Once you've completed it, you'll know what mom needs.
 

Narrow Down Your List

Once you understand mom's needs, you're ready to begin vetting caregivers.  Whether you're hiring a company like HealthBridge or hiring a friend from church, it's important that you tell them about your requirements list.  

An easy way to be specific about your needs is to require that your caregiver have a certain professionally certified skill level.  Depending on mom's needs, you may need a registered nurse or a certified nursing assistant.  The great thing about hiring someone certified is that you know you'll have a consistent, predictable level of service.  

Only interview caregivers that meet your needs.  Period.

Go With Your Gut

Now that you've defined your requirements and narrowed down your list of potential caregivers, interview them and pick the one that feels right.  

I know what you're thinking - no responsible person would ever make such an important decision with her gut.  Think again.   Richard Branson, billionaire CEO of Virgin Group, says:

"For me, business is a 'gut feeling', and if it ever ceased to be so, I think I would give it up tomorrow. By 'gut feeling', I mean that I believe I've developed a natural aptitude, tempered by huge amounts of experience, that tends to point me in the right direction."

He has a great point.  As a family caregiver yourself, you've had huge amounts of experience with your mom's care.  That experience will point you in the right direction. 

Here at HealthBridge, we interview hundreds of potential caregivers every week.  We have a thorough process of four interviews, an aptitude test, experience and background checks, etc.  But, if you ask our care managers when they know if the applicant will fit our team, they say, "in the first minute, I just know!

What was your caregiver hiring experience like? 

Thanks to Brian Clark, whose article inspired this one.