Senior Living Recruitment Marketing: How to Get Your Listing In Front of Jobseekers

Looking for effective ways to recruit caregivers, dining staff, and medical aides for your senior care community? These proven strategies will help your listings stand out in AI-driven search engines and job platforms alike.

Staffing shortages continue to challenge nearly every senior living community in 2025, with 94% expected to be short-staffed this year according to a survey done by the AHCA/NCAL. As a long-time digital partner to the senior living industry, we have seen clients spinning their wheels, spending large recruitment marketing budgets only to receive subpar applicants and still struggle to fill roles. Solving this issue starts with strategic recruitment marketing strategies.

Whether you’re a small independent facility or a regional operator, here’s how to transform your recruitment strategy to attract the right employees—faster and more affordably.

How to Optimize Your Senior Living Job Listings for SEO and Conversion

It may seem silly to relook at your already perfectly crafted job description, but the fact is your listing can make or break your visibility organically across the web, AI platforms, and job boards like Indeed. For this reason, we strongly recommend giving it another edit, keeping these tips in mind:

Prioritize Clear Job Titles

Job boards and aggregators use the title as a primary keyword. Data shows that using standard, clear titles helps reach more quality candidates. Conversely, overly long or gimmicky titles can cause your post to be hidden or skipped.

So how can you optimize your job title? Avoid internal jargon like Resident Care Level II or gimmicks like Elder Care Rockstar. Instead, use familiar, searchable titles like Caregiver, Housekeeper, or Activities Aide. In addition, things like all caps, excessive punctuation or phrases like “Hiring Now” or highlighting sign-on bonuses in the job title can all work against you and decrease your listing’s visibility.

Craft Descriptions That Sell & Search Well

Once your title draws candidates in, make sure the job description reinforces relevant keywords so your listing ranks well in searches on a variety of platforms. Craft job descriptions with:

Relevant keywords (e.g., “CNA”, “assisted living”, “Albany caregiver job”)
Location and shift info
Scannable formatting (think bullet points, short paragraphs)
Unique selling points like free meals, CNA tuition reimbursement, or sign-on bonuses

Pro tip: Use keyword tools like SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, or even ChatGPT to identify terms job-seekers utilize before updating your description.

Build a Magnetic Employer Brand

Employer branding is crucial in recruitment because it influences how potential candidates perceive the organization and ultimately, its ability to attract and retain talent. A strong employer brand builds a positive image, attracts the right candidates who align with the company’s values, and can reduce recruitment costs and time-to-hire by up to 50%. So, how do you create a positive employer brand?

Showcase the Culture

Your career page and social media should answer this question: What’s it really like to work here? Include:

Staff appreciation posts
Behind-the-scenes videos
Testimonials from current employees
Photos from events and training sessions

Collect Reviews from Employees

Your online reviews matter to job seekers. According to a recent study by LinkedIn, 69% of job seekers would reject an offer from a company with a poor (or absent) online reputation–even if they are unemployed! Encourage happy employees to leave authentic reviews on Glassdoor, Indeed, or Google—especially around milestones like work anniversaries.

Transform Your Website a Recruitment Engine

If you are tired of spending outrageous third party advertising fees for subpar results, it is time to make sure your website is set up to recruit for you. Take a look at your current website. Does your career page simply links to an external applicant tracking system? If your answer is yes, you’re missing a massive SEO opportunity. Instead:

Host job listings directly on your website
Use job schema markup to appear in Google’s Job Feed
Retarget visitors who don’t apply

This approach not only improves your organic visibility, but gives you more control over branding and analytics.

Paid Advertising: Spend Smarter, Not More

Whenever investing in paid ads, you want to target active users first. There are several platforms to consider, and each has pros and cons.

Indeed Ads

This platform is ideal for reaching active job seekers, and cost per applicant averages are at an affordable $10-$20. However, targeting options are very limited. If your ads aren’t performing well, consider revising your job listing as noted above, or shifting budget to a platform that gives you more targeting control.

Google Search Ads

This platform is also ideal for reaching active job seekers, with cost per applicant averaging around $20. The benefit is, Google’s advertising platform offers better targeting options than Indeed.

Facebook Lead Ads

Facebook is perfect for reaching passive candidates (those not actively searching), and offers a seamless application experience within the Facebook platform itself. These ads can be effective when paired with incentives like sign-on bonuses.

Ready to Transform Your Recruitment Strategy?

At Mannix Marketing, we’ve helped senior living providers improve recruitment results for over 25 years. Whether you need a career page redesign, a high-performing Google Ads campaign, or a reputation management strategy, we’re here to help. Want to learn more about our recruitment marketing solutions? We offer no obligation, free consults with a senior living marketing strategist.

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