The role of a care manager is a leadership position within a residential care setting. The position involves being responsible for every aspect of daily operations within the setting. This includes managing budgets, recruiting staff, and ensuring that the location provides a high standard of care.
Therefore, a care facility can take no chances when looking to recruit in this position. This guide provides you with crucial information on how to hire a care manager.
What to look for in a Care Manager
Careful recruitment is crucial if a care facility intends on being successful. It is, unfortunately, an industry with an extremely high staff turnover. Ideally, you will find applicants with track records of retaining staff. This means they need outstanding interpersonal and organisational skills.
Make sure CVs have evidence of previous care management experience, including proof that their previous facility met the minimum standards of care issued by the requisite body. In Northern Ireland, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority monitors and inspects the country’s health and social care services. Here are the equivalent authorities in other UK countries:
- England: Care Quality Commission
- Scotland: Care Inspectorate
- Wales: Care Inspectorate Wales
Technical Skills Required for a Care Manager
A growing number of care facilities emphasise the need for candidates who show a desire to continue their education. The healthcare industry is a fast-evolving one, so you need applicants who want to evolve with it. Apart from a willingness to earn further qualifications, here are a few technical skills seen in successful care managers:
- Report writing
- Leadership and management
- Problem-solving
- Numerical skills
- Budget management
- Regulatory requirements
- Coaching
- Quality assurance
Degrees you should look for when hiring a Care Manager
Apart from the requisite skills and qualifications, pay special attention to each applicant’s references. This alone can help you determine a candidate’s suitability.
Care management is not a profession that requires a degree. However, many care managers possess leadership and management qualifications and may earn further qualifications within a specialisation. Examples include autism or dementia studies.Typically, you should look for candidates with qualifications in:
- Occupational therapy
- Social Worker
- Nursing
- If the role you’re offering involves commercial and clinical management, candidates must possess a nursing qualification.
- Individuals with a higher apprenticeship in care leadership and management typically look for senior roles.
What to Ask When Interviewing a Care Manager
Recruiting a care manager is a detailed process, and for many companies, the standard interview format is no longer enough. The process must test each applicant’s accountability, leadership, and quality assurance skills. One way of doing this is to create a scoring system to ‘grade’ interviewees on certain sections.
However, regardless of your process, you’ll eventually have to get in a room with candidates. Here are a few interview questions to ask prospective care managers:
- Please provide examples from previous experience where you found providers for patients with specialised needs?
- What is the biggest career mistake you have made so far?
- Would you consider yourself a good listener? If so, what makes you say that?
- How do you balance the needs of clients with the needs of their families?
- Why did you choose this specific healthcare sector as your profession?
Care Manager Salary
The salary range for a care manager can vary significantly depending on the role and service. However, it generally falls between £32,500 and £40,000 per annum, in Northern Ireland. Experienced care managers typically command a salary of approximately £45,000 each year. Those who reach the position of a senior care manager could earn an annual salary of £70,000
What Could the Company Offer to Make it More Attractive to Jobseekers?
The obvious starting point is to provide a reasonable salary and benefits package. An increasing number of applicants value benefits such as life assurance and a pension. Other options include share options or a company car.
The other thing you can focus on is working conditions. Residential care facilities are open 24/7, so care managers usually have to work long and unsociable hours.
If you want to attract the best candidates, make sure they have enough resources, including available staff. Employee shortages blight care facilities and make the job of a care manager that much harder.
How to Choose the Right Care Manager
- When you get to the interview stage, it is all about how you want to proceed. You can opt for the person with the most experience or the individual that scored the highest on your grading system.
- Whatever your decision, it is recommended that you don’t reject any other candidates on your shortlist until your first choice accepts and also clears vetting processes.
- The care manager you hire could profoundly affect how your facility is viewed, so take your time to find the #1 candidate.
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