REPLAY: The Caregiver Recruitment Funnel: What Top Agencies Are Doing Differently

The Caregiver Recruitment Funnel: What Top Agencies Are Doing Differently

Caregiver recruitment remains one of the biggest challenges in home care — but new benchmark data reveals what top-performing agencies are doing differently.

In this interactive session, Jen and Sam share data and discuss: 

• How and why applicants are leaking out of your funnel
• Top converting sources of applicants,
• and the operational strategies and processes that improve recruiter effectiveness and retention

Perfect for home care owners, operators, recruiters, and HR leaders looking for practical, data-backed recruiting strategies for 2026.

Identifying Leaks in your Hiring Funnel

To optimize your caregiver hiring funnel, recruiters want to attract a volume and quality of applicants.

It may come as a surprise, but the biggest leaks in your caregiver hiring funnel are likely coming before the interview.

Today’s caregivers often apply to 15–20 jobs at a time. After clicking “Apply,” they may be asked to complete screening questions, respond to follow-up texts, schedule interviews, create accounts, or download additional software. Every extra step creates friction. This results in many qualified applicants dropping out long before an interview is ever scheduled.

On the other hand, an agency might receive 250 applicants from a recruiting campaign. However, only about 88 of those applicants may actually meet the agency’s hiring criteria.

More applicants isn’t always the answer. Rather than spending more money on advertising, top-performing agencies focus on improving conversion rates at the earliest stages of the funnel.

Every additional screening step, delayed response, or scheduling hurdle increases the likelihood that a caregiver will move on to another opportunity.

Successful recruiting teams focus on:

• Responding quickly to applicants
• Reducing unnecessary screening steps
• Making interview scheduling easy
• Prioritizing qualified candidates earlier in the process
• Maintaining consistent communication throughout the funnel

The goal isn’t necessarily to work harder—it’s to remove obstacles that prevent qualified caregivers from moving forward.

Small improvements at the top create outsized results throughout the entire hiring process.

Recruiting for Retention

Drawing from Augusta’s benchmark data of more than 110,000 caregiver applicants, Jen shared an important insight:

76% of caregivers who are ultimately hired live within 20 miles of the agency’s service area.

While there are always exceptions, agencies that prioritize applicants who live closer to clients often see better staffing outcomes.

Long commutes can create scheduling challenges, increase call-offs, contribute to caregiver burnout, and ultimately lead to higher turnover.

Top agencies are identifying early qualification factors, such as geography, to help recruiters spend more time with applicants who are most likely to succeed and stay. These early qualification factors will determine the unique ‘Ideal Caregiver Profile’ of your agency—the characteristics of an applicant who will be a consistent good fit with your business.

Caregivers want to feel valued, understood, and connected to the organization they may join. Agencies that balance automation with personal outreach often see stronger conversion rates and better long-term retention.

To learn more about your Ideal Caregiver Profile, check out our blog post.

The Big Takeaway for Home Care Leaders

The strongest recruiting funnels aren’t built by generating endless applicant volume.

They’re built by reducing friction, qualifying candidates intelligently, and engaging the right caregivers quickly.

Top agencies focus on:

• Improving applicant-to-interview conversion
• Prioritizing candidates who are a strong geographic fit
• Simplifying the hiring process
• Reducing delays between application and interview
• Using technology to support—not replace—human recruiting efforts

When agencies stop focusing solely on getting more applicants and start focusing on losing fewer qualified ones, hiring outcomes improve across the board.

To learn more about Augusta’s recruiting benchmarks and caregiver hiring best practices, watch the full webinar replay and keep an eye out for Augusta’s upcoming benchmark report.

About the Speakers

Jen Waldron

Co-Founder, Augusta

I began my career as a caregiver and personally experienced “pulling a double.” This gave me firsthand insight into the challenges and opportunities for senior care.

I went on to scale some of the industry’s most impactful companies—helping grow IPCed and OnCourse Learnings’ post-acute care division to $10M+ ARR (acquired later by Relias). And, drove CareAcademy’s revenue from six figures to multi-millions as SVP of Sales and Business Development.

Now, as a co-founder of Augusta, I am tackling one of the biggest challenges in home care: caregiver recruitment. Augusta helps agencies find and interview top-tier caregivers to fuel business growth.

I’m passionate about data-driven solutions that transform caregiver hiring and retention, delivering measurable business results for home care agencies.

Sam Inos

Solutions Consultant, Augusta

I began my career as a student-athlete, where I developed the discipline, resilience, and team-first mentality that continue to shape my professional approach today. Transitioning into recruiting and talent consulting, I quickly became passionate about helping organizations strengthen their hiring strategies and build meaningful relationships that drive growth.

Through my work with Augusta, I’ve partnered with healthcare organizations and agency leaders to help solve their recruitment challenges by consulting on hiring processes, connecting them with qualified professionals, and creating scalable recruitment strategies that support long-term business growth.

I’m passionate about relationship-driven recruiting solutions that improve hiring outcomes, strengthen teams, and deliver measurable results for the organizations we support.

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