Word of mouth beats print referrals any day
October 1, 1999 less than 1 minute read
Word of mouth beats print referrals any day
Molly Miceli, president of Schaumburg, IL-based LifeStyle Options, believes one of the secrets to success in private duty home care is doing the right things and doing them consistently. Miceli’s company, which has offices in Illinois and Arizona, offers private duty home care, personal care, and support.
"About 40% of our caregivers are certified nursing assistants," she says. "The remainder are professional-level home caregivers, which is similar to a homemaker-companion with some extra skills and training."
The value of referral
In addition, LifeStyle Options has internship programs in conjunction with local colleges. "We also work a lot with the senior center, and the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Churches are another good source for us. Many churches will list us with their job banks. Many are also interested in no-cost education for their groups, so we go out and speak to them about caregiving as a career choice."
Miceli’s company advertises extensively, and she tracks her ad results closely. "We get about 150 calls a week from any newspaper ad that we run, and we run them all over. Every day of the week we have an ad running someplace in the Chicago or Arizona metro areas."
But her biggest success comes from an internal referral program. "We only hire about 12% to 15% of the people who interview with us through the newspaper. We’re very picky about the people we hire. But we hire closer to 40% of applicants who are internal referrals."
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