Growing the Pipeline

With a full employment economy, finding new staff for your campus is becoming more difficult. Many providers are turning to expensive temp agencies to fill their staffing gaps. Job postings will be up for weeks before a qualified applicant applies.

To avoid these costs and challenges of staffing, LAI members can expand the pipeline of staff they draw from to help meet the need of their residents and tenants. The following are some different population pipelines LAI members can utilize to fill the staffing shortages you are currently facing. 

-  Community Colleges

• Community colleges are the life line for the majority of an LAI member’s staff. They provide training and testing for direct care workers and much of the nursing staff. Building a last relationship with the CC in your area is essential. Work with leaders at the CC to become a training site, come speak to CNA, LPN, and RN classes about the merits of the aging services profession, and learn how to integrate your brand into their curriculum. Focusing on creating lasting relationships with trainers and the administration will help pay off in terms of references and access to incoming personnel.
• The following is list community colleges and the areas they cover. Connect with their leadership and learn how you can partner together to meet the needs of both the employer and trainer.
• List of Iowa Community Colleges

-  High Schools

• High schools are the perfect location to expand your workforce, develop young talent, and create connections. If your local high school is lucky enough to have CNA training classes, make it a priority to meet with the class each year or each class to promote your organization and try to be an on-site training location. If you don’t have CNA courses, look at ways to expand the training to the classroom or connect with a teacher. Attend job fairs, host events at the high school, and become well acquainted with the leadership and staff.
• List of Iowa High Schools
• Opportunities to Engage Young People on Health Careers
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook – The United States Department of Labor provides a detailed Occupational Outlook Handbook which outlines specific health careers, health statistics, education requirements, and median pay rates.
  • Youth Outreach by Des Moines University
  • University of Iowa Student Job Shadowing
  • Golden Circle Career Fair
• Teen Education and Careers in Healthcare – The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) provides resources for teachers to educate students about career opportunities in health care. The AMSA provides lesson plans, presentations, project ideas for activities, and a sample teaching script.     
• High School zip file

 -  K-8 Grade School

• It’s never too early to show the importance of health care careers and caring for older adults. In order to change the perceptions of aging services and a career in the field, providers must be proactive and showing the benefits of the career to all levels.
• List of Elementary Schools
  • https://www.educateiowa.gov/directories
• Health Occupations For Today and Tomorrow Coloring Book – Download and print coloring pages for students to color and learn about future careers in the healthcare industry.
• Online “Coloring” Pages – Students can access color pages and use a web-based paint-like program to fill in colors on pages related to healthcare careers.
• Health Careers Center Printable Occupation Coloring Pages – Download PDFs of coloring pages for elementary-aged students to color
• Teen Education and Careers in Healthcare – The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) provides resources for teachers to educate students about career opportunities in health care. The AMSA provides lesson plans, presentations, project ideas for activities, and a sample teaching script.
  • Middle School zip file

-  Veterans

• A group not often sought after is the veterans and military personnel with medical backgrounds. Many service members have the needed skills and desire to work in the medical field. With the right incentives and partnership with different military branches, reaching out and finding quality workers could be an opportunity to hire some hardworking individuals. Below you will find resources for becoming a veteran friendly campus and different tools for helping bring these heroes into your workforce faster.
• Home Base Iowa – Become a Home Base Iowa Business and post your opening.
• Iowa Workforce Development – Veterans – Post positions with the Iowa workforce development and the veterans section
• Iowa Board of Nursing – Veteran’s Licensure & Application – Veteran’s with the correct education and training can apply for licensure from the Iowa Board of Nursing to use prior experience for certification requirements.
• Iowa CNA registry – Coming Soon. Service members with the correct training will be able to waive the training requirements for nurse aide training and immediately take the CNA exam.

 -  Immigrant Populations and Foreign Workers

• As Iowa grows older, new populations will be needed to fill the ranks of aging services workforce. New immigrant and foreign worker populations is a viable option for making sure Iowan’s receive the care they need.

Using immigrant/foreign workforce populations is an individual choice for all organizations to make. While there are certainly some benefit to finding hard working immigrants whose cultural affinity toward caring for the elderly make them ideal candidates for working in aging services, there are also barriers. Issues with language, documentation, education, and workforce culture may keep some providers from utilizing these populations.

For those who do wish to use immigrant/foreign worker populations, the following links may be of use:

• Foreign Labor Certification –  Paperwork requirements from the US and the state of Iowa for bringing in foreign workers.
• Exploring Immigrant Home Health Workforce
• Recruiting from the Philippines
• Nursing Shortages Requires International Solutions

-  Family Caregivers

• As the rising costs of institutional and at-home care push many people into the homes of loved ones, soliciting the former caregivers may be a way to bridge the workforce gap. Family caregivers whose loved ones have passed have experience caring for the lives of others. Their compassion and love could be a valuable asset to an organization.

While there are certainly drawback with targeting these populations, such as the population skewing older, there are new, innovative technologies that can help extend the life for workforce:

• Family Caregivers Support – Iowa Department of Aging information and programs regarding family caregivers support.
• Senior Employment  - Iowa Department of Aging
• Supporting Family Caregivers – Helping ease the burden of family caregivers may be a way to engage them for future employment opportunities
• Developing Training for Family Caregivers – Providing training resources for family caregivers to help them care for loved ones. This training could be used later to pivot them into your communities.