Case Study

Applewood, a CCRC in Freehold, New Jersey, came to Solutions Advisors Group with a problem – they needed additional wait staff to fill empty positions in one of their busiest areas – dining services. With COVID keeping people indoors, how could Applewood and their hospital partner, CentraState, increase the number of applications they were receiving? The answer is a direct mail postcard targeted at local high school students to fill open positions in the dining room!

Applewood’s colorful branding scheme made it easy to design an engaging 11.5 x 6-inch postcard encouraging recipients (and their teenagers) to apply online for open Applewood jobs. The website link was provided as a QR tag for easy connecting and tracking. The postcard (seen here) introduces the community and the benefits of working at Applewood – including a $15 an hour starting wage and assistance with college tuition! The postcard also listed non-dining positions that were available.

A mailing list of all 35 to 65-year-olds in the Freehold zip code was purchased, totaling approximately 13,000 names. The postcard was sent out and, together with social media and digital campaigns, helped generate more than 875 clicks to the website in less than a month.

“While we work day in and day out on driving occupancy for our senior living clients, we are being called on more and more frequently to aid with staffing,” explained Solutions Advisors Group President, Lauren Messmer. “If there is no one to serve dinner or keep the common areas clean, occupancy will become even more challenging. It is our job to work as partners with our clients to help in all areas of their communities.”

Using targeted postcards, Applewood was able to hire 12 new dining room team members. They are now planning a similar mailing to recruit future CNAs.

If you need help with staff recruitment in your community, give Solutions Advisors Group a call! We can tell you how direct mail, social media and PPC have helped add staff to our client communities.