Finding Great

DSPs:

Putting

Recruitment

Strategies

into Action

Finding Great DSPs:

Putting Recruitment Strategies

into Action

Barbara Kleist, MEd, JD

Claire Benway, MA

University of Minnesota

Institute on Community Integration

• Learn about recruitment tools available in the Direct Support Workforce Toolkit.

• Identify recruitment tools to use in your organization to recruit direct support professionals.

• Develop an action plan to target recruitment efforts in your organization.

Learning Objectives

Cliff Poetz,

Self Advocate Leader

• We want staff who show up on

time and help us get the stuff

done we need to get done

• We want people who are .

enough to stay so they like

what they are doing.

• We want people who respect

us and are respected for what

they do and the pay they earn.

DSP Recruitment:

A Self-Advocacy Perspective

Estimated over 4 million workers in 2015

Size of the Direct Service Workforce – U.S.

5

Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute www.PHInational.org

By 2020 it is estimated that:

• 640,000 individuals will need supported employment services

• Almost 700,000 individuals will be

receiving services in their family home

The Care Gap – National Level

• Deinstitutionalization

• Community based settings

• Smaller in size

• Increase in variety and difference in places

• Geographic dispersion of service delivery location

• Implications

• DSW roles requiring greater skill, judgment,and accountability

• Greater autonomy and responsibility

• More independent problem-solving, decision-making

• Need for adequate supervision and co-worker interaction

Growth of Community Based Services

DSP Workforce

• In 2016 there will be demand for more

DSPs (4 million) in the U.S.

– Teacher K-12 (3.8 million)

– Law enforcement and public safety

(3.6 million)

– Fast food workers (3.5 million)

– Registered nurses (3.1 million)

Source: Dorie Seavey, PHI 2009

• Direct Support Professionals

• personal care attendant

• direct care worker

• direct support staff

• community living specialist

• job coach

• employment specialist

• Etc

Who Are We Talking About?

• High Turnover / Low wages

• Poor access and utilization of benefits

• Limited access to training and education

• Increasingly absent or ineffective supervision

• Status and Image

DSP Workforce Challenges

Turnover

What are the DSP turnover rates

in your organization?

• Under 20%

• 21-30%

• 31-40%

• 41-50%

• 51-60%

• over 61%

• Recruitment & Selection• Targeted Marketing• Realistic Job Previews• Structured Interviewing• Status and Awareness (PSAs)

• Retention• DSW Competencies• Education and Training• Credentialing and Career Paths• Recognition• Membership and Networking

Building & Strengthening the DSP Workforce

(ANCOR, 2017; Hewitt and Larson, 2007)

Traditional candidate pool is shrinking

Economy improving – more competition

Multi-generational workforce

Estimated cost of hiring and training new DSPs

is estimated at $4,200-5,400 per position

DSP vacancy rates result in increased stress on

the remaining workforce

The Challenges & Costs of Recruiting

Recruitment Strategies and You - Self Assessment - Handout Page 1

• Public Service Announcements • Targeted Marketing• Realistic Job Previews

• Hiring Bonuses / Incentives

• Behavioral Interview Questions

What have you tried to recruit DSP’s?

The Arc’s DSP Workforce Tools for

Recruitment

• Targeted Marketing

Flyers & Job

Announcements

• Ready-made PSA’s

• Realistic Job

Preview for DPS’s

• Structural Behavior

Interview Guide for

Hiring DSP’s

Customizable Marketing Materials

Target Marketing

How can you use targeting marketing

to improve recruitment?

• Component of recruitment campaign

• Raise community awareness of DSPs

• Celebrate profession

• Combine with annual DSP national week

PSA – Public Service Announcements

Public Service Announcements

How can you use public service announcements

to improve recruitment?

Realistic Job Previews (RJP)

Present non-distorted

information to job

applicants

• about the job

• and the organization

• before a job offer has

been made

Realistic Job Previews

Who

• Potential Recruits

• Job Candidates

When

• Job Fairs

• Recruiting Events

• Workforce One Stop Centers

• Interview Process

Benefits of Realistic Job Previews

Candidates understand job expectations before

they start the job

Candidates make informed decision

Candidates can self-select out

Realistic Job Previews and Retention

• RJP’s improve retention rates by 9% - 17%

• RJP’s increase retention of workers

• 12% for agencies with annual retention

rates of 50%, and

• 24% for agencies with annual retention

rates of 20%

Realistic Job Preview

Realistic Job Previews (RJP)

How can you use RJP’s to improve recruitment?

• The best predictor of future behavior is

past behavior in similar circumstances

that was recent or that reflected long--

standing behavior patterns

• Ask candidates to describe situationsthey have faced and how they handledthem.

• Situation, Behavior, Outcome

• Based on NADSP Competency Areas

Structured Behavioral Interviews

Structured Behavioral Interviews

Sample Questions:

Competency area 1: PARTICIPANT EMPOWERMENT

Describe a situation when you assisted an individual recognize

that he or she had several choices in how to handle a difficult

problem. What was the situation, what did you do, and what was

the final outcome?

Competency area 4: COMMUNITY & SERVICE NETWORKING

Please describe some community resources you have had

contact with in your own neighborhood. How might those

resources be used by a person with a disability?

Structured Behavioral Interviews

Structural Behavioral Interviews

How can you use structural behavioral interviews

to improve recruitment?

• Carrier Paths and Lattices

• Referral Bonuses

• DSP and FLS Competency Sets

Competency Based Training

• Agency Policies and Procedures

Other Tools Influencing Recruitment

The Arc DSW Toolkit

Check out these recruitment tools and more

at the Arc’s DSW Toolkit

http://www.thearc.org/nce/tools-and-resources

Additional University of Minnesota

Resources: rtc.umn.edu

http://directcourseonline.com/

College of Direct Support

College of Employment Services

College of Personal Assistance &

Caregiving

College of Recovery & Community

Inclusion

DirectCourse is a collaboration between Elsevier and theUniversity of Minnesota's Research and Training Center on Community Living

Leaving in Action

Recruitment Action Planning – Handout Page 2

• Review your self assessment.

• What did you learn?

• What is missing?

Table Talk: Share ideas for some action steps you

can take in the next few weeks.

Contact Information:

Barbara Kleist kleis041@umn.edu

Claire Benway cebenway@umn.edu

Research and Training Center on Community LivingInstitute on Community Integration (UCEDD) University of Minnesota, Twin Cities