Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA, STNA, LNA), Senior Living (Assisted Living, Memory Care, CCRC)
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hiring a CNA, STNA, or LNA for senior living means finding someone who can support daily routines, use transfer equipment safely, and recognize changes that need a nurse.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
We recruit nursing assistants for assisted living, memory care, and continuing care retirement communities. Your search should reflect the actual assignment: morning personal care, dining assistance, resident transfers, or rounds across different care areas. We screen credentials, work history, and assignment fit before you complete your own credentialing and clinical assessment.
Assisted living assignments often combine hands-on assistance with respect for residents’ choices and privacy. Ask what the assistant does when a resident declines bathing while other residents are waiting for help.
A CCRC may include independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing. Do not assume experience in one area prepares an assistant for every assignment.
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Registry and license status: Ask, “Which state credential do you hold, and is your nurse aide registry listing active?” We screen the listing and any applicable license, including LNA licensure where required. Your team verifies eligibility for the intended assignment.
- BLS documentation: Ask, “Is your BLS current, and what would you do after finding a resident unresponsive?” Look for a clear explanation of summoning help and following facility emergency procedures. Confirm whether your position needs current BLS before treating an expired card as disqualifying.
- Lift experience: Ask, “Describe a transfer using a mechanical lift, including how you checked the sling and obtained assistance.” A useful answer names equipment, training, resident instructions, and the point at which the aide would stop and seek help rather than improvise.
- Dementia care: Ask, “How would you respond if a resident became frightened during dressing?” Listen for a calm approach, simple communication, attention to possible discomfort, and reporting to the nurse. Experience should include specific actions, not just a claim of patience.
- Observation and reporting: Ask, “What would you report if a normally talkative resident became unusually quiet during breakfast?” Strong answers describe the observed change, when it began, and prompt communication. The aide should distinguish reporting facts from diagnosing a condition.
- Shift organization: Ask, “If two residents need toileting assistance while another scheduled task remains unfinished, what would you do?” Look for attention to immediate safety, requests for help, and communication about delayed care. Ask how completed care and refusals are documented.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We look at assistants from SNFs, assisted living communities, hospitals, and state-approved CNA training programs. SNF experience may offer substantial transfer and personal-care practice. Hospital experience may bring frequent observation and reporting, but you should still test familiarity with longer resident relationships and dementia support.
An assistant may consider moving for a steadier schedule, a shorter commute, or more consistent resident assignments. A newly trained CNA may suit an opening with structured orientation and available supervision. Ask what support the person needs before treating training completion as proof of independent readiness.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is advertising one senior living assignment when the position rotates between assisted living and skilled nursing. State each care area and ask about experience with its daily tasks. Another is accepting “comfortable with lifts” without asking which equipment the applicant has used. Separate classroom exposure from supervised practice and recent hands-on work.
Treating dementia experience as a yes-or-no checkbox. Ask for an example involving refusal, distress, or repeated questions, then examine the assistant’s response and reporting.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us the care area, shift, transfer equipment, documentation system, and supervision available. We compare registry status, applicable licensure, BLS documentation, and work history with your opening. Your team assesses care skills and completes credentialing before employment. Explain whether residents have consistent aide assignments or staff rotate.
Define the assignment
Include weekend expectations and any movement between buildings.
Screen against daily work
Interviews examine personal care, transfers, dementia interactions, and reporting. We flag experience gaps for your interview and practical assessment.
Complete the hiring decision
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
The role and the setting
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Are CNA, STNA, and LNA credentials interchangeable?
The labels reflect state credential systems, not automatic eligibility elsewhere. Verify the state registry listing and any required license before assigning resident care. Memory care adds repeated reassurance, observation, and communication when a resident cannot clearly explain discomfort. Define where the person will work, who supervises care, and how instructions reach the aide when a resident’s assistance needs change.
Can a hospital aide move into memory care?
Yes, but hospital experience alone does not demonstrate dementia-care readiness. Ask about distressed residents, personal-care refusals, and the orientation needed.
Should we ask about feeding assistance separately?
Yes: ask how the aide follows resident-specific instructions and reports coughing, refusal, or reduced intake without independently changing the care plan.
How should we assess CCRC float assignments?
Name every care area involved. Check relevant experience and explain how aides receive updated instructions when moving between assignments.
Can we recruit into our own per diem pool?
Yes: per diem placement means recruiting into your pool, not filling individual shifts; specify orientation, availability, and care-area expectations.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Share your resident care setting and shift duties, and we can discuss a search grounded in the work your assistants will actually perform.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.