Director of Nursing (DON), Skilled Nursing Facility
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This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire a Director of Nursing who can connect daily resident changes, nursing records, and survey follow-up.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
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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?
A skilled nursing facility may care for long-stay residents and short-stay rehabilitation patients at the same time. Your Director of Nursing manages nursing assignments, resident-change reporting, chart review, incidents, and survey preparation. We recruit for those shift-by-shift decisions, not just prior director titles.
The right director can explain what happens after a call-out, a fall, a missed medication record, or a change in condition. They should name the records reviewed, the staff member contacted, the immediate nursing follow-up, and when they involve the administrator or medical provider.
This is a combined clinical and department-leadership role. The director must connect certified nursing assistant observations, licensed nurse notes, MDS assessments, care-plan updates, and incident reports. We ask how they find conflicting information before it creates a survey finding, billing question, or missed resident follow-up.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Active RN license: We confirm that the candidate holds an active registered nurse license for the state where your facility operates. You complete your own credentialing and clinical assessment before hire. Survey preparation: We ask for an example of a risk found before surveyors identified it.
- Candidates explain the record review, staff follow-up, correction made, and how they checked whether the issue continued.
- MDS and chart review: We ask how they compare nursing notes, MDS assessments, care plans, and documented resident outcomes. A useful answer describes a repeatable review process, not a general statement about checking charts.
- Staffing decisions: We ask what they do when call-outs leave fewer licensed nurses or nursing assistants on a unit. Listen for assignment changes, resident observation plans, delayed nonurgent work, charting follow-up, and escalation.
- New-hire coaching: We ask how they teach facility procedures, observe early work, and address charting mistakes. The candidate should identify who reviews the work, what triggers another check, and how charge nurses receive feedback.
- Incident accountability: We ask candidates to walk through a fall or medication-error review. They should describe the timeline, records, staff interviews, corrective action, and later review for similar events.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We approach Directors of Nursing and assistant directors from skilled nursing operators, regional long-term care groups, and rehabilitation-focused facilities. Their work may include survey preparation, MDS review, nursing schedules, infection-control monitoring, charge-nurse coaching, and family communication after an incident. Assistant directors may seek a first director role after carrying daily oversight while another leader retained final decisions.
Experienced leaders may consider a move after limited advancement options, ownership changes, or a desire for clearer authority over the nursing department.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is hiring a paper-focused director who cannot explain how nursing assistants report resident changes during a shift and how those observations reach licensed staff. Another is assuming hospital leadership alone prepares a candidate for long-term care documentation, MDS work, care-plan follow-up, and survey response.
Selecting someone who promises broad change before reviewing your citations, staffing patterns, open incidents, and current department structure.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Bring recent survey findings, recurring incident categories, MDS concerns, and staffing problems to our intake discussion. Use a redacted charting gap, incident summary, or call-out scenario. We screen nursing leadership skills by asking candidates how they track unresolved chart discrepancies, delegate incident investigations, and verify corrections across shifts.
Set the interview agenda
We use those details to test whether candidates have handled comparable decisions.
Interview against real decisions
Ask what the candidate reviews first, whom they contact, what work changes that day, and how they check the response later.
Complete final review
Compare the shortlist against your facility's survey findings and staffing gaps. During final interviews, ask each finalist to explain how they would divide oversight among the director, assistant director, charge nurses, and MDS staff. Use references to verify their stated responsibilities and follow-through. Complete credentialing and clinical assessment before selecting the person who will lead your nursing department.
The role and the setting
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Does this position need a specialized clinical certificate?
A certificate may reflect added training, but it is not automatically a legal mandate for this role. Focus first on the active RN license and evidence that the candidate has led skilled nursing documentation, staffing, incident review, and survey work.
How soon should we expect clinical improvement after a new director starts?
Early work often centers on open incidents, missing records, and recent survey findings. Broader staff habits take longer because the director must observe assignments, correct gaps, and revisit the work after coaching.
What should we do if a leading candidate receives a counteroffer?
Ask why the person entered the search and what authority, support, schedule, or career path they want next. More pay may address compensation without changing the reason they considered leaving.
How does relocation affect a Director of Nursing search?
Discuss the move date, active state RN license, and onsite interview availability early. If a candidate is relocating, ask how they would learn your facility routines and state survey expectations before making department changes.
Is there an upfront fee for this search?
No upfront fee applies to our permanent contingency placement service. 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 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.
Tell us where nursing records, staffing coverage, incident follow-up, or survey preparation need closer leadership. We will build a permanent Director of Nursing search around those daily decisions.
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.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Nursing Home Administrator (NHA) · Assistant Director of Nursing (ADON)
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 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.