Executive Director, Senior Living Recruiters

What do we check before you see anyone?

Occupancy and sales leadership. We ask what reports the candidate reviewed, including lead sources, tours, deposits, move-ins, move-outs, and referral activity. We ask what changed when tours produced interest but not deposits. Budget control. Candidates should describe how they tracked labor hours against census, food spending, maintenance work, and department budgets.

• We ask what they changed, who approved the decision, and whether another department absorbed the cost.
• State assisted living administrator certification where required. We screen for the applicable credential and relevant work history. You complete your own credentialing review. We also ask how the candidate handled administrator filings, staff credential records, and documents requested during a survey.
• Memory care operations. We ask how the candidate worked with nursing, life enrichment, dining, and families when schedules, activities, or routines needed revision. Strong answers distinguish the Executive Director’s operating role from clinical leadership’s authority.
• Survey and incident response. We ask about the candidate’s role during a state survey, infection control concern, fall review, or medication-management issue. We listen for factual follow-up, document awareness, assigned owners, and escalation to appropriate leaders.
• Department leadership. We ask how they run manager meetings, track unresolved family concerns, and hold sales, dining, maintenance, and nursing leaders to agreed actions. A useful answer names a report, meeting cadence, or follow-up method.

Which mistakes stall the search?

A common mistake is choosing the longest résumé without asking how the candidate responded to declining census, weak tour conversion, or repeated move-outs. Another is treating turnover as an HR issue alone instead of asking about schedules, onboarding, manager follow-up, and daily communication.