An agency owner signs two new clients in the same week. Both need morning visits. She has a stack of applications, but the people she calls back have already found other work. She hires the one who picks up. On Monday at 8, nobody comes, and the client’s daughter is the one who calls to say so.
Now the scheduler is calling around for cover while the family waits. The owner had plenty of applicants. She had no time to reach them quickly, or to ask enough to tell who would follow through.
The hiring rarely stops in home care. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections show about 760,500 openings a year for home health and personal care aides from 2025 to 2035. Many of those openings, BLS says, will come from replacing aides who move to other jobs or leave the workforce.
What to ask a caregiver in a phone interview
You choose the questions. Start with the practical ones:
- Availability: days and hours, split shifts and weekends, and whether they would take overnight or live-in cases.
- Getting there: whether they have reliable transportation and how far they will drive between clients.
- Care experience: the help they have given, such as bathing, meals or moving safely around the house, and who they cared for.
- Certifications: whether they hold a home health aide or CNA certification, if your state or the case calls for one.
- The home itself: comfort with pets, stairs or a client with memory loss.
- First visit: the earliest day they could take a client.
Reach caregivers while they are still looking
Each job ad HireBus writes for you covers the area you serve, the hours, the pay and what a visit looks like. When someone applies, Iris follows up and interviews them by phone with your questions. The first call no longer waits for a free hour in your week.
Each candidate also gets a RightSeat™ score for behavior, experience and skills. Weigh the score along with the answers, then choose who comes to orientation.
Caregivers you liked but couldn’t place yet stay on your bench. With always-on hiring, your scheduler already has someone to call when the next client signs.
Home care roles
- Caregiver / personal care aide: non-medical help such as companionship, meals, errands and housework, plus a schedule that fits your clients.
- Home health aide: the certification your state requires for the work, and experience with the kind of clients you serve.
- CNA: an active certification, and comfort working alone in a client’s home.
- Visit scheduler / care coordinator: matching caregivers to clients, covering call-offs, and keeping families in the loop.
Questions home care owners ask
Who runs background checks and verifies certifications?
Your agency does. Iris asks about certifications and writes down what the applicant says, but Iris doesn’t check them. Before anyone takes a client, your agency verifies certifications, runs background checks and reviews driving records for your state.
Can Iris tell us who will show up?
No one can promise that. Iris asks about availability, transportation and past schedules, so you can judge fit before orientation. Confirm the start date and the first visit with each new hire yourself.
Do we need a separate opening for each county?
If the hours or pay differ, yes. Give each area its own opening, with its own hours and questions.
Founder & CEO of HireBus. Brandon took over his father's window cleaning business in 2012 and grew it past seventy employees in six seasons. He founded HireBus in Denver in 2021 with Rick Breden, PhD, an industrial and organizational psychologist. Read our story.
