Quick summary: Christian Living Communities adopted skills-based hiring to broaden its candidate pool and fill open roles more quickly. This article shares the lessons from that skills-based hiring journey in senior living, including three things the team would do differently: naming the business problem early, auditing job descriptions role by role, and building the communication plan before rollout, not after.
When Christian Living Communities decided to make skills-based hiring a real priority, we didn’t lack conviction. We lacked a plan. We were sold on the philosophy almost immediately. The logic made sense: too many job requirements shrink your candidate pool, and in senior living, where every open seat means less time and attention for a resident, a smaller pool is a real problem. So we leaned in. What we didn’t do was slow down long enough to map out what that shift would actually require across recruitment, hiring, and training.
Looking back, here are the lessons from our skills-based hiring journey in senior living, and what we’d tell any organization considering the same move.
1. Name the Business Problem Before You Name the Solution
We understood at the leadership level that overly specific job requirements were narrowing our applicant pool. What we skipped was translating that into something our hiring managers could see and feel. A “requirement” on a job posting isn’t just a line item to a hiring manager. It’s often a proxy for trust, for predictability, for “I know this will work.” Asking someone to let go of that without walking them through the why is asking a lot.
If we could go back, we’d start by putting the business problem in front of managers directly: here’s how many qualified applicants we’re losing, here’s what that costs us in time-to-fill and turnover, here’s what it means for the team covering an open shift. Then we’d open the floor. Let managers push back, ask questions, and raise the scenarios that worry them. That conversation builds ownership. Skipping it just builds compliance, and compliance doesn’t hold up when things get hard.
2. Audit Job Descriptions Role by Role, With the People Who Own Them
Skills-based hiring isn’t a mindset you adopt. It’s a set of decisions you make, one job description at a time. What skills actually predict success in this role? What can be trained in the first 30, 60, or 90 days? Is a high school diploma or GED truly a requirement, or is it a habit?
We eventually did this work, but reactively, reviewing job descriptions for our highest-need roles as vacancies came up, rather than proactively across the organization. That meant we were making these decisions under pressure, role by role, instead of building a consistent framework hiring managers could apply on their own. In hindsight, a deliberate audit, done calmly, before the urgency of an open req, would have given us better decisions and a repeatable process, instead of one-off fixes.
3. Build the Communication Plan First, Not Last
The biggest gap wasn’t philosophy. It was translation. Our hiring managers didn’t fully understand what “focusing on skills” would change about how they wrote postings, screened candidates, or ran interviews. Without a clear communication and rollout plan, that ambiguity created hesitation and inconsistent adoption.
A real plan would have laid out, in plain terms, what was changing, why, and what it meant for a manager’s day-to-day: what to look for instead of a checklist of credentials, how to evaluate potential, and how to talk about the change with their own teams.
The Bigger Lesson
None of this means the shift toward skills-based hiring was wrong. It wasn’t. But conviction isn’t a substitute for process. If you’re considering this shift, do the philosophy work and the operational work at the same time. Your hiring managers, and the candidates you’re trying to reach, deserve both.
FAQ
What is skills-based hiring in senior living? Skills-based hiring in senior living means evaluating candidates for open roles based on demonstrated or trainable skills rather than rigid credential requirements, such as degrees or years of experience, that may not predict success in the role.
What are the biggest lessons from skills-based hiring in senior living? Based on Christian Living Communities’ experience, the top lessons are: name the business problem for hiring managers before rolling out the change, audit job descriptions role by role instead of reactively, and build a communication plan before launch rather than after.
Why does skills-based hiring matter for senior living organizations specifically? In senior living, every open role directly affects the time and attention available to residents. A hiring approach that widens the qualified candidate pool can reduce time-to-fill and turnover, which supports more consistent care and community life.
About the Author
Kelly Denning, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the Director of Talent Acquisition at Christian Living Communities and Cappella Living Solutions. She is a Senior Professional in Human Resources certified human resources professional with extensive experience providing leadership and support to drive the achievement of key organizational human resources-related objectives.
