In senior living, like it or not, much of the senior leadership workforce is aging. At the same time, says Jeff Harris, CEO of Jeff Harris and Associates, the industry hasn’t done enough to position itself as an attractive, compelling career path for younger generations.
“There’s more of a war on talent now than there ever has been,” Harris says. “There’s more of a dearth of available candidates than there ever has been. It’s just like any economic scenario, when supply is limited, the value goes up, and you have to fight harder to keep your share.”
That reality has fundamentally shifted the balance of power in hiring. With fewer experienced candidates available and more organizations competing for them, top performers have the luxury of being selective. Employers can no longer rely on reputation, stability or compensation alone to win them over.
Certainty as a Form of Currency
One of the biggest forces shaping today’s hiring environment has little to do with senior living specifically. It’s the broader emotional climate people are operating in.
“We’re living in times that feel uncertain geopolitically and economically, and that creates a lot of underlying stress,” Harris says. “The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale suggests the most stressful life changes include the death of a spouse, divorce or separation, marriage, and losing or changing a job.”
Even when a job change is objectively positive – offering a promotion or a better long-term opportunity – it still ranks as one of the most stressful transitions a person can make.
“If you’re already carrying stress about financial insecurity, global instability, or political uncertainty, adding a job change on top of that can feel like too much,” Harris says.
The result is a more cautious workforce. Even candidates who might want to move are more inclined to stay put, choosing the certainty of what they know over the emotional cost of change.
“That sense of ‘at least I know what I’m dealing with’ is powerful,” Harris says. “People are more reticent. They’ll stay with something familiar because it doesn’t introduce another layer of stress.”
Why Breaking Through Is Harder Than It Used to Be
At the same time, the mechanics of recruitment themselves have changed – and not always for the better.
Another major factor making it harder to recruit senior talent, Harris says, is the rapid rise of AI-driven outreach.
“It’s much harder to connect with passive candidates than it’s ever been,” he says. “People are being barraged by emails, voicemails, texts, and even AI agents that sound human.”
In this oversaturated environment, it can be difficult to achieve cut-through.
“When you’re inundated with messages that all sound polished, personalized, and urgent, but aren’t relationship-based, meaningful connection becomes much more difficult,” Harris says.
For passive candidates in particular, that constant noise makes it easier to tune everything out. The traditional recruiter message – even a well-written one – can disappear into the blur.
“That non-relationship-based connection just doesn’t land the way it used to,” Harris says. “And that’s another reason it’s become harder to recruit great candidates.”
What This Means for Employers
Taken together, these forces – an aging leadership pool, heightened stress and risk aversion, and a noisier, less human recruiting landscape – have raised the bar for employers.
Winning top candidates now requires more than visibility. It requires trust, clarity, and a compelling reason to leave certainty behind.
For senior living operators, that means thinking carefully about how the organization is perceived by potential candidates – most importantly, how leadership shows up, how culture is communicated, and whether the opportunity being offered genuinely outweighs the emotional cost of change.
In a market where great candidates are scarce and increasingly cautious, those factors are what will set employers apart.