The Hiring Question No One Asks: Will They Stay?

There’s a burning question that’s haunting leaders across industries, especially in healthcare: How do we hire people who don’t just say “yes” to the job, but actually stay?

Hiring tools are everywhere. We’ve got resumes, skills tests, behavioral interviews, personality assessments… all in the name of answering two questions:

1. Can they do the job?
2. Will they do the job?

But here’s the real kicker: We’re missing a hiring tool for the most critical question of all.

Will they stay? Not “can,” not “will,” but stay. And not just hang around, they stay and remain engaged.

After decades of working with organizations on retention, I can tell you this question gets skipped way too often. And in healthcare, skipping it can be deadly, literally. If you’re hiring CNAs, nurses, or front-line staff who quit after six weeks, you’re not just wasting time and money, you’re jeopardizing lives.

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Roundtable Replay: Watch the 30-minute Roundtable replay of “Hiring People Who Stay and Self-Engage”.

Roundtable Slide Deck: Download the slide deck from the 30-minute Roundtable “Hiring People Who Stay and Self-Engage”.

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The CNA Turnover Crisis, and What We Did About It

Timothy Juergensen, one of our partners from Covenant Health, hit the nail on the head in a roundtable discussion. He said something I hear far too often:

“How did that person even get hired?”

It’s a fair question. At Covenant, CNAs were leaving in droves within their first two months. So, we worked together to fix it, starting with the hiring process.

What did we do?

We designed a Realistic Job Preview (RJP) for the CNA role. This wasn’t just another glossy recruiting video, it was a true, unfiltered look at what the job really entailed. Managers were trained not just to show it, but to use it to create better interview questions. We asked about tough past jobs, stress, and motivation. And we even invited candidates to tour the floor and see the job in action.

Some said, “No thanks.”
And that was a good thing.

Because when the cost of a bad CNA hire is thousands of dollars, or a patient safety issue, you don’t want to convince someone to take the job. You want to help them make the right choice, for them, and for you.

Three Ways to Hire People Who Stay

In my work, I’ve found that hiring for retention often boils down to three proven practices:

1. Realistic Job Previews – Show the real job. Warts and all.
2. Employee Referrals – People refer others like themselves. Good people know good people.
3. Commitment-Implied Offers – Language in your offer that signals expectations for growth, trust, and staying power.

Ask yourself: Which of these could move the needle the most in your organization?

Motivation Isn’t a Mystery, If You Ask the Right Questions

The Covenant team didn’t stop at previews. They rebuilt their interview training from the ground up, anchoring it to the idea of motivational fit. In short: Does this person want to do this kind of work, in this kind of environment, for this kind of team?

It’s not enough to ask if they’ve done a task before. We need to uncover why they did it, how they felt about it, and what kept them going when it got tough. That’s how you reveal the traits, not just competencies, that lead to long-term retention.

Because here’s the truth: You can train for skill. You can’t train for grit.

Let’s Be Honest: Retention Starts Before Day One

If you’re in healthcare, this isn’t optional. When a CNA walks off the job, your care teams are short-staffed, your costs skyrocket, and your remaining employees burn out faster. You’ve got to make hiring for stay power a core competency.

Let’s not pretend this is just an HR issue either. This is a leadership issue. And like most leadership issues, the solution starts with truth-telling, better questions, and accountability.

So I’ll leave you with this:

What are you doing to hire for stay power?

If the answer is “not much,” then don’t be surprised when your retention looks like roulette.

Want help building realistic job previews or motivational-fit interview questions?
Write me at DFinnegan@C-SuiteAnalytics.com. Let’s talk about how to build a hiring process that cuts turnover from Day One.