Recruitment Strategies to Hire Top-Tier Practitioners

✍️ Author: Sara Villamil 

Finding top-tier practitioners for your wellness business can be a significant challenge. Given the potential impact wellness services promise to have on overall health, it is crucial to limit mistakes when hiring. 

You’re probably wondering, ‘Are there recruitment methods you can use to attract high-caliber practitioners to your wellness business?’ and, ‘How do you ensure they share your philosophies and will be effective in a healing environment?’

In this blog, you’ll discover actionable recruiting tips and strategies for attracting, hiring, and retaining practitioners to ensure top-quality, compassionate, intuitive, and helpful care for your clients.

Table of Contents:

• Recruitment Strategy Basics: Basics and Key Factors
• Benefits of Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for Your Wellness Business
• Top Recruitment Strategies for Wellness Businesses and Studio Owners
• How to Use Technology to Optimize Your Hiring Process
• Strategies to Increase Employee Retention in Your Business

Recruitment Strategy Basics: Basics and Key Factors

What exactly is a recruitment strategy? A recruitment strategy is a structured approach to attract, evaluate, and hire the best possible candidates. For wellness businesses, effective recruitment focuses on sourcing, screening, interviewing, and onboarding individuals who align with your principles.

A strategic recruitment plan should include the following:

• Sourcing: Identify potential candidates through contacts, professional networks, social media, and community connections.
• Screening: Review resumes and applications to create a shortlist of candidates with the right skills and experience.
• Interviewing: The interview process should assess qualifications and personality to ensure the best fit. For wellness positions, consider asking candidates to conduct a practical demonstration, like teaching a yoga or Pilates class or offering a massage, to gauge their style and approach.
• Onboarding: This crucial step ensures that new hires understand how your business operates, allowing them to integrate smoothly and reducing potential issues in the future.

Key Factors in Recruiting for Wellness Businesses:

• Philosophical Alignment: Look for candidates who share your values. This alignment ensures client needs are consistently met, as well as your expectations.
• Great with People: Prioritize candidates with strong interpersonal and communication skills. Their ability to connect with clients ensures customer service is a top priority.
• The Long Game: Seek individuals with a genuine interest in your offerings and a desire for professional growth within your organization.

Benefits of Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for Your Wellness Business 

As mentioned above, having a hiring and recruiting strategy for a wellness business is essential. While making quick hires or choosing familiar faces may be tempting, refining your plan is well worth the effort. A thoughtful approach helps you build a team that aligns with your values from the beginning to deliver the best possible experience for your clients. The one that you have dreamed of when you created this business.

In the wellness industry, every client visit matters. You want clients to have such a fantastic experience that they rebook often and spread the word. In today’s competitive wellness market, word-of-mouth remains a valuable marketing strategy.

Hiring capable and committed individuals is crucial to your long-term success. Consider what will motivate potential candidates to care about your mission and their role within your team.

Hiring and recruiting strategies help:

• Reduce Employee Turnover: Strategic hires are more likely to be a strong culture fit. Candidates with an invested passion for their practice have a meaningful desire to be a part of your community.
• Improve the Client Experience: Candidates with strong interpersonal skills improve client interactions, which fosters a positive environment for clients to feel comfortable and enjoy their experience.
• Increase Client Retention: Candidates who are a good fit and align with your philosophy will be happier in their role, carrying over to the client experience.
• Lasting Relationships and Impressions: A well-trained, engaged team that knows client names and preferences cultivates meaningful relationships and memorable experiences

Top Recruitment Strategies for Wellness Businesses and Studio Owners

In this section, you’ll discover recruitment strategies tailored for wellness businesses and studio owners. These approaches will help you attract and retain top talent, ultimately allowing you to breathe a sigh of relief.

Leverage Your Network for Referrals

Wellness professionals usually operate within smaller, niche networks, which can be invaluable for hiring the right people. These tight-knit communities are built on personal relationships and trust, making it much easier to identify individuals with the right skills and philosophies.

Here are some reasons why:

• Trusted Recommendations: Referrals from your network are often your best possible candidates. Your contacts know you and the person they are referring to you. They genuinely have your best interest at heart.
• Uncover Hidden Talent: Your network may surface folks who aren’t actively seeking a new wellness role but could be a perfect fit for your business.
• Cultural Alignment: Referrals typically lead to candidates better aligned with your philosophy and team than those found through traditional job postings.

Utilize Wellness-Specific Job Boards

Wellness-specific job boards can significantly streamline your recruitment efforts. They connect you with candidates with relevant experience and a genuine interest in wellness. These platforms are tailored to your needs, attracting qualified and passionate individuals.

Understanding and refining your niche will direct you to job boards where you may discover less experienced candidates who are eager to start their careers in wellness.

A recruitment strategy example would be a post on a job board seeking new graduates from a yoga teacher training or other wellness program to advertise opportunities.

• LinkedIn: Allows users to search for roles such as wellness coaches, nutritionists, fitness trainers, etc., using keywords, filters for location and job type, and set up job alerts to stay updated on new openings.
• YogaTrade: Focused on connecting yoga professionals looking for opportunities abroad with studios and businesses seeking talent.
• Indeed: A job board for wellness-focused roles, including holistic health, nutrition, massage, therapy, and various fitness and yoga opportunities.

Build Your Business’s Core Values Around Wellness and Authenticity

Showcasing your business mission and core values will attract folks who share those beliefs. When your core values reflect a genuine commitment to wellness, you create an environment for potential candidates who share that passion!

Authenticity here is vital. If you project a culture without truly embodying it, you risk disappointing new hires and possibly hiring individuals who aren’t a good fit.

This misalignment can lead to high turnover rates and low morale. You will build a skilled and invested team by clearly defining and living your core values.

Invest in Remote and Hybrid Work Opportunities

Like all industries, remote and hybrid work opportunities are becoming more popular. Offering flexible work arrangements positions you as a more appealing employer.

Prioritizing work-life balance these days is a priority. Wellness professionals want this for their clients and themselves. They understand the health risks of stress and proactively reduce their own.

Offering remote and hybrid work can set your business apart in the competitive market, where candidates seek flexible schedules to balance other responsibilities.

• Work-Life Balance: Wellness professionals teach others about well-being and seek the same for themselves. A flexible schedule helps them manage personal and professional responsibilities, boosting their happiness at work.
• Broaden Your Reach: Offering remote opportunities allows you to recruit top-tier talent and expand your services beyond your immediate area.
• Save Money: By providing remote positions, you can lower operational costs, freeing up resources for benefits, professional development, and business growth.

Consider Freelance vs Full-Time Employees to Fit Your Budget

It is important to weigh the pros and cons of freelance instructors/contractors versus full-time staff, especially for smaller wellness businesses like yoga and Pilates studios.

Freelancers are typically more budget-friendly than full-time employees but lack stability and commitment to your business. However, full-time staff also come with additional costs like benefits, sick and holiday pay.

Freelance Instructors: 

• Pros: Freelancers are flexible and cost-effective as you only pay for their time. You may hire specialists for specific classes and workshops without a long-term commitment. This arrangement works well for freelancers who can effectively balance their obligations and responsibilities.
• Cons: Freelancers may be more transient and have less investment in your business. Since they control their availability, keeping your values and mission at arm’s length is easier.

Full-Time Employees:

• Pros: Full-time employees are often more invested in your business, reliable, and offer consistent services. They tend to understand and cultivate your team culture. They know your clients well, which helps them provide valuable feedback and insights for improvement.
• Cons: A big downside here is financial, particularly regarding benefits and salary obligations, which can seriously affect your budget. You also lose some flexibility—unlike freelancers, you can’t adjust schedules at the last minute.

Use Employee Retention Goals as a Recruitment Strategy

Acquiring the right people from day one can significantly reduce the need for constant recruitment. When you focus on staff retention, you build a team that will likely be in it for the long haul, saving time and resources that would otherwise go into replacing staff.

Keeping team members engaged and motivated in wellness businesses is vital to maintaining a stable environment. Here are some effective employee engagement strategies:

• Professional Development: Provide valuable, inspiring opportunities for growth so your team can build their skills, enhance what they offer, and feel appreciated.
• Work-Life Balance: Set the tone by leading with balance—encourage disconnecting after work hours, offer flexible schedules, and support holistic wellness through various covered health programs, if you can.
• Positive Environment: Foster a healthy workplace where open communication, feedback, and recognition are the norm.

Attend Industry Events for Networking

Attending wellness conferences, expos, and other networking events may be a great recruitment technique. At these events, you’ll meet passionate professionals, build relationships, and deepen your knowledge. By attending, you stay current on industry trends and show you’re serious about your wellness business.

• Midwest Yoga Conference: Business, yoga, movement practices, and lectures for professionals and practitioners looking to grow their knowledge and connect.
• The Yoga Expo: A day of yoga classes, workshops, and a marketplace founded by Arianne Traverso, known for promoting mindfulness and wellness through yoga and holistic practices.
• All Mats Taken Yoga Business Summit: An event that combines yoga and business, focusing on bringing together yoga teachers, wellness entrepreneurs, and professionals in the health and fitness industry.
• Sedona Yoga Festival: An annual event in Sedona, Arizona, that offers yoga classes, workshops, and spiritual practices focusing on personal growth, healing, and mindfulness.
• The International Congress of Esthetics and Spa: An annual event providing lectures, live demonstrations, and networking opportunities for beauty, spa, and wellness professionals.

How to Use Technology to Optimize Your Hiring Process

Technology can streamline hiring and recruitment strategies by cutting through the noise, making it more efficient and less time-consuming. In the wellness industry, where access to human resources may be limited, tech solutions can help attract suitable candidates and sift through all the applications.

Many trained practitioners aren’t adequately certified. With the right tools, you can quickly filter out those who aren’t and focus on those who truly fit.

• Utilize Social Media: Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook are among the best tools for reaching potential candidates. If others share your posts, your reach quickly expands.
• AI-Driven Tools for Screening Candidates: These tools can quickly screen resumes based on your criteria and help pinpoint the best candidates, saving time and money.

Strategies to Increase Employee Retention in Your Business

Having an employee retention strategy in place can make or break any small business. Creating a positive, supportive culture where staff feels valued and inspired will reduce turnover and foster loyalty. 

Here are a few strategies to consider:

• Focus on Culture and Engagement: A positive work environment where staff feel engaged and supported naturally cultivates long-term employees.
• Wellness-Oriented Staff Perks: If your budget allows, offering free yoga, pilates, personal training sessions, or mental health days can significantly boost your team’s overall well-being. 
• Professional Development Opportunities: Offering certification, training, and growth opportunities can boost loyalty and longevity. 
• Utilize Business Management Software: Using business management software that provides all the tools you need in one place to grow your business, like OfferingTree, provides valuable insights on employee performance, enabling you to support their growth and identify areas for improvement.

Build an Attractive Business for Hiring Prospects and Create Sustainable Recruitment Strategies

To attract top-tier talent and implement effective hiring practices in your wellness business, you must cultivate an inspiring, dynamic, and supportive work environment that people want to be part of. 

OfferingTree eliminates the need for disparate tools and wasted time navigating between them. Streamline your operations, track team performance, and create a more efficient foundation, and your business will be even more appealing to high-level practitioners looking to grow and thrive. 

Try OfferingTree free for 7 days and explore our demo video library to see for yourself how we can help simplify your operations and empower your team.