Job Responsibilities
Marketing - 4 hours/day making phone calls to potential
residents, making cookie-drops, community visits, social
gatherings, etc. There is a weekly conference call with the
Regional Director to discuss marketing strategies, census,
employee issues, etc. (Note: You will be reporting to your
Regional Director. Each R.D. is responsible for between 10 and
20 facilities and will make a visit to your facility about once
a month).
Management - You will have a staff consisting of a second set of
managers, facility chef, sous chef, 3rd cook, three to four
housekeepers, dishwashers, servers, activity director, bus driver
(s) and maintenance person. You will be directing these
operations on a daily basis, and you can expect at least two
hours a day doing that. If anyone can't make it to work and you
don't have a replacement for that person, you're it!
Human Resources - Hiring, terminating, and discipline are also
part of the job. You will initiate all paperwork in this area
and interface with the home office in Salem, Oregon. This may
take an hour or so per day.
Accounting - You will be coding invoices for payment by the home
office in Oregon. Also, you will be handling payroll. This task
may take an hour per day. You have a budget you must work
within. Become familiar with this because you will answer to
your Regional Director for overruns.
Culinary Skills - While rare, if a chef or cook is not
available, you may be tasked with doing the cooking yourself.
Most facilities have over 100 residents, so should you be dealt
the task, be prepared. A bad meal can lead to many disgruntled
residents. My wife took charge for a month until a new chef
could be found!
Maintenance - In the management position, you will typically be
doing the light stuff, changing light bulbs, checking circuit
breakers, maybe shoveling snow. In some instances, you may be
painting apartments or other clean-up in preparing an apartment
for a new resident. Unplugging toilets is also a managers job!
Activities - It's a good idea to know what activities senior
citizens like, and how to conduct them should the need arise. I
have personally run the morning exercise program when the
activity director calls in to say she's having problems with the
car or home, etc.
The management team consists of two sets of couples. One person
from each couple is expected to receive food handling
certification training (Serv-Safe or equivalent), the other
person is to attain a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) to drive
the facility bus in the event the bus driver is unavailable to
work. If you do not have a CDL at the time you are hired, you
will not be reimbursed for any costs associated with attaining
that license until you have at least 6 months with the company.
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Job Requirements
While neither my wife nor I have a college degree, this is a job
best cut out for a couple that has some background in marketing,
management, human resources, accounting, activities, culinary
skills, and maintenance. (Yes, all of those, not just one or
two). While my wife and I were told we would receive training,
it really didn't amount to much more than "See those books, read
them." As stated above, if you don't already have the
background, this will be a tough start to this job.
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Uppers
The residents are generally alone, and although some families may visit weekly,
many have no visitors. They rely on the staff to make a difference in their
lives, and I always feel good when I can make them feel good. Special events can
be a lot of fun. We've had antique car shows, pie socials, arts and crafts shows,
fashion shows, etc.
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Downers
This job requires a lot of your time, with on-duty and on-call
typically running about 90 hours per week. Managers, because
they live on-site, are called upon to unplug toilets when the
maintenance person is off duty, they may have to clean up toilet
overflows, blood, vomit, and feces. Occasionally, a resident may
pass away. You will be required to notify the next-of-kin,
paramedics, coroner, police, etc. Probably the biggest downer in
this job are the few "rotten apples", those residents that have
nothing else to do but complain. Like a cancer, they will spread
their ill feelings to others and try to instigate trouble for
the managers. Employees can also present problems, especially
call-offs or no-shows; in either case, you must fill in.
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Lifestyle
This is a job for couples (preferably married, although exceptions are made in
some cases). You will be living on-site in either a 1-bedroom (Co-Managers) or
2-bedroom (Managers) apartment. I know of no couple with children on site, so
either you have no children, or they are grown and out on their own. Typically,
this job would appeal to those who are familiar with the retirement lifestyle and
senior citizens in general. Because you will be dealing with the public (both the
residents living in the facility, and those outside that you will entice to move
in) the dress is business casual. If you're a blue jeans, tee-shirt and tennis
shoe type of dresser, this is not your job! Business travel is typically in the
local community where you will be marketing your facility. The idea is to make
your facility known with the intent of getting seniors to move in. You will be
reimbursed for your mileage (30 cents/mile). Your facility will be having a
monthly special event for the same purpose, marketing. You will be tasked to plan
an event to draw as much public attention and attendance. As you may discern,
this is a job for an outgoing, people-oriented personality.
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Compensation
Managers will typically start at $30,000/yr (salary), so as a
couple, will be earning $60,000. Co-Managers will make about
$6,000 less per year ($54,000 as a couple). Benefits include
medical/dental/401K, but nothing in the way of stock options.
Bonuses may be attained for such things as reaching and
maintaining 100% census, or becoming a 5-Star facility.
The apartment you are assigned is rent-free, and all meals are
included.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Holiday Retirement Corp is a growing company with plans to open
about 15 new retirement facilities per year over the next
several years. To succeed in this business, you must absolutely
be an outgoing, honest, and tolerant person. (In the management
positions, Holiday prefers to hire married couples, although
they do have facilities with unmarried management staffs. With
two sets of management couples overlapping just 12 hours per
week, be prepared to put in some long days. This is a 24-
hour/day, 7-day/week business so when you're not on duty, you
may be on an 'on-call' status from 7:30pm to 7:30am. My wife and
I would typically put in a 94.5 hour week. While the money may
appear good, be prepared to give up a lot of your freedom!!!
Advice for married couples, if your relationship isn't strong,
don't take this job!
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