How to Hire a Senior Living Executive Director: What to Evaluate Beyond the Résumé

Hiring an Executive Director is one of the most consequential decisions a senior living organization can make. This leader influences nearly every part of a community’s performance—from resident experience and employee engagement to occupancy, financial results, regulatory compliance, and family confidence.

A strong résumé can confirm that a candidate has held the right titles and worked in relevant care settings. It cannot, by itself, show how that person leads, makes decisions, responds under pressure, or earns the trust of residents, families, and employees.

The most successful Executive Director searches evaluate the full record behind the résumé.

Operating and financial judgmentAn Executive Director must understand how daily operating decisions affect the community as a whole. That includes labor management, budgeting, expense control, service quality, occupancy, capital needs, and the financial implications of staffing and programming decisions.

A candidate may be able to discuss budgets and financial reports, but the deeper question is how that information shaped their decisions.

Consider asking:

• What operating challenges did the candidate inherit?
• Which financial or performance indicators did they monitor most closely?
• How did they balance expense control with resident service and employee needs?
• What measurable improvements occurred under their leadership?
• How did they respond when results fell below expectations?

Strong candidates can explain not only what the numbers were, but what they did about them.

Occupancy and census performanceEven when a community has a dedicated sales team, the Executive Director plays a central role in occupancy and census growth.
Prospective residents and families evaluate the entire community experience. They notice the responsiveness of the leadership team, the condition and energy of the building, employee engagement, resident satisfaction, and how confidently the community communicates its value.

The Executive Director should understand:

• Inquiry, tour, deposit, and move-in activity
• Conversion performance
• Competitive positioning
• Resident retention
• Referral relationships
• Barriers affecting occupancy
• The connection between operations and sales results

​A strong Executive Director does not treat sales as a department operating separately from the rest of the community. They create alignment among sales, operations, clinical teams, dining, activities, maintenance, and frontline employees.
Staff leadership and retentionA community’s culture is often a direct reflection of its Executive Director.

The best candidates know how to establish expectations, hold leaders accountable, recognize strong performance, address conflict, and create an environment where employees feel respected and supported. They also understand that leadership visibility matters. Employees are more likely to trust a leader who is present, communicates clearly, and follows through.
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Look beyond a candidate’s statements about having “built a strong team.” Ask for specifics:

• What was employee turnover when they arrived?
• Did retention improve?
• Which department leaders did they hire or develop?
• How did they address an underperforming manager?
• What did they do when staffing shortages affected service?
• How did they communicate during periods of organizational change?

References should be used to confirm how the candidate actually led—not simply whether the former employer would rehire them.

​Resident and family survey resultsResident and family satisfaction surveys can provide valuable evidence of an Executive Director’s impact. They offer another perspective on communication, responsiveness, service quality, trust, programming, dining, care, and the overall community experience.

Survey scores should not be evaluated in isolation. A candidate may have inherited a community with longstanding concerns, low participation, or inconsistent data. What matters is the trend, the underlying themes, and how the leader responded.
Useful questions include:

• What were the resident and family satisfaction results when the candidate began?
• Did scores improve, decline, or remain stable?
• Which areas received the strongest and weakest ratings?
• How did the candidate communicate the findings to employees and residents?
• What action plan was created?
• Were residents and families told what changes were made in response to their feedback?
• Did later survey results show measurable improvement?

A strong leader does not become defensive about disappointing feedback. They listen carefully, identify patterns, communicate openly, and turn the findings into practical improvements.

Regulatory knowledge and risk managementSenior living leaders operate in highly regulated environments. The specific requirements vary by state, license type, and level of care, but every Executive Director must understand the importance of documentation, training, staffing, resident rights, safety, incident response, and regulatory readiness.

For communities that include skilled nursing, the position may require an appropriately licensed Administrator or LNHA with additional clinical and regulatory knowledge.

The interview process should examine:

• The candidate’s history with surveys and inspections
• Any deficiencies, citations, or plans of correction
• How the candidate prepared the community for regulatory review
• Their response to incidents or complaints
• Their approach to documentation and employee training
• Whether improvements were sustained after corrective action

The objective is not to find someone who claims never to have encountered a problem. It is to understand how responsibly, transparently, and effectively the person handled difficult situations.

Resident and family relationshipsExecutive Directors must be comfortable communicating with residents and families during both routine and challenging circumstances.

That requires empathy, judgment, patience, and the ability to explain difficult decisions clearly. Families may be dealing with changes in health, finances, care needs, or living arrangements. Residents may be concerned about staffing, services, policies, or changes within the community.

The right leader can listen without becoming defensive, set appropriate boundaries, resolve concerns when possible, and preserve trust even when the answer is not what someone hoped to hear.

During the search process, explore how candidates have handled:

• Escalated family concerns
• Resident council feedback
• Service complaints
• Difficult care transitions
• Communication following an incident
• Changes in fees, staffing, programming, or community policies

These conversations often reveal more about leadership maturity than a traditional list of accomplishments.

Cultural fit and leadership presenceExperience in a similar community is valuable, but culture also matters.

A leader who succeeds in a large corporate portfolio may not be the right fit for a standalone nonprofit community. Someone accustomed to extensive corporate resources may struggle in an owner-led organization where the Executive Director must be more hands-on. Conversely, a highly independent leader may have difficulty in an organization with centralized systems and clearly defined corporate expectations.

Cultural fit does not mean hiring someone who thinks and behaves exactly like the existing team. It means finding a leader whose working style, values, communication, and decision-making approach fit the organization’s needs.

The search should consider:

• Organizational structure
• Ownership or governance
• Community size and service mix
• Degree of corporate support
• Leadership team strength
• Expectations for visibility and accessibility
• Pace of decision-making
• Current operational challenges
• The type of change the organization is prepared to support

Evidence of leadership impactTitles alone can be misleading. Two candidates may both have served as Executive Directors, yet their actual authority, responsibilities, and results may have been very different.

A thorough evaluation should separate participation from ownership. Did the candidate personally lead the improvement, or were they present while a corporate team implemented it? Did occupancy improve because of their actions, a market shift, a major renovation, or changes in pricing? Did employee retention improve across the community, or only within one department?

Strong candidates can explain:

• The situation they inherited
• The actions they personally took
• The people and resources involved
• The obstacles they encountered
• The measurable outcome
• What they would do differently today

This level of detail helps distinguish polished interview answers from demonstrated leadership performance.

Why the strongest candidates may not be applyingMany highly effective Executive Directors are not actively searching for a new position. They may be performing well, valued by their current organization, and reluctant to respond to a public job posting.

Reaching these candidates requires direct, confidential recruiting and a clear explanation of why the opportunity deserves their attention. It also requires credibility. Experienced senior living leaders are more likely to engage when they believe the recruiter understands the industry, the organization, the role, and the realities of community leadership.

That is why a successful search involves more than advertising the position and reviewing incoming résumés. It requires targeted research, direct outreach, careful evaluation, and honest communication throughout the process.

Hiring beyond the résuméThe right Executive Director brings together operational discipline, financial judgment, occupancy awareness, staff leadership, regulatory knowledge, and genuine concern for residents and families.

The résumé begins the conversation. It should never be the entire evaluation.

LM Hurley & Associates works directly with senior living organizations to recruit and evaluate Executive Directors, Administrators, and other community leaders. Our partner-led process combines targeted recruiting with practical senior living operating insight, helping clients identify leaders who can strengthen culture, performance, occupancy, and resident experience.
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Learn more about our Executive Director and Administrator search →
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