How UNIE-K optimized its candidate journey to attract and retain more residential support workers

In a tight labor market, UNIE-K, together with Möbius, set up a future-oriented path to attract new employees.

In a tight labor market, UNIE-K together with Möbius set up a future-oriented program to attract new residential supervisors and give them a warm welcome in the organization. Thanks to a well thought-out approach in cooperation with employees, UNIE-K was able to position itself more strongly as an attractive employer in health care.

Challenge

UNIE-K, a residential care facility for people with disabilities, faced a persistent staff shortage for the position of residential supervisor. Although the organization had a clear mission, strong values ("the UNIE-Ke kantjes", which loosely translates as "Unique talents") and a clear employer branding strategy, it was increasingly difficult to attract the right talent.

In a pleasant collaboration with Möbius, we found the right balance between doing things ourselves and receiving guidance. With our new guidelines, we can now quickly choose the right communication mix to strengthen our employer brand and recruit new talent – and it works.

Jessie Priem Communications Manager

The main challenges lay in three key areas:

Increasing visibility: Strengthening UNIE-K’s reputation as an attractive employer and addressing misconceptions about the organisation.

Enhancing recruitment: Generating more and higher-quality applications through the right channels, with compelling messages.

Improving onboarding: Helping new employees feel welcome and valued more quickly, with a focus on retention from day one.

Approach

The project with UNIE-K was structured around the Double Diamond principle — a proven model for problem-solving and innovation that operates in four phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.
At the heart of this model are two key thinking modes: diverging (broadly exploring and gathering ideas and insights) and converging (making targeted choices and developing concrete solutions).

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Together with UNIE-K, we translated this into three logical, practice-oriented steps:

1. Understanding Target Groups and Experiences (Discover & Define)

In the first diamond, we explored broadly: What are the real needs, motivations, and barriers of (potential) residential support workers?
Through in-depth interviews, analysis of existing internal insights, and workshops with staff, we identified four distinct target groups or personas.
For each of them, we mapped the entire candidate journey, including key moments, frustrations (pains), and positive experiences (gains).

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2. Developing Targeted Solutions (Develop)

In the second diamond, we moved from insight to action.
Together with UNIE-K, we organised co-creative workshops with employees from HR, communications, and care teams.
Based on the defined personas and journey pain points, we developed targeted solutions across three key levers:

Visibility: Focus on storytelling, employee ambassadors, strategic channels (such as Instagram and TikTok), and imagery that resonates with each profile.

Recruitment: Tailor messages and channels to each audience, with specific triggers and clear expectations.

Onboarding: Go beyond practical streamlining — emphasise feedback, recognition, and authentic connection from day one.

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3. Validation and Sustainable Integration (Deliver)

Finally, all solutions and recommendations were presented to the steering group and refined collaboratively.
UNIE-K took the lead in creating an implementation plan, ensuring internal ownership and continuity.
Thanks to thorough knowledge transfer and a shared methodology, UNIE-K now has the tools and insights to independently apply this approach to other roles.
This ensured that the project didn’t remain a one-off optimisation, but instead triggered a sustainable organisational change.

Results

The collaboration led to concrete improvements with lasting impact:

Valuable target group insights: Through the use of personas, UNIE-K now better understands its candidates and how to communicate effectively with them, based on their backgrounds and motivations.

Enhanced communication and visibility: With authentic stories, tailored visuals, and strategic use of channels such as Instagram and TikTok, UNIE-K now presents its vacancies in a more relevant and engaging way.

Professional and warm onboarding: New employees not only receive the necessary information and training, but also recognition, space for feedback, and personalised guidance — strengthening their connection to the organisation.

Engaged employees as ambassadors: By actively involving staff in the process, employees feel heard and valued. This has translated into greater engagement and ownership.
Sustainable approach: UNIE-K now has the methods and tools to replicate the approach independently for other roles — a lever for structural improvement of its HR policy.