LeadingAge Illinois Keynote Speaker Chris Sund

Chris Sund at LeadingAge Illinois

Keynote: Handling Hiring Objections: To Recruit the Best Talent

Chris Sund will be speaking at the LeadingAge Illinois conference, delivering a keynote focused on one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare organizations today: attracting and securing top talent in a highly competitive hiring market.

As healthcare leaders continue navigating staffing shortages, workforce burnout, and increased competition for candidates, the ability to effectively handle hiring objections has become more important than ever.

This keynote is designed to help leaders, recruiters, and hiring teams strengthen their communication, build trust with candidates, and improve recruiting outcomes through more intentional conversations.

View Speaking Topics

Book Chris for Your Event

About LeadingAge Illinois

LeadingAge Illinois is a nonprofit association representing mission-driven aging services providers across the state of Illinois. Its members include nursing facilities, assisted living communities, continuing care retirement communities, home and community-based services, and other organizations committed to quality care for older adults.

The LeadingAge Illinois Annual Conference brings together senior care executives, administrators, clinical leaders, and workforce professionals to share knowledge, address challenges, and advance the future of aging services in Illinois.

Each year, attendees gain:

Insights on workforce, leadership, and operational excellence in aging services
Access to experienced speakers and thought leaders in senior care
Networking with peers across Illinois’s aging services community
Strategies to navigate staffing, regulatory, and quality challenges

About the Keynote

Handling Hiring Objections: To Recruit the Best Talent focuses on helping leaders better navigate the concerns, hesitation, and questions candidates often have during the hiring process.

In today’s workforce environment, candidates are evaluating far more than compensation alone.

They are evaluating culture, flexibility, leadership, growth opportunities, support systems, and overall quality of life.

This keynote helps attendees understand how to move beyond transactional recruiting conversations and create more meaningful, trust-based interactions that help candidates feel heard, understood, and confident in their decision.

The LAARC Framework

At the center of the keynote is the LAARC Method, a practical communication framework designed to improve conversations and strengthen trust:

• Listen – Fully understand the concern before responding
• Acknowledge – Validate the candidate’s perspective
• Ask – Dig deeper to uncover the real issue
• Respond – Address concerns with clarity and honesty
• Confirm – Ensure alignment and understanding moving forward

This framework helps leaders avoid reactive conversations and instead create stronger, more productive dialogue with candidates.

Key Themes Covered

Throughout the keynote, Chris will explore several important recruiting and leadership principles:

• Candidates want to feel understood, not sold to
• Trust is built through listening and authenticity
• Tone and communication matter in every interaction
• Great recruiting is relationship-driven
• Objections are opportunities to build alignment
• Strong employer brands are reinforced through conversations
• The best talent often chooses leaders, not just organizations

Key Themes Covered

Throughout the keynote, Chris will explore several important recruiting and leadership principles:

• Candidates want to feel understood, not sold to
• Trust is built through listening and authenticity
• Tone and communication matter in every interaction
• Great recruiting is relationship-driven
• Objections are opportunities to build alignment
• Strong employer brands are reinforced through conversations
• The best talent often chooses leaders, not just organizations

What Attendees Can Expect to Walk Away With

Attendees can expect to leave with:

• Practical tools to better handle candidate objections
• Stronger communication strategies during recruiting conversations
• Greater confidence navigating difficult hiring discussions
• Techniques to improve trust and candidate engagement
• A better understanding of what today’s workforce values most

The Goal of the Session

This keynote is designed to help healthcare leaders and recruiting professionals create better hiring experiences and improve their ability to attract top talent.

Because in today’s hiring environment, the organizations that communicate best often recruit best.

Bringing This Keynote to Your Organization

Chris Sund’s keynotes on leadership, workforce strategy, and care culture are among his most requested sessions for aging services organizations, long-term care conferences, and healthcare associations. If your organization is navigating workforce challenges or looking to strengthen its culture of care, Chris delivers both the mindset and the tools to make it happen.