Why are retirement village operators fishing from the same small pond?

In 2023, research by the DCM Institute found that 58% of village managers did not expect to still be working in the retirement living sector within three years. 

We are now three years on. 

What we are seeing across the country is not surprising. Increased movement of frontline leaders. Greater churn in village management and sales roles. Operators competing harder for a shrinking pool of “sector-experienced” candidates. 

There’s a quiet contradiction sitting inside the retirement living sector – and it continues to shape the decisions made about talent acquisition. 

At board level, we celebrate the appointment of CEOs from outside the sector. Executives who bring with them “fresh thinking”, “new perspectives” and a desire to “challenging the status quo”. 

Look beyond the C-suite and the attitude changes fast. 

Suddenly, sector experience is non-negotiable. Village managers must have it. Sales leaders must have it. Customer-facing roles, operational roles – all are expected to be filled by people who already “know retirement living”. 

So why is outside experience seen as a strength at the top, but a risk everywhere else? 

When experience becomes a comfort blanket 

The unspoken assumption seems to be that time in the sector equals capability. That tenure automatically delivers better judgement, safer operations, or stronger customer outcomes. 

It doesn’t. Not always. 

At best, tenure delivers familiarity. At worst, it locks in habits that go unchallenged because “this is how we’ve always done it”. 

Smaller operators seem to get this. In the 2000s, Kevin Ryan’s Waterbrook brand embraced Village Management with a hospitality background. More recently, LDK has done the same at their Amberfield community – to great success.  

What these professionals brought with them wasn’t sector knowledge – that came later through on the job training and structure professional development. They brought discipline, customer instinct, process rigour, and the ability to operate under pressure. Capability did not need to be taught. 

Full villages don’t mean peak performance 

This matters because full villages do not equal peak performance. Occupancy alone does not mean optimisation. Villages still need strong sales discipline, consistent customer experience, and leaders who can manage complexity, compliance, and culture. 

Fresh eyes often spot leakage and opportunity that insiders have learned to accept. 

At the same time, the labour market has shifted beneath our feet. Talent pools are thin across the country. Unemployment remains low, and in many regional and outer-metro areas, recruiters talk about “negative unemployment”. 

In plain terms, there are more roles than people to fill. 

If talent isn’t lining up, look in the mirror 

There are entire industries rich with transferable skills that align naturally with retirement living. Hospitality and accommodation professionals understand service and expectations. Banking and financial services bring governance and systems thinking. Policing and emergency services bring calm authority, procedural discipline, and resilience. 

But attraction alone is not enough.  

Too often, roles are positioned as jobs rather than careers. Professional development is assumed rather than structured. Support for people entering from outside the sector is inconsistent. 

If we want people to stay, grow, and lead, we need to show them that there is a future in this sector. And there is. We know this sector offers purpose, complexity, progression and impact.  

Almost no one grows up planning a career in retirement living. People don’t seek out this sector – the sector finds them. Many of today’s leaders are here because someone saw potential and was willing to back it. 

That places a responsibility on those now in leadership. 

If talent isn’t lining up at the gate, we don’t get to complain. We need to ask harder questions of ourselves. Are our hiring filters too narrow? Are we confusing comfort with capability? Are we designing roles for the future, or recruiting for yesterday? 

Because the real risk isn’t hiring outside the sector. The real risk is continuing to fish from the same small pond, mistaking familiarity for performance. 

If we want different outcomes, we need to start looking in different places.