Recruiters and hiring managers can easily identify the challenges posed by healthcare recruitment. You may be concerned about the lack of readily available or suitable talent, high turnover rates, and the long time it takes to fill an open position. As the healthcare industry requires an increasing number of qualified specialists, it has become an increasingly competitive environment.
It is wise to review your medical recruitment strategies if you are ramping up your hiring efforts. In order to stay on top of the latest challenges in healthcare recruiting, here are a few tips to consider:
A better benefits package increases healthcare recruitment
As healthcare becomes more competitive, it has become even harder to find the best and most qualified candidates. When it comes to compensation, benefits, and flexible work environments, healthcare organizations must become more innovative to gain an edge over competitors.
Flexible working hours and telecommuting are benefiting health organizations need to consider and discuss with prospective employees. Traditional benefits packages are preferred by some candidates, but other candidates will prioritize learning, mentorship, and career growth opportunities.
Why is Healthcare Recruiting so Difficult?
Recruitment strategies for healthcare organizations can be particularly complex for those in the healthcare recruiting industry. How come hiring healthcare professionals is so challenging? Several factors contribute to the difficulty of recruiting healthcare professionals. Some of these are:
- It is the medical provider’s responsibility to ensure the lives and well-being of their patients. Health care professionals often put themselves under extra pressure due to this responsibility leading to burnout.
- It takes a long time to become an expert in some professions. Finding the right person for general and specialized care is made even more difficult when you have a smaller pool of talent than usual. The additional difficulty of selection is a result of this predicament.
- Healthcare jobs tend to have a higher turnover rate due to their demanding nature. Many professionals burn out quickly due to the stress of providing the best care and saving lives every day. On top of that, there’s the pandemic, which is pressing all personnel to their limits.
Campus recruiting should begin early
Healthcare recruiting has one big problem: there simply aren’t enough candidates with the proper training to place them in positions. Many roles in the healthcare sector require advanced degrees and certifications, so it makes sense to identify potential talent early on.
As part of a long-term strategy to recruit new talent into the healthcare industry, a recruiter’s job is to nurture these prospects in order to fill their hiring funnel.
The recruiter and hiring manager can act as a mentor at this stage to help students determine their career paths. Make sure your organization has internship opportunities for these bright young adults and seek out the opportunity to speak to college classes. Healthcare internships help students prepare for their professional careers and give them a competitive edge in the job market. This is also a great opportunity for healthcare organizations to show loyalty to future hires by inspiring them.
Automate your recruiting process
You can save time by automating repetitive tasks with applicant tracking systems (ATS) and other recruitment software to focus on high-impact initiatives like sourcing and outreach to association and training programs.
Chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) can be used for scalable recruiting solutions, automating a range of tasks, such as:
- A resume filter
- Using job boards to find candidates
- Campaigning
- Tests and assessments
- Schedule interviews
- The onboarding process
Plan your workforce using internal data
In the healthcare industry, employee burnout is one of the biggest limiting factors. To ensure that your organization does not overwork its current staff, healthcare recruiters must anticipate long-term needs ahead of time.
Establish a long-term hiring plan to ensure your talent pipelines can meet future needs, such as when there is a talent shortage or when you need to build a contingency workforce. Using your recruitment technology to run reports can help you predict how healthcare candidates for particular roles would progress within the organization within a specific period of time.
With your ATS, you can, for instance, learn the average length of time that an employee stays with your company, or if promotions or flexible work policies encourage long-term employment.
Expanding Your Candidate Pool
Establishing a candidate pool is the first step in any good recruitment process. Recruitment can be done in many ways, but in healthcare, it often begins as early as possible.
As a first step, keep in mind that part of healthcare worker training involves on-the-job training. Students in healthcare should shadow preceptors and spend time involved in the actual work. The student will gain valuable experience, but they will also get a chance to see what it’s like to work at the facility they’ve chosen.
The result is that some healthcare workers may develop an affinity for certain facilities or an aversion toward others. Candidates will generally avoid certain hospital networks because of their reputation or experience. Take feedback into account and understand the weaknesses in your system. Address those that you can, and let people know if they are out of your control. Being honest with candidates can go a long way, enticing them to give your system a chance by acknowledging issues you’re trying to solve.
Final Thoughts
It takes more than just building a careers page and posting on job boards to recruit healthcare professionals. Recruiting through social networking sites, niche job sites, referral programs, and maintaining candidate pipelines is an effective method of expanding your reach. You can engage top candidates during the hiring process by utilizing employee branding, mobile-friendly systems, and flexible evaluation programs. All of these strategies will increase the success rate of your healthcare recruitment program.
Our services can help you quickly fill current openings, as well as expand your candidate pool. By automating social job distribution and developing content tools, our social recruiting software gives you the ability to reach passive candidates and improve your employer’s brand. To learn how we can assist you in finding the right candidates for your critical healthcare positions, contact us today.