Recruitment within the healthcare industry is becoming especially tough as shortages and gaps within specialities are more prevalent. It has been estimated that there will be a shortage of approximately 45,000 medical and surgical specialists within the next ten years. Further, the medical industry is also experiencing a shortage of non-clinical staff, like security guards, food service staff, and maintenance workers. It is important that healthcare providers understand these challenges so that they may overcome them. There are several techniques that may optimize the talent acquisition process within the healthcare field.
Medical Staffing Agencies
A medical staffing agency is extremely helpful in providing top quality recruitment candidates for providers and organizations. Medical staffing agencies like Fusion Medical Staffing specialize in matching highly qualified candidates to specific job listings. This gives healthcare providers the chance to essentially outsource a significant portion of their human resources efforts, streamlining the hiring process from an operational point-of-view. By the time the applicant walks through the door for their first interview, HR personnel at hospitals and other medical facilities already know they’re up to snuff.
Improve Employee Benefits
The healthcare industry is extremely competitive in its recruiting practices. The healthcare providers who gain the best employees offer the best incentives. These incentives include flexible work environments, an attractive benefits package, and a level of compensation that is higher. Many healthcare organizations offer benefits that allow their employees to take care of their mental and physical health. For example, some healthcare providers offer their employees monthly stipends for their training period. They also offer gym memberships, full coverage of health insurance, and weekly work from home privileges.
Develop Candidate Pipelines
One of the primary keys to success in recruiting healthcare staff is being proactive. Healthcare providers and organizations should put their efforts into creating talent pipelines that cover national and regional pools of talent. This can be accomplished by creating partnerships with colleges, universities, professional groups and societies, public health departments, state job boards, national job boards, and academies. Partnering with these groups and organizations are a great method for creating a talent pipeline that is comprehensive and long term for recruiting healthcare workers.
Improve Branding
The brand of a company is extremely important when recruiting new employees. Candidates research employers that they are applying to. If a candidate finds that the brand of a certain healthcare company is not positive or has issues, they will most likely avoid becoming affiliated with that company. In order to increase the number of individuals who accept job offers within the healthcare organization, the brand of employment must be viewed as positive. This is often accomplished by featuring their employees in recruitment materials and allowing them to tell their stories and review their time within the company. Further, healthcare providers may find that attending local nursing school events, medical school events, and branding activities may allow them to gain more prospective recruitment candidates.
Think About the Future
Healthcare organizations recruit and interview many talented candidates. Not all of these candidates are a perfect match for the particular job they are interviewing for. In cases where individuals are not hired for a job, but they may be an asset and a potential match for a future opening, the healthcare organization should keep their information in a talent pool. Individuals within this talent pool are sent information regarding new positions they may apply for.
