How to Hire: 6 tips to succeed in healthcare recruiting
Healthcare recruiting, while challenging due to talent scarcity and high turnover, can be optimized. Strategies include using niche job boards, recruiting software, enhancing employer branding, assessing candidates' soft skills, offering attractive benefits, and addressing skills gaps to attract and retain suitable candidates efficiently.
If you’re a medical recruiter or hiring manager, you can easily point out the challenges of healthcare recruiting. Lack of readily available or suitable talent, high turnover rates, and long time-to-fill are probably at the top of your list. With an increasing demand of qualified specialists in the healthcare sector, it becomes an increasingly competitive space.
If you’re ramping up your hiring efforts, it’s wise to brush up your medical recruitment strategies. Here is a list of tips you can follow to stay ahead of the latest healthcare recruiting challenges:
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6 healthcare recruiting tips to fill those essential roles
1. Post your job ads on niche job boards
- Is healthcare recruitment in high demand?
After posting your ads to mainstream job boards like Indeed.com and Careerjet.com, it’s time for more targeted outreach. Source your candidates through healthcare job boards, such as Health eCareers, CareerVitals, Healthcare Source or Healthcare Jobsite. This will help you reach out to healthcare specialists directly and find appropriate candidates more quickly.
2. Invest in a recruiting software
A good applicant tracking system will help you deal with recruiting pains, such as a high cost per hire or time-to-hire, or a limited access to diverse candidates. For example, with Workable, you can set up a referral system, through which you can involve your current employees in your hiring efforts, or you can search passive candidates more effectively. Workable also tracks these and other processes for you, delivering useful analytics and reports. Read the story of how Houston Behavioral Healthcare Hospital sourced qualified clinicians, while improving their recruiting processes with Workable.
3. Boost your employer branding
With healthcare jobs in high demand, it’s important to stand out in order to bring candidates to your clinic’s threshold. Rethink your employer brand and how you’ll efficiently communicate your vision and values with prospective candidates. For example, you can enrich your careers page with photos that portray daily work life or you can upload videos with current employees sharing their experiences.
4. Assess candidate’s soft skills
To really shine in their work, health professionals must have a people-centered approach and place a high value on helping others. Effective communication and listening skills are crucial, and so is the ability to work well under pressure. Before the interview, prepare appropriate interview questions to make sure candidates have these traits. You could also use psychometric assessment tools, before inviting a candidate for an in-person meeting.
5. Offer smart benefits
What do you need if you’re recruiting for a competitive market? The answer is competitive benefits. Create an attractive benefit package that will not only bring candidates to you but also motivate them to stay. Flexible working hours should be included, especially for roles that occasionally have long shifts. Access to wellness and health programs are a must, too.
6. Be aware of skills gap
A damaging gap has emerged between the industry’s standard rates of pay and job seekers’ perceptions of the awards on offer, leading to the so-called “hiring hangup”. On the employers’ side, candidates are perceived to be lacking in education and failing to stay current with medical and technological shifts. On the job seekers’ side, strict job requirements deter them from applying for positions above the entry level.
To address these issues employers are being called on to deploy these hiring tactics:
- Raise the minimum wage
- Increase access to on-the-job training
- Drive recruitment among recent college graduates
- Drive a return-to-work among recent retirees
You can also take into consideration the average salary of healthcare jobs in your country. Here’s a list of healthcare job positions and the average salary paid in the U.S.:
- Healthcare administrators – $69,550
- Registered nurses – $65,130
- Licensed practical nurse — $45,157
- Licensed vocational nurses – $49,273
- Dental assistants – $34,318
- Medical secretaries – $38,873
- Medical assistants – $34,201
- Pharmacy technicians – $35,569
- Nursing assistants – $35,247
- Home health aides – $29,261
- Personal caregiver – $30,521
If you follow these tips, your healthcare recruiting process can become more efficient, and you may even boost retention rates. A positive candidate experience will have an added benefit in your recruitment process.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a healthcare recruiter?
- A healthcare recruiter is a professional who specializes in finding, evaluating, and hiring qualified individuals for positions within the healthcare industry. Their responsibilities are akin to recruiters in other sectors, but they focus specifically on healthcare roles.
- Is healthcare recruitment in high demand?
- Yes, healthcare recruitment is in high demand. The healthcare industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in America, making healthcare staffing not only an exciting and dynamic career but also a crucial one.
- Why is recruitment important for the healthcare industry?
- Recruitment is vital for the healthcare industry because staff shortages or a lack of available expertise can lead to serious consequences for patients, students, and the organizations that serve them. Proactive recruitment planning ensures that organizations can find the help they need when it's most crucial.
- How can a recruiting software help in healthcare recruitment?
- A robust recruiting software can alleviate common recruiting pains like high cost per hire, time-to-hire, and limited access to diverse candidates. It can facilitate processes like setting up a referral system, searching passive candidates more effectively, and tracking various processes, delivering useful analytics and reports.
- What are some strategies to address the skills gap in healthcare recruitment?
- Employers can address the skills gap by raising the minimum wage, increasing access to on-the-job training, driving recruitment among recent college graduates, and encouraging a return-to-work among recent retirees.
