After the coronavirus pandemic hit, the already pressing need for healthcare providers and support staff skyrocketed. The pressure to identify qualified healthcare workers has become more critical than ever, as engaging and retaining your staff will directly impact employee burnout, turnover and overall revenue generation.
Innovators and top performers are in high-demand – especially given the current economic landscape and the highly competitive healthcare labor market. Hospitals and healthcare facilities tend to get immersed in the intricacies of the hiring process, focusing purely on hard skill checkbox items, while overlooking the importance of attracting candidates who also have the soft skills and cultural fit needed to succeed.
After all, you need to generate genuine interest in your practice first, in order to build a pipeline of candidates. From how you position your employer brand and online presence to each interaction you have with potential candidates, it’s imperative to remember the hiring process is a two-way street, and candidates want to be appreciated and understood.
Here are 5 cost-effective strategies for increasing interest and engagement in your practice.
1. Offer Competitive Schedules
Because we’re living in tumultuous and uncertain times, high-level healthcare workers are looking for some sense of stability or job security. Whether it’s a part-time or full-time endeavor, physicians and nurses are looking for facilities that can provide some flexible schedules when possible.
This is because many healthcare workers have realized that, while they are truly mission driven to help and heal, they also need personal balance to be at their best. Sure, this can be hard to do. But ask yourself: is it worth it to recruit and retain top talent instead of the revolving door of hire, lose (or fire), then rinse and repeat every year?
2. Accelerate the Interview Process to Win Top Talent
Unless you enjoy losing potential hires to competitors, your interview process must be agile and efficient. In today’s tight labor market, healthcare workers are often entertaining multiple offers, and a slow, drawn-out interview process increases your risk of losing quality talent.
Whether you’re being pitted against a neighboring facility or your hospital can’t afford to offer as much compensation as surrounding competitors, an effective way to boost candidate flow is to accelerate the interview process. Same-day and automatic interviews will not only translate into more signed contracts, but it’ll communicate to the candidate that they are valued and that your organization is agile and well-run.
However, by insisting on a third interview next month, your company will continue to grapple with the burden of an unfilled role – negatively impacting productivity, morale, patient satisfaction and your bottom line.
3. Deliver Detailed Job Information Prior to the Interview
To expedite the interview and offer process even further, have all the details surrounding the position prepped and in a candidate’s hands prior to the interview. And that all starts with crafting more robust job postings – including specifics surrounding shift times, patient types, ratios, floating, on-call, etc. This will help generate more interest from healthcare workers while simultaneously weeding out candidates who aren’t a fit.
You can tease out additional details provided in your job listing in advance of an interview. The goal is to ensure a prospective hire has all the resources and information needed to make an informed decision and come on board sooner rather than later.
4. Offer Insight into Pathways to Growth
Let’s face it- people choose to become healthcare providers for many reasons. Yet all share common goals: to make a positive difference in the lives of others, to always learn and grow, and to have some measure of worldly success.
So they are growth-oriented. Are you showing them, upfront, that they can grow with you?
Most “growth paths” are along a few common lines: Professional, Academic and Financial. Most want more than one.
Demonstrating early and often that your organization is rich with these options and the support to make it real could truly mean the difference between a candidate choosing to sign or decline your offer.
5. Protection & Job Security
When thinking about increasing candidate interest, you should take the current COVID-19 climate into consideration. The last thing a healthcare worker should have to worry about is if they’ll lose their position or be able to afford living expenses should they be exposed to the coronavirus, or a future pandemic.
Nurses and physicians on the frontlines are risking their lives to care for your patients and in return, you should be taking care of your workers. Put their minds at ease by assuring access to PPE, offering guaranteed paid sick leave should they fall ill or be diagnosed with COVID, and, if possible, priority access to care.
Polaris can help you avoid common mistakes and implement a healthcare recruitment strategy that’s designed to set your practice up for long-term growth and success.
We can help you stay ahead of industry trends, attract quality candidates and ensure you’re providing maximum value to your patients and community.
Contact us today to learn more.