Healthcare Recruiting

The national unemployment rate is holding steady at 5 percent as of December 2015, which means the job market is now candidate-driven. Staffing professionals know that filling positions in healthcare is even more challenging than in other industries when the applicant pool is tight.

A potential employer’s use of social media and online profiles as part of their background screening process has brought major concerns for both applicants and HR professionals alike. Employers state that the most common reasons for not using public social media profiles to screen job candidates are legal risks, relevancy and accuracy of information, and privacy concerns.

If you don’t have a mobile strategy by now, you’re no longer competing in the game. For many households, mobile phones have replaced landline phones and mobile activity has been on the rise for years. On May 5, 2015, Google announced that more searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan. As employers, this means candidates are more likely to search for jobs on their mobile device than on a desktop computer.

In 2015, the PreCheck Blog had another fantastic year covering the latest healthcare best practices and compliance issues. Once more, we were recognized for the quality of our content with multiple awards; and our readership continues to grow year after year. As we begin the new year with our best foot forward, it’s also an opportune time to reflect on the greatest lessons and best practices from 2015.

Here’s a look at the top ten most-read PreCheck blog posts from 2015.

I recently attended a National Association for Health Care Recruitment (NAHCR) webinar which discussed the recruiting challenges healthcare employers face. In their presentation, "Putting Care Back into Healthcare Recruiting: Blending High-Touch with High-Tech,” Christopher Young, CEO of Async Interview, and Lindsay Finlay, Account Executive at RIVS, reviewed the benefits and disadvantages of both high-tech and high-touch methodologies in healthcare recruiting.

It is no secret that the holidays are the best time to boost your physician recruitment efforts, suggests Aime Echevarria, Creative Strategy Manager at MDR HealthCare Search. During this downtime, Echevarria says, physicians have increased availability, experience fewer distractions, and find themselves reflecting on the past year and possibly seeking new and more exciting opportunities.

According to The Washington Post, the U.S. will face a shortage of as many as 90,000 physicians by 2025. Adding salt to wound, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 525,800 more nurses will be needed by 2022 to help keep up with the influx of patients and the aging workforce.

I recently had the opportunity to attend the National Association for Health Care Recruitment’s (NAHCR) 2015 IMAGE Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, the “Big Easy.” As you’ll see below, this year’s general sessions from the conference were packed with insightful and inspiring strategies for success. The healthcare industry is a challenging environment for recruiters, but with the right tools and strategies, your organization can overcome the challenges.

As the recruiting landscape continues to evolve and shift with increasing demands, healthcare recruiters are searching for ways to attract and manage their top candidates. Utilizing an effective applicant tracking system (ATS) not only aids in the monotonous task of managing the influx of applicants, but also positions your organization as a leader in a very competitive market.

Healthcare recruiting is not an easy task. Filling positions at multiple facilities across three shifts, working with strict human resources regulations and handling high turnover are challenges that recruiters and employers battle when hiring for healthcare, says Meghan Doherty of HealthcareSource, a PreCheck talent management software integration partner.