As the healthcare industry continues to face talent shortages, the competition for quality heightens. In order to remain competitive in the evolving healthcare landscape, employers need to find ways to adapt to the new environment while streamlining the talent acquisition process. When reviewing your processes and procedures, consider the following best practices as you work on improving results.

1. Reduce the Length of Job Applications

Perhaps one of the simplest ways to improve your talent acquisition processes is by shortening the length of your job application. Based on my experience at this year’s National Association for Health Care Recruitment (NAHCR) IMAGE Conference, this is an area that most healthcare organizations can improve. Job applications can be lengthy, paper-driven, cumbersome, and repetitive. As a result, your organization may be turning away candidates. The first step to addressing this issue is by carefully reviewing your job application. Check for redundancies and questions that may be asked repeatedly in different sections of the application, recruitment experts suggest. If you can derive the same information from a previous question, then you can eliminate that part.

2. Borrow Tactics from Sales and Marketing

One of the fastest growing trends in healthcare talent acquisition is the implementation of recruitment marketing. Industry experts recognize the changing landscape for candidates, who are virtually consumers themselves. Healthcare talent acquisition teams need to change their approach and adopt strategies and tactics that are traditionally in sales and marketing roles. As the competition for healthcare talent becomes even more fierce, employers need to get their brand and messaging out there earlier and in more channels in order to acquire top candidates. Employers need to focus on branding and creating a space that will attract people to their organization, according to Steven Mostyn, Sourcing Manager at Adventist Health.

3. Invest in the Right Technology

By investing in technology, healthcare organizations can remain competitive in the long-term. With the prevalence of social media, for example, having a presence is more important than ever for employers. Video interviewing, another recent technology, can also reduce the amount of time to hire new candidates. Technology, however, is only as useful as its application. Once your organization makes an investment, ensure you have a plan to ensure you are maximizing its potential. For example, if you have an applicant tracking system, is it integrated with your background screening provider? Background screening integrations can not only save your talent aquisition team’s time but they can also improve the application process for job candidates.

4. Apply Lean Performance Improvement Principles in HR

Research has shown that Lean principles applied within human resources functions can yield significant results. After the Lean process implementation, Spectrum Health’s Talent Acquisition team reduced time to fill for open positions by 10 percent, according to a case study. Adopting Lean principles can be an initiative that is more organization-wide and may require a significant cultural change, but the results can be well worth the effort. And who doesn’t want continuous improvement? By aligning your organization with this philosophy, you can set your organization on the path to success.

5. Evolve to Optimized Talent Acquisition

In order to be successful in the increasingly competitive environment, healthcare organizations must evolve to optimized talent acquisition, based on Bersin by Deloitte’s Talent Acquisition Maturity Model. Organizations with optimized talent acquisition strategies exhibit the following:

• Combine proactive tactics to forecast future needs;
• Improve their decision-making;
• Invest in new products; and
• Command a more active role in the organization.

Additionally, when talent acquisition strategies are optimized, organizations will also have an irresistible employer brand and an engaging candidate experience.

There’s no denying that the talent acquisition process for healthcare talent is both a complex and lengthy one. With careful planning and a few strategic adjustments, however, employers can streamline and shorten this process to achieve better outcomes and improved return on investment.

Has your healthcare organization made significant improvements to your talent acquisition process? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.