Workforce shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed the healthcare recruitment landscape. Many healthcare organizations are building world-class recruitment models to meet the demands of job seekers, compete with healthcare agencies and help staff feel valued.

Explore how your organization can rise to the challenge and create an exceptional recruitment model.

Respond Immediately to Job Applicants

Applying to hospitals once required many steps before a hiring decision was made. Job applicants today expect to hear a decision quickly, possibly as soon as one day after applying. If hospitals wait, they can easily lose out to other organizations for these in-demand hires.

Quick communication should continue after a hire letter is issued. Organizations can guide new employees in completing parts of the onboarding process before day 1, such as physicals and drug testing.

“There has to be regular contact all along the way on that onboarding process. And a lot of healthcare organizations are dropping that ball,” says Carol Elassad, Healthcare Management Expert and Owner of Webbe Consulting Group.

Offer Attractive Benefits

Hospitals can struggle to compete with the compensation offered by staffing agencies. This can also be a point of conflict within healthcare organizations. For example, if a nurse who has been on staff for 15 years discovers she is being paid a lower wage than an agency nurse, she may feel that the organization doesn’t value experience and service.

That’s why healthcare organizations need to explore benefits that show staff how their work is appreciated and valued.

Sharmane Andrews, MSN, RN, CPEC, is the founder of Andrews Consulting Firm and Director of Nursing at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg in Florida. Symposiums are an attractive form of workforce development, especially when they include faculty healthcare leaders and healthcare workers from other organizations who can educate and problem-solve, she says.  

Other benefits that assist in retention include wellness and mental health initiatives, schedule flexibility, student loan repayment policies, residency and mentoring programs, and day care and after-school support.

“People will stick with the organization they’re in if the benefits are good, if they feel supported, if they feel like they’re a value,” Andrews says. “So I think that organizations need to look at all of those things in combination. It’s not just about salary.”

Examine Your Processes

Many elements go into creating an exceptional recruitment model, including technology, strategy and savvy people to carry that strategy forward. Start by mapping out the candidate journey and the processes within your organization that accompany it, says Derek Carpenter, Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at talent acquisition agency Hueman.

“Start to look at the data from your applicant tracking system to see where you have fallen off,” he says. “Where do you have delays within the process? How can you streamline them? How do you make that better?”

Create a Caring Culture

Healthcare employees are more likely to join and stay with responsive organizations that demonstrate caring leadership and workplace cultures. Healthcare organizations that can articulate a clear employee value proposition and market it to potential hires are one step closer to building a world-class retention model.

“It’s not a difficult formula to talk about. It’s a difficult formula to put into practice,” Carpenter says. “And that’s where it’s got to be different for every single healthcare system out there.”