Think about the important goal that doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel have to achieve each time they clock in. Their ultimate goal is to treat patients with various ailments which are sometimes life-threatening. Hence, finding the highest quality medical professionals is vital for enhanced patient care.
During seasonal spikes in patient care or internal staffing shortages, high-volume hiring in the healthcare industry is necessary for operational efficiency. By implementing these 7 tactics, your healthcare organization can put a positive step forward in its next mass recruitment campaign.
1. Leverage Technology for Candidate Sourcing
Take advantage of the latest, most advanced technologies for candidate sourcing as a starting point for your high-volume hiring strategy. The backbone for candidate sourcing would be utilizing an applicant tracking system. Integrate with job boards and social media platforms to post your open requisitions on other popular areas throughout the Internet rather than just your company website.
More people are browsing social media to search for jobs. GoHire revealed that about 79% of individuals seeking new opportunities utilize social media as a search engine to find these jobs. While posting on general job boards like ZipRecruiter indeed could be effective, there’s also the option of utilizing more niche recruitment channels, which we will explain more later in the article.
2. Build a Talent Pool for Immediate Access
Especially in the healthcare industry where turnover is a little high, it’s essential to build a talent pool for immediate access. The best way to do this is to have evergreen postings available on your website and integrated platforms. This way, passive and active candidates can apply for any of the possible roles in your company. When that position opens, then you can begin the high-volume hiring process.
For example, you may need to onboard 10 nurses in one of your healthcare organization locations to fulfill the seasonal spike in patient demand from October to November. You can evaluate your current talent pool of candidates who have applied for the nursing position to start calling in individuals for interviews. This strategic approach reduces the need to submit sponsored job posts to your integrated job boards. Therefore, this is one key way that healthcare organizations can reduce recruitment costs.
3. Streamline the Interview and Onboarding Process
A streamlined interview and onboarding process makes high-volume hiring in the healthcare industry much more effective. Utilizing an applicant tracking system can reduce the administrative burden on the recruitment department and human resources professionals.
During the recruitment process, ATS technology can conduct AI-driven resume parsing and application screening for your company to discover the highest quality candidates faster than manual analysis. In the onboarding phase, an applicant tracking system integrated with HRIS software can transfer candidate data to their candidate profile, which reduces the need for manual data entry when a candidate becomes a new hire.
4. Focus on Retention to Reduce Turnover
Sometimes, maintaining retention in a healthcare organization can be a challenge because of the long hours, patient demand, and high levels of burnout. Hence, it’s best to focus on retention to reduce overall turnover rates.
Creating a positive work environment where all medical and administrative staff support one another can make employees feel a better sense of purpose as a members of your organization. Instituting fair pay and comprehensive benefits in return for their hard work can enhance retention rates. Compare current pay rates for each role in your organization with industry averages on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. If any of your pay rates are below the industry average, it may be time to raise them to at least meet this number.
5. Target Niche Recruitment Channels
High-volume recruiting to fulfill healthcare industry roles should include targeting niche hiring channels that can diversify your talent pool. Besides posting requisitions on popular job boards and social media platforms, it’s best to get creative with how you source candidates when you need them quickly.
Conduct an online search to find specialized healthcare job boards, which can increase the likelihood of onboarding higher quality candidates than those you may find on general job boards. Nurse Recruiter and Health Career Center are a couple of examples of specialized healthcare job boards that can get you started in refining a niche recruitment channel approach.
Partner with local universities and colleges to come speak to upcoming graduates in healthcare-based degrees. This is an in-person, high-volume recruiting approach with a specialization angle, much like posting on healthcare job boards.
6. Utilize Employee Referral Programs
Candidate sourcing for healthcare can be more effective by utilizing employee referral programs. Time is of the essence when attempting to hire new medical professionals in a healthcare organization because lives are on the line. Hence, you can hasten your time-to-hire metric by implementing employee referral programs.
Rather than having the potential candidates apply to requisitions like usual, your current employees can make recommendations from their network as an alternate candidate sourcing tactic to onboard new hires. Some employee referral programs reward the current employee and new hire with a cash bonus as long as the new hire stays with the company for at least 90 days. This is a phenomenal incentive to offer, especially since these programs help to save on recruitment costs exponentially. Hence, these savings can be placed back into rewarding the employees and your healthcare organization that take the time to utilize this referral program.
7. Integrate Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
Don’t forget that diversity and inclusion efforts are the key to a dynamic workforce. Hence, it’s best to focus on job experience, educational background, and skill sets when recruiting candidates. This approach reduces candidate bias and opens up the opportunity for an eclectic work environment with varying perspectives that can institute innovation and healthy collaboration.
