It’s no secret: hiring healthcare talent has become particularly difficult over the last few years.
What is especially troublesome for the healthcare industry is that when hiring becomes difficult and retention drops, it’s not only the business that suffers — it’s the patients and their families as well.
So solving the hiring issue at your agency has more urgency than ever. But what if you’ve already tried everything to attract healthcare talent? Reaching more candidates and increasing applicant flow might require connecting with folks who have not worked in the healthcare space before.
According to our 2023 State of Healthcare Hiring report, 46% of respondents applied to 11 or more jobs at once, meaning that top healthcare talent is acquired by the facilities that can move them through the hiring process the fastest. This leaves an opportunity for facilities to attract talent from outside of the industry — it just may take a shift in your recruitment marketing focus.
Here are a few pointers to help you attract nontraditional healthcare talent to your organization.
Change role requirements and advertise it
In order to let professionals from outside of the healthcare industry know you’re open to talent without direct experience, you first need to change the requirements of your open roles and use your recruitment marketing platforms to advertise this decision. Add a blurb at the top of each job description that says “no healthcare experience necessary” so it’s the first thing job seekers see when viewing the role.
You can also use your social channels and career site to let potential applicants know that your facility will pay for necessary training and certifications in order to attract an even broader pool of talent looking to switch careers.
In our recent study, 14% of applicants place great importance on career growth opportunities when deciding to accept a new role, so offering to pay for certifications and training will let top healthcare talent know you’re serious about their career development.
Diversify your healthcare talent sources
You’ll need to change up your applicant sourcing a bit if you plan to market your roles outside of the industry. Employee referrals can be a great way to get great talent, so ask your employees to refer people who might be a good fit but don’t quite have the experience. You can set up an employee referral program to incentivize them as well.
Other great sourcing options include different job boards and Jobs on Facebook. Applicants used Google as the second most common channel they used to find jobs, so make sure all of your roles are optimized for SEO.
Be flexible
This has been the mantra of many facilities as of late, because flexibility is a huge driver for job seekers. While work from home flexibility continues to be of interest to applicants, this isn’t possible for facilities that need healthcare talent in-person to provide care for patients. Since remote work isn’t really an option, you have to offer flexibility through other avenues, like flexible scheduling, paid time off, and paid sick days.
Highlight the benefits
This encompasses both monetary and societal benefits. Post about your benefit offerings on your career site and individual job descriptions, but don’t forget to also share the less tangible rewards as well, like the fulfilling aspects of working at your facility that many other careers don’t offer.
Proudly display photos of your nurses with patients, highlight testimonials of the rewarding experiences your team members have had, and share images of workplace outings and team get togethers on your career site. This will help correct any preconceived notions about the toll of working in healthcare and drive more applicants your way.
Make it easy to apply
In a competitive labor market, the ball is in the applicant’s court, so you have to think of ways to make your application process as easy as possible. That means creating mobile friendly applications that are simple and straightforward. Don’t require your applicants to fill out pages upon pages of background information. Keep the application process under two minutes so that you can cast a wider net and receive more candidates that could turn into top healthcare talent.
And when it comes to your hiring process, invest in software that keeps the process moving, or you’ll lose candidates to your competition. If you’re not moving applicants through your hiring process quickly and keeping engagement high with consistent candidate communication, you don’t stand a chance.
Hireology helps you streamline your recruitment and hiring process while maintaining a people-first approach, making sure that you hire the right people quickly, so if your process is in need of an overhaul, we can help — reach out to us to schedule a one-on-one consultation.
And for more hiring tips and information on what applicants are looking for, read our 2023 State of Healthcare Hiring report.
