Having a sufficient workforce is the backbone of providing quality healthcare at a time when medical professionals continue to deal with pandemic challenges. There’s a shortage of healthcare workers, and the future doesn’t offer much promise.

The pandemic has led to exhaustion and burnout among clinicians, resulting in high turnover rates. According to the American Hospitals Association (AHA), 3 of 10 healthcare professionals considered leaving their positions, while 6 of 10 confirmed that pandemic-related stress affected their mental health.

Staffing shortages have forced healthcare facilities to invest significantly in recruiting and retaining medical staff. Hiring managers must have effective healthcare recruitment strategies to find and retain top talent. Below, we share a 6-point blueprint on successful healthcare talent strategies.

Refine Your Recruiting Practices

Technological advancements have drastically revolutionized the healthcare system in many ways, including the recruiting process. Beating your competition to top talent means shaking off the old recruiting methods and applying new, tech-first strategies.

Many people are searching for jobs online, with a large proportion leveraging social media to find career opportunities. Create more emphasis on a mobile-first hiring process, enabling people to file their applications online.

Additionally, the pandemic has led to more use of video conferencing technologies. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 82% of employers adopted virtual interviews in their recruitment process. That practice is here to stay. Take advantage of video conferencing technology to drive attendants to online recruitment events and attract top talent among the tech-savvy millennials and Gen-Z healthcare workers.

Start Early at Campus Level

One of the biggest challenges in healthcare recruiting is that there isn’t enough talent with the required training to enter the medical industry. Because many physicians and nursing professionals need degrees and certifications, identifying promising talents at the campus level is one of the most effective recruitment strategies for healthcare professionals.

At this stage, the recruiter’s job is to nurture these prospects to suit their recruiting funnel as part of the long-term strategy of accommodating new talents in the medical sector. One way to do that is to provide mentorship programs that help medical students identify their career paths. Additionally, the recruiters and hiring managers can organize internship and return programs for prospects, to equip them with hands-on clinical skills and help them get started once they enter their respective medical fields.

Ultimately, this strategy is designed to create a stream of promising future hires to make talent-sourcing easier.

Provide Unique, Enticing Employee Benefits

Life has changed, and recruitment ideas that worked two years ago need refining. To hire and mitigate high staff turnover, hospitals and medical practices should include unique and attractive benefits as part of their recruiting strategies.

Unlike organizations that overlook the importance of a benefits program, companies that alter their benefits to attract top healthcare candidates maintain higher satisfaction among employees. They are also likely to record better business and healthcare performance than their counterparts who don’t strategically leverage a benefits program.

According to a report by the Harvard Business Review (HBR), workers would rather choose a lower-paying job with more perks, instead of a higher-paying job with fewer benefits. Some highly valued benefits include:

• Better health, dental and vision insurance
• Flexibility and improved work-life balance
• Flexible working hours
• The freedom to work remotely

Rethink Your Branding

How you brand your medical practice matters when it comes to recruiting. Remember, branding goes beyond just having an attractive logo and how you present yourself in person.

Whether the job applicant is new to the healthcare field or a seasoned healthcare professional, they are likely to research your practice to guarantee they are making the right choice by responding to your job advertisement. Position your practice as the right fit for them by having strong company culture, values, goals and messaging (both in person and online).

There’s a close connection between employer branding and employee recruitment. If you don’t refresh your brand to make it attractive to a new hire, you hurt your reputation and your medical recruiting efforts. Keep in mind that your brand stretches across all platforms, from your website and social media to your physical lobby. The candidate should find a consistent and exact message wherever they look.

Hire Internally and Find External Replacements

Providing career development opportunities is one of the best things a healthcare facility can do to ensure brand loyalty. Among the most effective recruitment ideas for healthcare professionals is to recruit internally to fill senior positions. It’s an excellent means of solving the skills gap, as internal recruits are knowledgeable, skilled and have years of experience since joining your clinic or hospital.

They are the best fit for a promotion in a senior position. They have:

• A good track record in their work
• Built a rapport with their colleagues
• Are familiar with the organization’s culture, core values and internal processes

The promoted employee is a valuable resource to help with the training and onboarding process for new hires. It’s a strategy that ensures the continuity of the company’s culture and maintains a harmonious workplace.

Leverage Staffing Agencies

The staffing shortage in the healthcare industry means that certified and trained medical professionals are always in high demand — which means finding top talent to fill critical vacancies in the surgical department or other specialties, is a challenge for recruiters. You might advertise job openings locally and internationally, but if there are no qualified applicants, your efforts won’t matter.

Partnering with a staffing agency that offers recruitment services on a national level is an excellent option to find the most suitable candidates for vacancies in your medical practice.

With a recruitment agency, you have access to industry insiders and outsiders who know the best-in-class physicians and where to find them. They have robust marketing strategies and can strategically advertise vacant positions throughout the country. Additionally, they proactively match your vacancy with the right candidate by contacting people with solid credentials early, ensuring you reach them before your competitors.

At Talroo, we understand the recruitment process challenges in healthcare and hospitals. Take advantage of our healthcare hiring solutions today, and reach ready-to-work medical professionals with low cost-per-hire.