The health care industry is experiencing phenomenal growth, and with growth comes a demand for more talent. According to the 2017 CareerBuilder Health Care Talent Brief, 38 percent of health care industry professionals expect job demand to continue to outpace overall supply.
“Competition to fill these spots is fierce, especially in small, rural markets,” says Bobbi Hicks, President of Akeso Talent Engagement. The correct use of data in your hiring strategy can provide an advantage without incurring the high costs of a recruitment service.
1. Invest in tools that pull real-time data.
“Decision makers respond to facts and data. That said, it’s important to invest in tools that can provide you with a real-time snapshot of the market that you support,” Hicks says. “We regularly use paid recruiting tools like job boards, Supply & Demand, compensation portals, and social media sites to scope out our competitors and better predict salary ranges and time to fill.”
2. Pull compensation data more often.
Most health care companies pull compensation data once or twice a year. That’s not nearly enough, says Hicks. Pay rates change frequently due to high competition. Your staff likely picks up extra shifts at competing hospitals, so they know firsthand what the competitor is offering.
“You don’t want to risk training your leaders for another facility, because you didn’t compensate them correctly on the front end,” says Hicks.
Stay ahead of the curve by pulling compensation data quarterly.
3. Utilize Supply & Demand data to address the talent deficit.
“If you’re not utilizing Supply & Demand data, then you should be,” says Hicks. By tracking the number of nurses and therapists coming onto the market, you can locate where the talent deficit is, project how substantial it will be, and adjust your hiring strategy accordingly.
4. Include “NOT” statements in Boolean searches.
Boolean search is a helpful way to source candidates faster, but most researchers only utilize “and” and “or” statements. Including “not” statements allows you to exclude terms and narrow results. For example, “pharmaceutical and not sales” would yield candidates who have “pharmaceutical” in their resume, but exclude those with “sales.”
5. Don’t forget about culture.
Competitive compensation and large sign-on bonuses only go so far when attracting and retaining talented employees. You should strive to create a positive culture that values both the employee and patient experience.
“A $15,000 sign-on bonus puts up a red flag,” says Hicks. “Whenever I see that I think: ‘What’s going on over there that makes such a sizable bonus necessary to attract employees?’”
Proper onboarding — and off-boarding — can go a long way toward improving the employee experience and retaining top talent. Many times employees will leave to develop their skill sets elsewhere, but return seeking more senior positions. Ending the working relationship in a professional manner increases the likelihood that a talented employee will come back.
Put insight into action: Learn more about how to use data in health care hiring right now.
