5 Creative Strategies to Fill up Your Healthcare Talent Pipeline

We recently met with a group of healthcare talent acquisition professionals to talk about the specific challenges recruiters and TA teams in this industry face, and—more importantly—what creative strategies they are using to attract qualified professionals in (and into) the healthcare industry.

Here’s a look at some of the top takeaways we talked about to inspire your healthcare recruiting strategy.

1) Use a more interesting CTA than 'Apply Now'.

Job applications are notoriously cumbersome for qualified candidates to complete. And even if you’ve shortened yours to make it quicker, candidates don’t necessarily know that going in.

In order to capture the attention of candidates at the moment of interest in a role, several companies are driving them to a conversation first, rather than to an application. For example, having candidates register for a virtual event where they can meet a hiring manager, talk with a healthcare recruiter, or hear from an executive can get them into your talent database, and inspire them to take next steps (like applying after they attend your hiring event.)

Companies are successfully using sourcing budget to direct candidates to their events and quickly moving them through the recruitment process—a win for recruiters and for healthcare candidates alike.

2) Personalizing the candidate experience helps you stand apart in a competitive industry.

Recruiting top healthcare talent today is not simply a matter of posting a role and sifting through applications. In fact, attendees noted that application rates for potential candidates are at all-time lows.

Instead, it’s critical to create a personalized candidate experience that keeps potential healthcare employees engaged, interested, and moving forward in your hiring process.

Some ideas shared for doing this included sending automated text messages after each stage in the recruiting funnel, and using live chat on your career site so candidates can quickly get answers to their questions, surveying candidates across the process so that you can quickly action taking steps to improve.

3) Campus recruiting requires a custom approach for each campus.

Even campus recruiting is shifting in this era of talent shortage. No longer can healthcare recruitment teams rely on one standard message and strategy to broadly appeal across campuses. Healthcare TA teams are finding best success by customizing their approach to each school, and even individual programs within each school, to attract graduating students for entry-level roles.

One recruiter even shared they are using a highly targeted, customized approach to target job ads to specific campuses with geofencing ads, Snap filters, and other location-targeted marketing approaches to aid their search process.

4) A long-tail pipeline strategy is necessary.

Career advocacy programs starting in middle school and high school are critical strategies to help educate students about the multiple career paths available in healthcare both for care and non-care related roles. Some hospitals are working to build the talent community of the future by working with schools, workforce development orgs, and local agencies to create career advocacy programs that build relationships with students and educate them on working in healthcare.

It doesn’t solve the talent shortage issues of today, but healthcare organizations cannot afford to wait advocating for building a career in this industry. The talent shortages of today are quickly becoming the talent scarcity issues of tomorrow. So unless more students choose healthcare as their career path on their own, that decision needs to start earlier and earlier.

5) Level up your employer branding by showcasing the stories of your team.

Showcasing the stories of your team is a great way to help candidates visualize what a career at your organization can look like for them.

And—you’ll notice a theme here—it’s important to be customizing the stories you’re showcasing to the role you are recruiting for. For the clinical and non-clinical roles you hire for most, make sure you’ve got employee champions who you can showcase in videos, hiring events, meet and greets with job seekers, and more.

And creative solutions on this topic abound in the healthcare talent landscape; you just have to look for them! One organization shared how they use virtual events to showcase their career (and salary) growth potential by hosting events to meet their CNO, whose decades-long career with the organization started in a non-clinical role and grew with them as they pursued their education while working for the organization.

These healthcare TA stories are important for all career stages, from entry-level to experienced hire. Plus, this is exactly the type of story you want to showcase in your career advocacy programs as well. That's because creating an engaging, personalized, and authentic candidate experience is more important than ever. It’s the game-changer that will help you stand apart and win more healthcare talent. So what stories will you share from the forefront of recruiting healthcare talent in today’s job market?

Like this post? Try these!

• How Virtual Recruiting Helps You Conquer Healthcare Staffing Challenges

• Healthcare Recruiting: What the Next Era Looks Like
• How to Win at Every Stage of the Funnel in Healthcare Hiring

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