Things can get a bit complicated in talent acquisition for open healthcare roles. Amongst healthcare recruiters, there is a lot of competition to find and recruit top talent.
Healthcare recruiting becomes even more difficult if candidates become unresponsive when their candidate experience leads them to decide they no longer wanted to work for your organization.
Candidate experience isn’t just important for recruiting your talent, but after you’ve made an offer, an applicant’s candidate experience is their first interaction with your organization – first impressions are important.
Below are six things healthcare recruiters should think about when it comes to candidate experience, and some advice on how to improve yours.
Keep in touch with the candidates you’re interested in.
For higher-level positions in particular, it can be difficult to schedule interviews that involve several decision makers. You can also run into this time-lag when waiting for background check results or return calls from references.
If you’re interested in a candidate, keep in touch with him or her during this often frustrating process. If you’re not keeping your candidates aware about the process you’re experiencing, they may assume you’re not interested and look elsewhere.
Be considerate about the confusion over hospital requirements.
This problem can arise when you’re working with candidates who may be working with several agencies to find their next position.
The quality candidates will usually be talking to several hospitals at a time – usually candidates like per diem nurses – and have to remember the hospital requirements for several open positions at a time.
Healthcare recruiters should be considerate about the confusion that this can cause. This, coupled with confusion over interview times and scheduling, can be a lot for a candidate to handle.
Find the right applicant tracking system (ATS) for healthcare recruiters to avoid confusion.
Find an ATS that has all the requirements you need already built-in. Your hospital or medical organization probably has a need to track checklists of certifications and skills tests, as well as manage several candidate timelines.
If your ATS isn’t up for the task, your candidate could be receiving mixed signals – or even worse, the wrong information from your team of healthcare recruiters.
Streamlining your ATS for your talent acquisition needs can remedy this issue.
Be sensitive about background checks.
Medical background checks are extensive, and sometimes they can take a while. Keep up on the latest legislation to ensure compliance, and submit your candidates for the right background checks the first time.
Compliance should be on your mind during submission – federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) guidelines and the EEOC’s recent Enforcement Guidance on employer’s use of criminal records will help you avoid litigation and fines.
If a candidate fails a background check, help them understand why. Knowing why you’ve been marked ineligible for a certain position will help the candidate in the future, improve their candidate experience, and leave them with a better impression of your organization.
Don’t focus too closely on keywords – broaden your search.
Healthcare recruiters are probably losing a lot of really great medical candidates to your ATS because they don’t have specific keywords in their resume.
Broaden your search when you’re combing through resumes – take the time to get to know your candidates in person. This will not only help you fill the position you’re currently working on, but could help you find candidates that may be well suited for other positions.
This type of communication makes a candidate feel valued. You not only responded to their initial application, but took the time to help them find their right fit.
On-the-job-training is appealing to candidates – and it might be cheaper than experience.
Recent medical school graduates have a hard time finding positions because they often require experience that they don’t have.
If your candidate is feeling turned off by certain requirements, mention on-the-job training opportunities so they can understand what working for your organization can do for their careers in the future.
Because the healthcare recruitment process is so complicated, managerial positions often get sent to search. Leaning on a direct hire recruiting agency during your search can help improve candidate experience by increasing your bandwidth, and allowing for an expansion of your ability to better communicate with candidates.
Healthcare recruiting is complicated by red tape, extensive experience requirements and niche talent pools, meaning you’re probably working with multiple agencies to find your talent. If you’d like, we can simplify that for you.
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About the Author: Megan Morreale
