7 Tips on Recruiting Healthcare Leadership: Strategies that Make a Difference

Hiring the healthcare leaders of tomorrow is no small feat for today’s healthcare recruiters and staffing agencies. It’s not surprising considering the near crisis-level workforce challenges faced by the healthcare industry. Driven by an aging population, massive employee burnout, and a multitude of other factors, the supply of qualified healthcare workers is diminishing, while the demand for healthcare services, (and the qualified professionals who dispense them) is growing exponentially.

In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the healthcare industry are projected to rise from 153.5 million in 2020 to 165.4 million by 2030. It’s a real problem made worse by fierce competition for top talent, and time-consuming, inefficient recruiting processes. So time-consuming, it can take up to 250 days to fill a specialized role in healthcare in some cases. For healthcare leadership roles, it can be an even bigger issue because of the education, qualifications, and specialized skills required.

To help you build a robust recruitment strategy for sourcing, engaging, and hiring the right candidates, check out our 7 tips for effectively recruiting healthcare leaders in the turbulent healthcare industry of today.

Understand the Healthcare Talent Landscape

To effectively recruit for healthcare leadership, it’s important to have a firm grasp of the current healthcare talent landscape. This starts with assessing your organization’s needs to understand the precise mix of qualifications and skills required for leadership roles. It also requires staying updated on industry trends. For example, one current trend involves large numbers of healthcare professionals retiring or leaving the industry for other reasons. A recent survey by Elsevier Health projected that as many as 75% of healthcare professionals may exit the healthcare field by 2025. In response to this challenge, recruiters should explore creating a talent map to identify potential candidates within and outside the organization, keeping an eye on emerging leaders and up-and-coming talent.

Expand Your Talent Pipeline Across Multiple Channels

Don’t just rely on a single channel or even a few channels to source potential candidates. The broader your outreach strategy is, the more likely you are to build a broad talent pool of qualified candidates. Consider investing in a sourcing tool that features a built-in talent database to help you expand your talent pipeline. A tool such as the Arya sourcing platform. With the largest candidate database in North America (850+ million candidates sourced from 70+ channels across 150+ industries), Arya sources, scores and ranks talent for 90% of jobs in less than 5 minutes and reduces shortlisting time by 50%.

Leverage Technology and Data Analytics

Healthcare recruiting is no longer limited to posting job listings on websites and waiting for resumes to pour in. Harnessing the power of technology and data analytics can help you stay competitive. 94% of hiring professionals who utilize applicant tracking systems (ATS) have reported a noticeable improvement in hiring processes.

Leveraging AI tools such as Arya can streamline your healthcare recruiting efforts, by helping you identify top candidates faster, reducing time-to-hire and minimizing the risk and costs associated with bad hires. Arya’s AI-powered search and match capability uses 300+ attributes and 7 multidimensional data points to assess candidate relevancy empowering recruiters to match the most compatible talent to the job.

Emphasize Cultural Fit and Diversity

Recruiting healthcare leaders is about more than finding candidates with the right skills. You also need to ensure they’re the right culture fit for your organization. A diverse leadership team can bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to complex healthcare challenges. According to a Glassdoor survey, 76% of employees and job seekers emphasized the importance of diversity when evaluating job offers.

In keeping with these findings, Google has announced its commitment to achieving a 30 percent increase in leadership diversity by 2025. To promote diversity and cultural fit, implement a structured interview process that evaluates both technical and soft skills related to teamwork, communication, and adaptability. You can also consider blind resume screening as a strategy to mitigate unconscious bias during the initial phases of the recruitment process.

Invest in Employee Referral Programs

Employee referral programs are a highly effective and cost-efficient way to recruit top healthcare leaders. Your current employees often have valuable connections and can help identify candidates with the necessary qualifications that align with your organization’s culture. Employee referrals are a significant source of new hires, accounting for 30-50% of all engagements. The average cost-per-hire for employee referrals is $1,000 less than for hires from other sources.

To make your referral program successful, incentivize employees to refer qualified candidates and ensure the referral process is simple and user-friendly. You can also offer rewards or bonuses to employees whose referrals are successfully hired and stay with the organization for a given period.

Develop a Strong Employer Brand

Your organization’s reputation as an employer plays a significant role in attracting top healthcare leadership talent. A strong employer brand can differentiate you from competitors and make healthcare recruitment efforts more effective. 83% of employers recognize the substantial impact of employer branding on their ability to attract high-caliber candidates.

To build and maintain a strong employer brand, engage with current employees through surveys and feedback sessions to understand their experiences. Highlight positive aspects of your workplace culture in your recruitment materials and online presence. Showcase employee testimonials, awards, and recognitions to demonstrate your commitment to excellence.

Continuous Improvement and Evaluation

Recruitment strategies in healthcare are not static; they need to evolve continuously to meet changing needs and market conditions. Keep evaluating your recruitment plan’s effectiveness and be willing to adapt and refine your approach based on the results. Organizations that regularly review and adjust their recruitment strategies are more likely to achieve their recruitment goals.

Collect input from hiring managers, candidates, and newly onboarded team members to pinpoint areas for enhancements. Monitor key performance indicators such as time-to-hire, retention rates, and the diversity of hires. Use this data to fine-tune your healthcare recruitment strategies and ensure they remain effective in the ever-changing healthcare industry.

Revolutionize Your Healthcare Leadership Team

Are you ready to take your healthcare leadership to the next level? Discover how advanced AI technology can streamline healthcare recruitment and help you discover the talent most likely to succeed in the roles you’re sourcing.

The advanced AI in Arya is transforming the world of healthcare recruiting If you’re ready to start cutting candidate review and shortlisting time in half, Request a Demo of Arya today!

Resources

• https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm
• https://beta.elsevier.com/connect/clinician-of-the-future?trial=true
• https://www.zippia.com/advice/recruitment-statistics/
• https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/diversity/
• https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/commitments-racial-equity/
• https://www.zippia.com/advice/employee-referral-statistics/