If you work in recruiting, you already know that sourcing and hiring talent is a challenge. However, the obstacles that come with healthcare recruiting can make hiring A-players even more difficult. While there are many things that make recruiting in the healthcare industry more demanding, we will discuss 3 common healthcare recruitment challenges and provide some ways you can help solve them.
Challenge #1: The inverse relationship between the amount of jobs to be filled and the talent available to fill them.
Simply put, there are not enough physicians or medical staff available to fill the positions that hospitals and institutions need. When it’s all said and done, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of positions that must be filled at all times to keep these facilities up and running. This makes recruiting more difficult than it already is—especially in niche specialities where there isn’t a very big pool of candidates to begin with.
The truth is, specialized talent will rarely seek you out. More often than not, you must go looking for it. However, it is pretty difficult to build the best possible team without looking beyond what’s right in front of you. With that, a successful healthcare recruiting program may only be possible if you recruit with a relocation mindset. That means finding the best candidate for the job—no matter where they are in the world.
Challenge #2: Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce.
In the last few years, Baby Boomers have started to retire at high rates. This means two things. First, organizations with a large population of healthcare workers over the age of 60, will have a major need to fill the departed positions. Secondly, people over the age of 65 will make up about 20% of the US population by 2029 (up from 14% in 20121). With an increasingly older population, there will be more strain on the healthcare industry to provide care for the elderly.
While there is no way to prevent this all from happening, healthcare organizations must plan ahead. There is already a scarcity of qualified employees, so healthcare organizations must proactively put a recruitment strategy in place. Again, one of the best ways to do this is to widen the net and look for potential candidates all around the country and world.
Want advice about how to put a strategic relocation strategy in place? Get a free consultation and demo our relocation management software.
Stay up to date
Subscribe to the blog for the latest updates
Challenge #3: A lack of a strategic relocation process—primarily because the responsibility falls on the recruiter or HR.
Relocation is often only considered as an afterthought, or a last minute benefit added to an offer to help sweeten the deal. However, when there is no strategic relocation process in place, the responsibility usually falls on the recruiter or the HR department. This, added on top of their many tasks and responsibilities, means that they cannot dedicate their full, undivided attention to helping employees relocate.
This is why a strategic relocation process is something that must be added to your general healthcare recruiting tool belt—it shouldn’t be something you avoid or use as a last resort.
If you take a proactive approach to relocation and put a plan in place before you ever make an offer, you’ll see candidates accepting more offers and new hires will be up and running much faster.
Moving Forward
In the coming years, these difficulties will continue to impact healthcare recruiting. Luckily, there has been an influx of recruiting and relocation technology on the market to help solve these challenges. Healthcare recruiting software can help with sourcing, screening, interviewing and hiring candidates. Additionally, relocation management software companies, like UrbanBound, are helping the healthcare industry streamline their relocation process and provide doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals with a top notch candidates and relocation experience.
