And the goods just keep on coming! As we continue (now Part 3!) our Competitive Healthcare Recruiting series, we're diving into the digital transformation of healthcare recruiting. Historically, the healthcare industry has lagged on adopting technology for the business-aspect of healthcare. This is especially true in recruiting and relocation, which were often very manual and outdated processes. Our panel of experts from University of Vermont Medical, Mayo Clinic, and Katon Direct provide first-hand insights into transformation in the digital age, and how to use technology to your digital healthcare recruiting advantage.
Why healthcare is going digital
As the world changes, it’s not enough to rely on old methods of healthcare recruiting. Talent acquisition has become an industry in itself, fueled by the need to actively market to passive candidates, make use of networking opportunities, and step outside the box to source healthcare talent.
If you're like most healthcare organizations, your process likely includes at least one or two Word or Excel documents - maybe you use them internally, or you may even send them to your candidates with ideas for moving companies and a list of eligible expenses. You probably also use job boards for recruiting, and conduct phone screening interviews early in the process.
Don’t be old-school. Cutting-edge, top-notch healthcare systems provide the modern candidate experience your healthcare talent wants. your healthcare talent wants. Remember, your candidates are consumers too. They're used to instant answers with online searches and technology that simplifies their lives.
Go virtual!
Almost everything can be done virtually these days (as we've quickly learned from 2020). Various tools exist for conducting virtual screening, digital interviewing - both live and pre-recorded, and even online reference checking. You can even make use of candidate portals and virtual tours to help relocating employees get a sense of the new location and find answers to questions about the area and even what it's like to work for your healthcare system.
Katon Direct, who exclusively services the healthcare industry, notes that clients see a lot of success with virtual tools incorporating live chat and scheduled sessions. Digital tools such as polling allow you to collect feedback about your process both during and after interviews so that you can work on continuous improvement.
Need to save time for your department? Technology can also help sort candidates earlier in the process and reduce the number of follow up meetings needed to decide which candidates move forward.
We all want information quickly, right?! Healthcare candidates are no different. In the competitive healthcare recruiting space, your targets are often gainfully employed, highly passive candidates who don't have 45 minutes to drop off an application or prepare a new resume. Providing a digital experience to candidates from the start helps alleviate those pressures, reduces barrier-to-entry and positions you as a forward-thinking organization that candidates want to join!
Use tech to enhance the candidate and employee experience
There are many tools available in the healthcare recruitment and relocation industry - from applicant tracking systems (ATS) to human resources systems, to virtual screening and interviewing tools we've mentioned already. There are also specific solutions for managing the relocation experience, such as UrbanBound (UB),
which let you provide a white-glove treatment that is almost impossible with manual processes. From managing cash disbursements, to hybrid reimbursement policies, you can customize your relocation program to meet your employees' needs. With everything from booking moving companies to tracking important relocation dates, and even working with a dedicated relocation consultant, it can all be done virtually with our healthcare relocation & recruiting software. UVM in particular noted they get great feedback from candidates and have saved quite a bit of money by using digital tools like UB.
Our panelists also shared a major (and surprising) shift thanks to COVID-19: While health screens still require in-person visits, a lot of the pre-work can now be completed virtually. Orientations have also gone virtual along with the entire onboarding process. This can be a struggle, especially for healthcare organizations where culture is such an important part of their offering, but with proper planning and execution you can make it work. In a lot of cases it just requires a shift in internal thinking - realizing you CAN do things virtually, and still be highly effective. Which is exactly what we will cover in our final blog in the series: Change Management in Healthcare Recruiting
A special thank you to our awesome panelists:
Becky Kapsalis; Director of Talent Acquisition at UVM (University of Vermont Medical) Health Network
Rachel Rautenberg; Recruiting Coordinator at Mayo Clinic
Anthony Gentile; Partner at Katon Direct
Disappointed you missed out on this event? No worries, we recorded the full panel discussion - you can still get the recording of the full session!
