Healthy Healthcare Hiring for 2017

From a long-term view, the healthcare industry and healthcare hiring has been one of the strongest employment forces. According to KCTV.com, this massive giant added a whopping 374,000 jobs in 2016 and achieved its lowest unemployment level (2.6 %) in the last nine years. And with budgeting season just around the corner, many healthcare employers are trying to take a hard look at their numbers and needs in order to address issues of recruitment, retention, and employee satisfaction including:

• The imbalance between the number of available jobs and the number of experienced workers. Many companies are finding it harder to fill positions with qualified workers.
• Retention of existing employees. Turnover results in additional openings with even fewer potential candidates.
• Retirement of senior leadership and the irreplaceability of skilled and knowledgeable experienced managers.
• Increased use of “temporary” employees during interim periods when suitable long-term replacements have not yet been found or hired.

Health Leaders Media reflects on the incongruity of the uncertainty of the healthcare environment under the new political administration. Yahoo Finance also does but recognizes that the continued need and growth of the aging population requires that there be more, not less, healthcare opportunities. So what options or opportunities do hiring executives or recruiters have to consider as they prepare to budget for the coming year?

• Good employees will cost more. And to get experience, you will want good employees. Be prepared to pay more in order to attract them.
• Great employees who are already a part of the system will need to be paid more to stay as well. Keeping them is a worthwhile investment.
• Finding replacement or new employees will require innovative recruitment approaches that may range from using healthcare-specific job boards and recruiting tools to convenient methodologies such as on-demand or one-way digital interviewing techniques. Busy healthcare professionals interested in possibly searching for greener pastures will not be able to necessarily break away during traditional business hours for the privilege of interviewing with your organization.
• Accepting that possibly paying top-dollar for interim or temporary help while finding that perfect fit candidate may be a necessary evil in the recruitment process. Especially when you are talking about replacing a candidate whose presence is key to everything the organization does, it simply makes no sense to rush into hiring high-level professionals who may not be a great fit. Some roles require time and more regular interaction than others.

In the next few months, as healthcare budgets are sorted and finalized and as we see the trending changes in the upcoming healthcare environment, taking steps to maximize the return on investment in employees makes a lot of common sense.

About The Author

Monique Mahler is the CEO of interviewstream. She is an avid researcher of facts, a self proclaimed marketing geek, and an equestrian in her spare time.