Hiring the right healthcare professionals is vital for your organization and employer brand, your teams, and most of all, your patients. You need people with the right level of expertise and a genuine commitment to deliver the level of care your patients need.  

I’d like to share a healthcare industry recruiting method that will streamline your search, interview, and hiring processes.  

I learned some valuable talent acquisition strategies while managing high-volume recruitment for critical roles in the healthcare sector. Before becoming a healthcare talent recruiter with Goodwin Recruiting, I spent 25+ years leading enterprise hiring initiatives, delivering 1,800 to 3,000 successful hires annually for a Fortune 10 corporation, a large nonprofit hospital system, and other healthcare organizations.  

With the approach described below, you can attract healthcare professionals who will positively shape your current workforce and the future of your organization.  

4 guideposts for a stronger search and hiring process 

Put this method into practice and you will find and successfully onboard the right healthcare professionals for your team.  

1. Discovery Process: Understand the nature and needs of a role, market dynamics, compensation, and team dynamics. 

It’s important to conduct a discovery process to know today’s requirements of a particular role in the healthcare market – and in what type of organization (hospital, clinic, insurance company, physician office, urgent care, etc.). Roles and responsibilities have changed dramatically in recent years. This will help you shape your job descriptions and requirements.  

Find out the salary ranges that are offered in your city or region for a specific role, including total compensation packages, so that you can make your employment opportunities competitive in the market and attract top talent.  

Overall, it’s important to ‘go slow to go fast,’ as they say, to get this right. This discovery process helps you zero in on exactly who you need and avoids wasting time focusing on role requirements that may not be sufficient or successful for your team and type of organization.  

2. Talent Acquisition Interview Process: Establish a consistent process for fully vetting candidates before moving them forward to a hiring manager. 

Efficiency is of utmost importance, so make sure your hiring managers spend their valuable time interviewing candidates who are pre-screened and truly qualified for the job. Whether you use an applicant tracking system (ATS), a virtual recruiter, or an external recruiting firm, this pre-screening process will filter out unqualified candidates or those who are not a good cultural fit – and identify high-quality, qualified candidates to invite into your interview process.  

When you first interview your top candidates, be fully transparent. Explain your interview and hiring process (who will conduct further interviews, where, and your timeline for hiring). Ensure candidates have a clear understanding of the role and expectations, and how they will serve your patients and collaborate with your team. Sell candidates on your opportunity, your organization, company values, and career benefits – and prep them to be successful in upcoming interviews. 

3. Hiring Manager Process: Create an information pipeline to help your hiring managers stay focused during the interview process. 

Provide your hiring managers with role-specific goals on who they ideally want to hire. For example, if it’s a nurse practitioner position, let the hiring manager know whether the ideal candidate is experienced and can hit the ground running in providing advanced nursing care. Include how many years of experience are required, plus credentials or specialties. Or maybe the hiring manager should look for a solid candidate who may need some guidance or direction, or a newer candidate in the field who will need coaching and counseling to become successful in the role.   

All of these may be great hires. The point is to inform your hiring managers of what’s important so they can hire based on specific experience levels and the budgeted compensation for the job opening.  

4. Pre-Hiring Clearance and Onboarding Processes: Design a comprehensive process to onboard and set up every new hire for success. 

This component of the hiring process causes anxiety for many healthcare workers when starting a new job. It’s essential that the hiring manager or an HR representative provide the candidate with full transparency into the onboarding process. Assure the candidate that by accepting the job, they are making a good decision for their career, and overall, help each candidate make a smooth, stress-free transition into the organization.  

These responsibilities begin by ensuring the completion of all preemployment requirements (drug testing, background checks, reference checks), confirming the official start date of employment, and providing overall HR orientation once they’re on board. The hiring manager also arranges for new hires to be formally introduced to their teams and departments.  

Additionally, the hiring manager or HR department should coordinate with department leads to ensure new hires are properly trained on relevant systems, technology, and equipment, receive a thorough team orientation, and provided with processes for managing issues and patient care. 

A great onboarding experience brings immeasurable benefits to your organization, from being known for providing a positive candidate experience to higher talent retention rates, better employee mental health, improved patient care, and better patient outcomes. 

Find top talent with help from a healthcare recruiting expert  

My experience in building strong healthcare teams includes sourcing talent for many types of healthcare industry providers and areas of operation. I bring my best every day in working and consulting with hiring teams.  

Connect with me today and let’s start a relationship that can help you fill critical roles with the right healthcare professionals. My name is Mike Klyop and I am a Recruiting Partner with Goodwin Recruiting, a leader in U.S. healthcare recruitment. I look forward to hearing from you and learning about your staffing needs.  

We maintain a nationwide healthcare industry talent pipeline to ensure our clients have access to professionals for every staffing need. These are some of the healthcare industry and medical professional roles I specialize in filling for healthcare organizations across the United States:  

• Executive and Leadership 

• Quality Assurance 

• Risk and Compliance 

• Compensation and Benefits 

• Nursing (OR, ER, ICU, PACU, case manager, step-down, oncology, transplant, new graduates) 

• Phlebotomy 

• Radiology 

• Anesthesia 

• Physical Therapy 

• Dieticians 

• Pharmacy 

• Training and Development 

• Support Services (security, food & beverage, patient access, medical coders, medical assistants, nursing assistants, housekeeping, project managers, human resources, HR business partners) 

• Behavioral Health and Social Workers 

• Emergency Medical Services (EMS)