Understanding the Medical Recruiting Process

The strategy and tools used to locate, contract and recruit healthcare professionals are fundamentally the same within the medical staffing industry. They differences are established within the goals for the agency, the level of commitment, the benefits the agency is prepared to offer new hires and what is the monthly quota required for growth.

The recruitment process is a juggling game between what is available and what needs to be covered. You will rarely find a perfect match when you are recruiting. Hiring candidates is based on the need analysis of your company. Smaller companies have easier time disseminating information between the recruiters and business developers. This communication between departments in larger companies is more challenging than smaller agencies.

Recruiting involves knowing the terminology of the field you are recruiting in. The keywords and phrases help in many instances to find clinicians. Successful recruiters in medical staffing agencies must make it a concerted effort to dive deep into the minds of the target audience.

As a consultant I have seen too many medical staffing companies “spin their wheels” and get knower fast. A strategic approach to recruiting for medical staffing agencies or for your own company needs to be dealt with dynamic recruiting. Recruiting dynamics uses 20 percent of your efforts to produce 80 percent of your results in order to capture a higher recruiting pool than your competition.

The old ways of doing business using a “shoot gun approach” no longer is viable and cannot continue working in the medical staffing industry. Capturing your niche audience requires a branding effect when recruiting.

When recruiting don’t exaggerate your offerings and be honest when you are recruiting. You are basically a PR representative and your goal is to attract workers to your medical staffing agency. This is done by being friendly, polite and flexible with new and perspective recruits.

The medical recruiting process is continually evolving and changing, but certain key elements are always true and never change. First, facilities will always need staff. Second, staff will always need facilities to work. All the medical staffing agencies are essentially doing the same thing.

Some medical staffing agencies offer incentive pay, better insurance, or 401k packages, what I have found to be the best pull is hitting on the trigger of your target audience.

The recruits understand they are in need and understand that you need them. The reverse is also true but the latter is more prevalent.