What changes in healthcare recruiting can you expect in the next year?
Technology and innovative strategies have transformed every facet of recruiting. Healthcare is an industry seeing the most change. One of the trends immediately affecting healthcare recruiting in 2019 is the shortage of talent, a problem that only continues to grow as the gap between available healthcare jobs and qualified candidates expands. Over 90% of hospital executives state that the healthcare talent shortage is of top priority.
1. Digital Hiring & Employer Brand Strategies
So what’s new in the upcoming year? Healthcare talent acquisition (TA) teams are beginning to focus on digital hiring to aid in the talent shortage. Technologically advanced interviewing platforms that incorporate AI-enabled virtual hiring assistants and automate minor tasks like interview scheduling are streamlining candidate engagement with a more efficient, mobile experience. Healthcare organizations are also significantly increasing employer branding strategies to handle the talent shortage. Healthcare recruiters need to reach their candidates in a shorter amount of time and instantly establish a connection. Their goal is for applicants to come to the realization that their organization is suitable for them and their career goals. In the past year, despite 8 out of 10 including career information on their website, a mere 15% of healthcare organizations had an extensive career portal. That percentage will likely increase drastically this year. Additionally, TA teams will place a higher emphasis on consistent, succinct, and important employer brand messages in every aspect of their online presence.
2. Prioritization of Physician Recruitment
According to projections, the shortage of physicians may grow past 100,000 within the next several years. As of now, the average time to fill for a physician is 14 months. This period is expected to grow as healthcare organizations are affected by an increasingly cutthroat selection. It’s also likely that recruiters will be hiring more telemedicine applicants, as well as contributing more resources to build direct pathways from medical schools to their organization.
3. Demand for Increased Diversity
TA leaders in multiple areas, healthcare included, have a standard to meet when it comes to diversity in hiring. Some of the contributors to this standard include higher financial performance and increased health outcomes, due to patients being more likely to seek care, adhere to treatment methods, and be satisfied with that care when they are able to relate to the background of their healthcare professionals. It’s highly evidenced that in both clinical and business aspects, healthcare organizations lack diversity. Eighty-four percent of healthcare leaders expect to, by 2022, commit their organization to assembling a workforce that reflects the diversity of their communities.
Healthcare recruiting has already begun to execute technology-driven strategies to boost diversity at all stages of the hiring cycle. Unbiased candidate review that is combined with a video viewing platform is one of the AI-enabled solutions being implemented at the forefront of healthcare recruiting. This application conceals candidate identifier information while hiring managers are reviewing on-demand interviews and deciding whether or not to approve candidates.
Other forms of technology that could expand diversity in healthcare hiring in 2019 include:
- Applications that eradicate biased language from job descriptions
- Applications that permit blind job auditions
4. Increased Popularity of AI
In the modern world, AI technologies are evolving at a quick pace, and many healthcare institutions are starting to incorporate them for their advantage. Specifically, AI is becoming more and more useful within the hiring process for tasks that do not require human interaction. AI in healthcare recruiting can make the hiring process much simpler by allowing recruiters to respond more quickly and more effectively to any challenges that may arise.
5. Incorporating Value-Based Care
Many healthcare institutions are switching from traditional patient care beliefs to value-based care, which puts patients at the center of attention and could save money as well as improve access for everyone. Although this seems like a perfect plan, value-based care cannot be implemented without experienced business leaders with crucial skills. Specifically, healthcare industries will need experts in public health, business diversification, as well as data analytics. However, in addition to business professionals, the value-based model will also require healthcare leaders who are capable of connecting patients, providers, business partners, and other leaders together in order to work in harmony. This model is crucial to understand, as it changes the qualities that healthcare individuals are seeking in candidates.
6. Expansion of Telemedicine
Telemedicine is one of the fields in the industry experiencing the most rapid growth. It includes a number of approaches to bringing healthcare to patients remotely via technology. Some examples include:
- Remote maintenance of patients’ vital signs
- Video chats with primary care physicians or specialists who are employed at a different clinic or location
- Nurses are available for patient questions and triage through an 800 number
- Psychiatrists, speech pathologists, and other specialists provide healthcare services by video calling
As with value-based care, the advantages brought to patients and healthcare organizations are significant, but delivering care remotely demands additional capabilities. In healthcare recruiting, TA has to select candidates with distinct communication skills, and skillfulness in integrating multiple data sources as they evaluate patients. Candidates also need to be familiar with video, email, and mobile app technologies as the main method of patient communication.
Next steps?
Consider building out your direct sourcing model to be proactive in your hiring. Contact SkillGigs to explore the opportunities.
