How to Attract Top Healthcare Talent

Strategies for Building a Strong Team in a High-Demand Market

Roughly two million new healthcare jobs are expected to be created between 2021 and 2031.¹ If you’re an employer trying to find professionals to fill your open positions, you may be wondering what you can do to appeal to top talent in this field.

At Ultimate Medical Academy, we are driven to help our healthcare employer partners succeed with their recruitment efforts. So, we’ve come up with a few strategies to consider – ones that extend beyond simply paying higher rates (even if you’re facing budget crunches) in an effort to draw in more talent.

Address Your Applicants’ Pain Points in Your Job Posts

When creating posts for your open positions, you may be thinking about qualification requirements, which job duties are most important to share, and the deadline by which you want the applicants to apply. While all of this information helps top candidates better understand the type of employee that you want or what the job entails, it may not necessarily reach out and grab them enough to make them decide to apply.

One way to encourage an I-must-apply-today response is to address your applicants’ most prominent pain points in your job posts. Let them know that you understand the challenges they face and that you’re willing to help them overcome these obstacles if they should decide to come work for you.

As an example, if you know that most applicants for an open position are parents of young children, you may want to talk about any childcare programs you offer or flexible scheduling options. If they’re recent grads, you might spark some interest by talking about student loan payback initiatives. Older applicants may be inspired to apply after learning that you offer good retirement benefits.

If you’re not sure which pain points to address, talk to your current employees in that healthcare position. Ask about the challenges they face and question what makes them want to continue working for your company. Their responses can provide valuable insight into the outside-the-box benefits that you may want to point out when posting an open position.

Don’t Forget About Soft Skills Too

It’s not uncommon to share education and experience requirements in job postings. But have you ever considered sharing the type of soft skills that you’d like your applicants to have as well?

If you’re hiring a medical assistant, for instance, important qualities for someone in this position include paying attention to detail and being able to effectively interact with patients and other healthcare personnel.² If the open position is for a dental assistant, you may request that your applicants be detail oriented and organized, have good interpersonal and listening skills, and be good with their hands when working in small spaces.³

Including these types of soft skills in your job posts helps candidates recognize whether they’d be a good fit for the job, as well as if they’re a good fit for your company when these are the qualities you desire.

Think Beyond Social Media for Healthcare Recruitment

Almost three-quarters of millennials report that they found their current jobs via social media.⁴ This can make purchasing an ad on one of these platforms appealing, especially if your target is this demographic. But thinking beyond online job search sites may help expand your pool of candidates, particularly among minority groups.

Research indicates that, while many people have social network accounts, there are differences in how certain groups interact with these sites when looking for a job. For instance, a 2022 article published in Information, Communication & Society indicates that ethnic and racial minority groups in the U.S. are more likely to do their job searches online. However, they’re also the groups least likely to have reliable Internet access to support extended searches.

Sharing news of your openings offline may be helpful to these demographics. Options to consider include:

• Holding a job fair at your company if you’re filling numerous open positions.
• Attending job fairs at local universities or medical education institutions.
• Posting the job on a community bulletin board.
• Offering bonuses to current employees for their referrals.

Offer Career Development

Providing career development opportunities can help you attract top talent.⁵ Put yourself in the shoes of a sought-after job applicant. If you’re trying to decide between two employers, one of which offers the ability to advance your career and the other that doesn’t, which one would you be most likely to choose?

Career development can come in several different forms. Strategies might involve providing training or learning opportunities for those you hire. Goal setting, assistance with deciding a career path, and finding ways for employees to otherwise enhance their skills can also play a role in developing or advancing your new hire’s career goals.

When deciding what career development opportunities your healthcare organization will provide, it’s important to think about the barriers that may exist for certain job candidates. For example, research suggests that individuals of color from rural communities may have limited access to career-related services and resources.⁶ Finding ways to provide these services and resources as an employer may make you more appealing to candidates from these demographics.

Tell Candidates What You’ll Do to Protect Them from Burnout

According to a study published in 2021, nearly half of healthcare workers reported being burnt out in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.⁷ Even if someone chose to enter this field despite knowing this fact, it can represent a grim future. So, imagine how they’ll feel if, when doing their job search, they come across a listing that talks about what a prospective employer is doing to combat this issue.

Some of the solutions offered for reducing healthcare employee burnout include access to additional training, providing support for employees and their families, and offering mental health resources.⁸ If your company provides any of these, address them in your job posts. Let the candidates know that you care about their mental health and wellness. This can help you stand out from other healthcare employers who either don’t address or try to minimize this issue.

Utilizing these strategies can help make your company more appealing to top healthcare talent. And if you’re interested in also keeping your current talent on staff, the next article in this six-article series is for you: Effective Ways to Boost Employee Retention.