By Jon Eggleton
Recruiting qualified healthcare professionals is already a daunting task for many healthcare providers. Demand for clinicians, particularly those in highly specialized areas, is higher than ever. Globally, there is evidence that these challenges are only growing, as a recent report from research firm Precedence indicated that the global healthcare staffing market is likely to surpass a staggering $47.5 billion by 2027. The good news is today’s digital channels offer myriad ways to reach hard-to-find healthcare professionals if you’re willing to be creative.
Create Virtual Hiring Events to Anchor Recruiting Efforts
Everyone likes the option to kick the tires sometimes before making a commitment. This can be especially true of a clinical superstar who wants to make sure any move is a good one for her/his career before jumping in. Virtual career events can be a great center point from which to launch a digital recruiting campaign, and they cost a fraction of in-person career fairs and events. A basic micro-site within an existing Careers page is all you really need, with the ability to connect visitors to a recruiter or contact to answer questions and engage prospective candidates directly. Webinars are also very helpful to assist in educating candidates on your organization in a more passive manner as part of this tactic. With many clinicians working non-traditional schedules, where possible consider extended hours to accommodate those with limited available time.
Social Media Channels Can Help Find the Elusive “Passive” Job Seekers
Any good recruiter will tell you the best hires are often those who weren’t even looking for a job in the first place. In an industry like healthcare where it’s nearly impossible to reach a clinician who spends little time at a traditional desk, the best way to get in front of them might very well be through paid social media when they’re not at work. With prospecting capabilities that include focusing on only those individuals with certain job titles, geographic location, and even organization names, healthcare organizations can get extremely granular to target clinicians where they are. Having great content like recruitment videos and infographics can certainly boost response rates, but regardless, with paid social media you don’t have to break the bank to generate candidate leads efficiently.
Be Opportunistic with Search Marketing for Active Candidates
While paid social media can be very effective, particularly for recruiting passive candidates who may not be engaged in an active search, paid search engine marketing (SEM) has proven quite useful to cast a larger, albeit still very focused, recruitment net. Those actively using search engines to look for open positions with specific keywords are clearly engaged and motivated to find work in that field. While that’s no guarantee of the right qualifications, it does mean that these candidates are more likely to follow through an application process. It’s not uncommon for the cost per conversion to be lower, and in some cases significantly lower, for paid search versus paid social media recruitment campaigns. Utilized correctly, paid social and paid search can be an effective 1-2 punch to deliver prospects into a candidate pipeline.
Consider Evergreen Campaigns for Perennially Difficult Searches
Not all job postings are created equal. Perhaps certain roles, like nurses and front line healthcare personnel, are in endless demand. Or maybe there are certain geographic markets where due to a dearth of local talent supply, there are nearly always vacant positions waiting to be filled. In any case, running digital campaigns on an evergreen or constant basis can continue to keep the pipeline stocked for these difficult-to-fill titles. Beyond those obvious benefits, there may also be greater efficiencies gained from digital campaigns that are running all the time, as the “always on” status enables optimization efforts more easily than campaigns that are constantly being shut on and off. There is more time available to do A/B message testing, for example, which can improve performance metrics for the campaign as a whole.
Jon Eggleton is the co-founder and managing partner of Traktion Partners, LLC. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Traktion helps healthcare companies utilize digital marketing tools for talent acquisition, with a particular focus on hard-to-fill clinician roles.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
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