My previous columns dedicated much attention to the benefits of automation, and rightly so. Artificial intelligence is creating an agentic approach to hiring, requiring little human intervention. The positive impact on health providers has been well documented. But we have gotten to the point where a recruiter’s job has turned into managing technology.
Tech alone will never make an organization great.
So it is high time to shift focus to the other side of the talent equation: the people aspect.
Because no matter how good a technology is, it can’t make up for pure authenticity that treats people as humans, not a number.
Universal Health Services, a Fortune 300 publicly traded company headquartered in King of Prussia, Pa., with more than 400 health facilities in the United States and the UK staffed by some 97,000 employees, has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to realness.
UHS is on a mission to wow candidates the moment they first click on the career site and with each new internal role thereafter.
Maria Zangardi, senior vice president of Human Resources at UHS, says the goal is building relationships. “Recruiting is highly personal,” she said, “and you have to create those relationships between the recruiters, the hiring managers and the employees.”
70,000 applications a month
UHS is unique in that its subsidiaries (a vast network of acute care hospitals, surgery centers, emergency care and behavioral health care facilities) have their own career pages. A patient-first culture permeates through the entire organization, but it can be challenging to utilize all that data at a corporate level while maintaining a discreet and special brand look and feel at each location.
On top of that, UHS receives nearly 840,000 applicants annually for roles. Think about the sheer size of that number. That breaks down to about 70,000 applications a month. Handling the enormous volume of resumes are recruiters at the corporate office as well as in the individual subsidiaries. Together they hire about 12,000 people a year.
“We have recruiters at these hospitals who are going through all these applications and creating a personal experience, such as hosting open houses, for example,” said Zangardi. “We have a lot of in-person activity and social media activity online for folks to come and get to know us as well.”
The organization can boast a dropoff rate of less than one percent thanks to an easy to use application process.
“We make it so that everything applicants might need to know is right there front and center,” she said.
Personalization in healthcare
Personalization is everything because attracting the best candidates has a direct correlation on patient care.
With 70,000 monthly applications, the human touch is clearly working for UHS as well as other health organizations that put candidates first. Patients remember the nurses who provided compassionate care.
The problem is, many organizations don’t understand the candidate experience, or simply don’t care. They ought to take stock and ask if they’re meeting job-seekers where they are. Are candidates given all the digital tools to communicate their skills and experience to an organization?
Recruiters are in the same sort of sad boat. Their organizations have not done a great job of evaluating tools that can personalize and automate intelligence and data in a meaningful way. If they did, recruiters would spend less time sorting through reams of data and more time connecting with people to see if they’d be a good fit for the organization.
70,000 whisperers
To drive the point home, UHS receives almost 70,000 monthly applications. Imagine the force multiplier if each and every one of those 70,000 people told friends and family, “That was the best candidate experience I’ve ever had.”
Technology only goes so far. Authenticity is the real differentiator. UHS knows that better than most organizations. If done correctly, this will create a swell of qualified talent that’s coming to you! Imagine that.
If you ever have the chance to speak with Maria, you’ll see what I mean. She’s the type of person that never “goes through the motions” and neither do any of her team members with whom I’ve interacted. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she has the same amount of minutes in the day as I do, and I can do better.
I once heard a quote that said “culture isn’t taught, it’s only caught.” Maria Zangardi is taking charge in leading her team by example, and I’m rooting for her!
Luke Carignan
Luke Carignan helps health systems hire smarter, faster and more efficiently in his role at Phenom, a global HR technology company in greater Philadelphia. He is the co-host of “The Bo and Luke Show” and The American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration podcasts.
