It’s a situation you’re probably all too familiar with: Nurses and allied health professionals are leaving the profession in large numbers, and burnout is higher than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic added to an already persistent problem within nursing, while our need for experienced, reliable nurses and other healthcare professionals only grew. If you’re faced with nursing or physician recruitment, you may be wondering where to start. Our team has had the privilege of working with several healthcare divisions in their recruitment efforts, and here are some tactics that helped our campaigns stand out in this busy environment.

Start by knowing where you’re going

If you want to stand out, you need to think differently. When developing our nurse recruitment efforts, we looked at the current process to put ourselves in our caregivers’ shoes. And then, we thought about what it could be. We centered ourselves around three basic ideas.

• Shift the conversation. 

Many recruitment efforts rely on promoting positions by calling out salaries and sign-on bonuses. Today, however, people are increasingly interested in the non-financial benefits and value a job can provide. Does a large sign-on bonus also mean signing on for a job that will quickly lead to burnout? Whatever financial benefits you’re offering, you have the opportunity to attract attention by talking about what working at your system is like — what day-to-day strategies you bring to the table to make it a great place to work. 

• Think outside of career sites.

When a nurse is interested in a job change, they may use a career site like monster.com in their search. But you don’t have to wait for them to come to the table to start the conversation. We’ve found that by using targeted ads and inbound marketing, we can get to nurses and allied health professionals earlier in their journey. We can raise awareness about careers at our clients’ health system and engage those who may be considering a job move but haven’t yet started their search.

• Reduce friction in the application process.

You’ve seen congested application processes before. Ones that ask for you to upload a resume, then type in your resume, then answer questions that are also on your resume, then take a personality assessment, then sign a form asserting that you’re a legal resident and lawfully able to work in the U.S.— all before talking to anyone on the careers team at all. While it’s important to ensure you have qualified applicants, it’s also important to capture all interested nurses and allied health professionals so you can (1)  start the application process for those who are ready and (2) get the information of those who want to stay informed about open positions. Make it easy to apply — a simple form, as few clicks as possible. This ensures you don’t lose any people in the conversion funnel who get frustrated by an overly complicated application process. 

Recruitment that lives where nurses live

Your recruitment efforts can bring value to the people they’re targeting. When you exist in the same digital spaces where nurses and allied health professionals already are, you have an audience that is more open to hearing from you. We’ve had great success by posting in nurses and other professional groups on social media, featuring blogs with a recruitment angle, using opt-in emails, and targeting ads to the people they are most relevant for. When you pair this with messaging that stands out from the rest and a straightforward application process, you’ll be able to connect with the candidates you want — even considering the real-world challenges of the field. 

What healthcare recruiting strategies have you used that have driven results for your organization? At DECODE, we’re always interested in learning and keeping up with shifting trends. Most of all, we share our clients’ excitement from seeing the results of a well-run, well-thought-out campaign. Let us know what’s worked for you!