The hiring process can be tedious in the healthcare industry, and it may be tempting to cut corners when it comes to seemingly unnecessary recruiting steps like contacting references or conducting a second interview. These mistakes can be dire, costing your healthcare practice vital resources. If your new hires seem ill-fitting or quit easily, look within to evaluate your recruiting, onboarding, and retention practices. You may find that you’re making some of the most common healthcare hiring mistakes.
1. Only One Job Listing
There are dozens of job boards and recruiting platforms online. When you post to only one website, you’re significantly limiting your pool of applicants. Many recruiters will only post on popular, broad job websites like LinkedIn or Indeed. These platforms are good options, but they’re not healthcare-specific, which can be frustrating. Healthcare-specific recruiting platforms, like PracticeMatch, may allow you to find more qualified candidates quickly. With job boards tailored to healthcare, specialists are able to find jobs more easily without filtering through as many irrelevant options. A skilled podiatrist can visit PracticeMatch and immediately see relevant openings, which won’t be as easy to do on broader job sites. Vary your job postings—you’ll open up your applicant pool to increase your chances of finding the best match both on paper and in person.
2. Rushing the Hiring Process
The hiring process is where you and your prospective applicant will get to know each other and determine if you’re the right fit for each other. When this process is rushed, you may find that you’ve hired someone who doesn’t mesh well with your company culture. Healthcare roles require a lot of training and skills for a reason; you’ll want to verify them. Don’t skip contacting references. Use as many interviews as it takes for you to get to know each other. Encourage questions from your applicants. You’ll want this to be a good fit long-term, not just to fill a gap in the staff.
3. Ignoring Employee Retention
Many practices stop catering to employees once they’ve hired them. You don’t want just to hire people—you want to keep them! Your staff should be highly engaged and satisfied with their jobs, whether they’ve just been hired or have been working with you for years. You’ll never keep top talent if you’re not nurturing them. Make sure you foster a culture that encourages growth, work-life balance, and job satisfaction. Provide decent benefits. Check-in with your team often. Encourage career development and mentorship. Provide upward mobility. Accept and adapt to feedback.
4. Not Using Technology
Not utilizing the benefits of technology during the hiring process can seriously limit your hiring options. Sometimes, you’ll be sitting on hundreds of qualified applications for a role. Not only is this a lot of work, but you’re not going to be able to focus on them all in equal detail in a timely manner. Use technology like Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter resumes out by designated parameters. Other AI data analysis software can help you summarize resume key points and relevant qualifications. You can automate email acceptances, rejections, interview schedules, and reference checks. Tech can help you easily optimize job listings for each platform you post to. Calendar and scheduling software can help both you and your applicants schedule interview times quickly and conveniently.
5. Inadequate Benefits
If you want the top talent in your healthcare roles, you will want to take care of them. Healthcare is a stressful and demanding industry, and employees need benefits to help manage their health, families, and well-being. Be sure to offer adequate healthcare and retirement benefits at a minimum to all of your employees. Consider their mental health and emotional well-being when it comes to selecting benefit packages, too. Vacation time, sick leave, and parental leave are also important benefits to have. When you don’t prioritize your employees, they will have trouble prioritizing you in return.
6. Credential-Only Focus
Credentials are vital in the healthcare industry, and you shouldn’t ignore them when screening applicants. However, credentials aren’t the only thing you should focus on. A prospective applicant may have excellent credentials on paper, but they may have a poor bedside manner or terrible work ethic. Soft skills are vital on the job, and you’ll want to make sure your applicants have demonstrated adequate attributes that work well with your practice’s current culture. They should have a personality and work style that plays well with others, including patients and other staff. Interview applicants and get to know them well to discover if their soft skills are up to par. Credentials only paint half the picture.
7. Subpar Onboarding
Once you’ve selected a candidate, hiring is only the first step. You’ll want the transition to be as smooth and stress-free as possible. Onboarding procedures significantly help with this. You want your new hires to be able to ask questions, get to know the staff and company culture, and fit in easily. Even if a new hire seems like they’re independent and won’t need guidance, you don’t want to assume. Make them feel comfortable. Train them well. Have a specific onboarding procedure in place to foster a welcoming and professional environment. If a new hire isn’t formally familiar with your practice’s culture and values, conflicts can easily arise.
Conclusion
It’s easy to make mistakes when it comes to hiring—it’s a long process, and many candidates may feel like the right fit, but you can only choose one. One of the best ways to learn from your hiring mistakes is to encourage feedback—not just from applicants but from your current employees. Let them tell you how well your onboarding worked or how much they enjoy their workplace. Reach out to former employees and inquire what could have been done better. In healthcare, you want employees who are engaged and nurtured to ensure optimal patient care.
Author:
This article is written by Rachel Savage in close association with HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk.