Tips for Recruiting Nursing Candidates
As the U.S. population ages, the demand for nurses will continue to grow. Therefore, finding and hiring the best nursing professionals will get more competitive. And with a looming shortage of available nurses expected, creating targeted, highly visible job posts that focus on needs, preferences, and behaviors will be critical for successfully recruiting nursing candidates.
There are many ways you can sharpen your focus and target the best candidates. Here are five of the top tips to improve nurse recruiting performance.
Top 5 Nurse Recruiting Tips
Advertise Where Nurses Search
Job boards like myHealthTalent.com offer a convenient resource for nurses to search job openings. Some boards provide articles, blogs, and other content specifically created for nursing professionals.
In addition, journal advertising–both print and online–can be a channel to find high-quality nurse candidates. Nursing journals are published across a wide spectrum of specialties and regions.
From a broader perspective, search and display advertising can be used to expose your organization to a wide audience, some of whom may not be actively seeking work but when prompted might explore opportunities.
Highlight Career Advancement in Your Nursing Job Posts
Career advancement is a strong selling point for many recruitment strategies. So when you’re looking for active job seekers who are highly motivated to grow, it is helpful to feature career advancement opportunities in your job posts.
By mentioning these advancement opportunities, it will be a signal to job seekers that you are committed to supporting the growth of your nurses. If your organization advertises new-graduate residencies or transition-to-practice programs, you’ll be able to attract candidates into various specialties.
Leverage Social Media for Nurse Recruitment
It’s a pretty good bet that your nursing candidates are on social media these days. As such, social media channels have become essential recruiting tools in most medical fields. The millennial workforce are digital natives, so if you want to appear where they are, leverage the reach of this key marketing channel.
Social media is an effective recruiting tool that offers a high engagement rate with most users. Creating a social media recruitment campaign can allow your organization to connect with the talent pool in meaningful ways and get job seekers to recognize your brand through fun or challenging interactions.
Deploy a Mobile-first Nurse Recruitment Approach
Aside from selecting the right channels, it’s important not to ignore the devices used to find your job post. Many nurses are busy with both work and home life, which often leads them to explore opportunities using their mobile devices.
These days, mobile screen time averages nearly four hours per day, according to marketing insights firm eMarketer. Whether they are actively or passively seeking a new position, the smartphone is likely where they will find your post.
With this in mind, job posts should be easily “digestible” within a mobile format. Avoid lengthy text blocks and use buttons or banners for important calls to action, such as accessing an application, so they are quick to spot and easy to activate.
Actively Look Inward for Nursing Candidates
Healthcare organizations typically post open positions internally first but may not “market” the position apart from adding it to the job board online and outside of the human resources office. Doing so ignores internal passive job seekers who may miss the opportunity before it moves to outside recruitment.
Build a referral network to help spread the word. Leverage internal employee communities by sharing the opportunity with care teams, administrators, department leads, and others.
Add links to open positions in company communications, such as newsletters or announcements. Taking an aggressive stance at recruiting internally can save you money and time, but more importantly, allows you to fill the role with someone already familiar with organizational norms, systems, and culture.
With a focus on your audience and a proper mix of channels, your nurse recruitment activities can be more effective – and less time-consuming.
