Many hospitals, long-term care homes, assisted living facilities, doctor’s offices, clinics and trauma centers, particularly in rural areas, are facing dire shortages in qualified nursing staff. This leaves HR departments with the difficult task of recruiting qualified nursing staff who will stay with the company.

Hire a Recruiter

A recruiter can benefit any company of any size. Smaller companies normally lack the staff to recruit qualified nursing personnel. Larger companies normally receive so many applications they don’t have the time to pre-screen all of the candidates. Whether you go with a local, regional or national staffing agency, negotiate the rates to benefit you. Most staffing agencies require a percentage of the new hire’s starting salary. If you agree to pay your new hire €48,000 the first year and a recruiter 25% of your new hire’s starting salary, it will cost €60,000 to hire the newest member of your staff for his or her first year.

Update Job Openings

It is important to keep your open job advertisements fresh. Any listings more than 15 days old indicates to many candidates that the position has been filled or you are too far along in the hiring process for them to apply. Run and interchange multiple ads and periodically post a new ad to your website and job boards to keep up the flow of qualified candidates applying for your open positions.

Advertise

Use search engines to advertise your company’s job openings. The quality of candidates will easily pay for the cost of advertising on Google. Combine this strategy with employee retention incentives and the next time you need to hire a qualified nurse will be due to the retirement of a current employee or the expansion of your company. An extra tip is to use ad extensions to advertise similar positions while you are primarily advertising for an open nursing job in your city.

Establish a Timely Interview Process

One of the best ways to attract the best nursing staff is through word of mouth. Staff are much more likely to recommend your company to qualified candidates if the hiring process is seamless and smooth. Many people cannot afford to go a month or more without pay. If your hiring process takes more than a couple weeks, your employees are unlikely to refer qualified workers to fill open positions.

Implement a User Friendly Application Process

A cumbersome application process is the fastest way to prevent a qualified candidate from completing your application. Get actionable feedback from current candidates who completed your application system. If you need a long application form, capture contact information for potential candidates at the beginning of the application process. This allows you to follow up with candidates who do not complete the application process.

Offer a Bonus

Nurses typically have a large network of other nurses with similar experience and qualifications. Set a predetermined bonus for employees who refer nurses that are subsequently hired. Encourage qualified nursing staff to apply by offering a signing bonus. To encourage loyalty and improve your rate of employee retention, you can offer extra incentives for staying at the company for one year, three years or five years.

The Bottom Line

Many HR departments are finding a shortage of qualified nurses and the problem will only compound in the near future with the retirement of baby boomers. To catch the attention of the best nursing staff, offer referral bonuses to your current employees and signing and retention bonuses to new nursing staff. Streamline your hiring process and hire a recruiter to help you sort through the unqualified candidates. For more information on how to attract and keep the most qualified nursing staff, we are healthcare recruitment specialists, contact us today.

About the Author

Lincoln Recruitment

info@lincoln.ie+353 (1) 661 0444

Recruiting Excellence