Staffing challenges exist in every industry. The healthcare industry is no different. There is a talent pool shortage across the industry, from doctors and nurses to IT support professionals. HR departments across the industry are struggling to keep pace with this growing demand for personnel. To augment their efforts, hospitals are reaching out to medical staffing agencies to find the best recruits for the job efficiently.
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The Rising Demand for Healthcare Services
According to a study entitled, “The 2030 Problem: Caring for Aging Baby Boomers”, there are four primary explanations for the shortage of healthcare staff:
- Baby boomers are aging and need care
- The senior healthcare workforce is retiring
- Cases of chronic disease are increasing
- Limited availability of new grads to fill open positions
The surging demand for healthcare professionals and the concurrent workforce shortage is disrupting traditional hiring practices and promoting the increased use of staffing services. Today, temporary jobs for physicians, nurses, and support professionals are central to the successful operation of healthcare organizations.
Healthcare Staffing Agencies Bridging the Gap
According to the US. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for registered nurses will grow around 16% from now through 2024. Accordingly, millions of additional nurses will be needed across the country. With such a large-scale evolution now underway, the industry needs to be proactive in managing healthcare recruitment.
Fortunately, staffing agencies have evolved to meet these challenges. These agencies search for qualified candidates and facilitate the overall hiring and recruitment of a supplemental workforce. Here’s how working with a staffing agency can help meet the growing healthcare staffing shortage:
Access to Qualified Talent Pool
Experienced medical professionals don’t normally apply for jobs directly. Instead, they turn to medical staffing agencies to find job openings meeting their qualifications. Moreover, most job posts target entry-level candidates who don’t meet the qualification and pay scale of a trained professional. The databases of medical staffing firms are filled with qualified candidates eager to accept the right position for their unique skill sets
Campus Recruitment
Staffing agencies use campus recruitment strategies to connect with candidates early on, particularly those studying in specialized healthcare areas.
This approach enables staffing agencies to identify and cultivate emerging talent. Staffing agencies shape young talent by ensuring their exposure to the marketplace and encouraging their efforts to round out their skill sets.
Recruit and Coach
Staffing agencies handle more than recruiting alone. They work closely with healthcare institutions to understand their culture and needs, and the priorities of the openings they’re working to fill. They create such a talent pipeline that satisfies the cultural fit and other criteria set by the organization.
Recruiters also coach and refine potential candidates. They help them prepare for their interview, revise and supplement their resumes, and refine their soft skills in order to ensure the best possible fit for candidate and client alike.
A Thorough Understanding of the Industry
Staffing agencies possess a thorough understanding of the healthcare industry, new trends, and the demand for specific roles. Increasingly, the roles in question are not limited to doctors and nurses but include IT experts and supplemental consultants and care staff. The internal HR department at a hospital may not have a good understanding of the requirements for its most specialized roles. In leveraging their knowledge and years of experience, staffing agencies provide a supplemental option for quickly and efficiently sourcing and securing the best candidate for any given role.
Access to Extra Resources
The HR departments of smaller hospitals and institutions don’t have access to the large variety of resources leveraging by well-established medical staffing agencies. While they might post a job offer on their website, social media handles, or reach out to medical publications, their reach is always limited. A staffing service has access to many resources throughout the city, state, and across the nation.
Assistance with Hiring
While many believe staffing agencies only source contractors and temporary labor, their capabilities are much more varied. Agencies also source permanent and full-time employees. Many agencies even assist in revamping an organization’s hiring strategies. They are experts in screening, interviewing, onboarding, and follow up.
Glassdoor reports that the average cost of hiring a new employee is $4,000. The actual figure might vary based on the industry and job role. Recruiters can significantly reduce the costs of hiring for an organization. On the basis of their expertise, they are a significant resource for internal hiring functions that are stretched thin. By relying on staffing experts to satisfy their personnel demands healthcare organizations are free to focus time and investment on core operations, reducing overall cost over the long term
Reduced Recruitment Time
Talent sourcing and recruiting become laborious when handled inefficiently. The need for medical professionals in healthcare facilities is often urgent. It takes a toll on the HR department to have to find and onboard a candidate quickly.
Medical staffing agencies, on the other hand, often have pre-vetted employees in their databases ready to fill a variety of positions. This saves hospitals a wealth of time. Some agencies also specialize in last-minute placements, which work best when an unexpected employee vacancy puts stress on the current staff. Healthcare facilities can prevent burnout among employees by filling the role quickly with the help of medical staffing agencies.
Conclusion
Working with staffing agencies is a long-term investment with considerable upside for almost every organization. In utilizing such agencies, healthcare facilities can remain focused on patient care as; staffing partners, in turn, address the healthcare recruitment requirements as and when the need arises.
