By
Sushil Ghorpade
The healthcare industry has been in the limelight for well over a year now because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, people and businesses have grown to know the importance of this industry and how quickly hospitals and medical centers can get overburdened if the demand is not managed properly. This realization has got the industry thinking about RPO and similar challenges, which is why we are currently in a major state of shift in terms of people management.
The healthcare industry is one of the very few industries where error rates have to be kept minimum. Half a milligram (more or less) or half a second (more or less) can decide whether a person lives or not. With such an unusual requirement for extremely high accuracy, recruitment becomes the single most vital function for all the players in this industry. However, with challenges like shortage of qualified & experienced professionals, constantly changing healthcare reforms, and frequent budget modifications, “recruitment” easily becomes the most essential yet the most difficult-to-perform function for any healthcare provider.
Let us have a closer look at some of these bigger challenges that keep healthcare providers up at night.
- Shortage: The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has projected a deficit of around 60,000 to 90,000 physicians in the next four years – in the United States alone. Moreover, one CNBC report mentioned that the healthcare industry has been experiencing a 20% to 30% shortage of medical coders for the last several years. Additionally, the demand for cleaning staff has been increasing year over year while the supply has been dwindling steadily. With such challenges lying ahead on the horizon, internal hiring teams experience a constant uphill battle trying to fight increasing demand with a fixed, and in some cases, shrinking supply to function and thrive in the industry.
- Turnover: Historical data suggests that the healthcare industry has been one of the poorest performers in terms of attrition and turnover rates. The Department of Labor Statistics data revealed a turnover rate for healthcare jobs at a whopping 30% since 2012! This number is not only high but dangerously high, second only to the hospitality industry. With such high industry numbers, the active decision to not invest in a reliable and scalable RPO solution can have long-term disastrous effects on the company.
- Expectations: Keeping up with applicant expectations is a never-ending game that companies must play to attract talent, especially high-quality talent. For example, a recent PeopleScout survey concluded that 78% of applicants preferred to apply via mobile. A small personalization like this enhances the overall experience for applicants. Applicants, like patients, go through a similar journey with the hospital/medical center. At the end of this journey, one of the two outcomes is inevitable – positive or negative. An engaging and delightful hiring experience can elevate the perception of the hospital/medical center in the minds of the candidates. This difference alone can change minds and push applicants in your direction instead of your competitor. Moreover, applicants are motivated to refer their contacts to your hospital, taking a significant chunk of the burden off the shoulders of talent acquisition professionals. On the contrary, a negative experience can quickly spread like wildfire on platforms like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, hurting your company’s reputation in the long run because once the review is posted, it will be there for everyone to see and for as long as the platform lives.
These were some of the biggest RPO challenges that the healthcare industry is facing today. Now let us look at some highly effective solutions that could be implemented to overcome these challenges.
Also Read: How to Spot Great Talent?
- Innovative Sourcing Strategies: The ability to source talented candidates quickly is critical to winning in today’s healthcare industry. Now, healthcare workers have more options than ever, which automatically means that hospitals and medical centers must have a good reputation to attract a talented workforce. Partnering with a recruitment process outsourcing provider can help healthcare organizations develop strategic and innovative programs to find suitable candidates quickly for open positions.
At its core, outsourcing works so seamlessly because RPO service providers have a market view that internal hiring teams have a hard time achieving. In addition to providing a new perspective on talent acquisition, RPO partners also bring innovation in many types and forms, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, etc. For example, AI can almost instantaneously start searching and contacting suitable candidates after a position opens up. This simple automation can save hundreds of thousands of hours of manual labor in the long run. In addition, predictive analysis modeling can provide recruiters with information about the quality of applicants, their performance range, and the degree to which the candidate is likely to leave their current role. Using all this vital information, the entire hiring process can work faster and more efficiently.
- Scalability: An internal hiring team’s ability to hire effectively has changed in recent years. Gone are the days when organizations always had people lined up outside their door, looking for an open position. Today, market swings in the healthcare industry make it almost impossible to gauge the demand and supply of qualified individuals at a given time. This makes hiring much more complex and time-consuming. A sudden influx of new openings in newer departments or locations can put immense pressure on internal talent acquisition professionals.
When hospitals/medical centers work with recruitment process outsourcing providers, scalability is no longer a problem. Whenever the organization requires urgent staffing, the RPO provider can allocate more resources to meet the sudden influx. Conversely, whenever organizations go through a period of little to no demand, RPO providers can deallocate resources from you and assign them to any other client of theirs. It’s a win-win situation for both parties. This on-demand scalability is only possible when organizations partner up with recruitment process outsourcing providers.
- Applicant Experience Optimization: As mentioned earlier, a positive applicant experience is crucial to attracting top talent. But what constitutes a positive applicant experience? The biggest pain points candidates experience will come from an unorganized internal hiring workflow. Delayed responses, errors in communication, the unnecessarily long application process, etc., are some of the things universally hated by all applicants. RPO partners can help organizations in the healthcare industry create a simple and efficient application experience. Your RPO provider can also review your organization's current recruiting program to learn company expectations and hiring needs. The RPO can then provide opportunities to improve the program areas to provide more experience throughout the recruitment process. Advanced experiences include mobile recruiting, social media engagement, talent development, personal job descriptions, and custom job boards to provide a personalized, hands-on experience. Video interviews are also becoming increasingly popular. The most important aspect of a positive candidate experience is ensuring the right balance of human interactions at every stage of the journey.
- Conclusion: So, these were some of the major factors influencing the hiring activities of organizations in the healthcare industry. Recruitment process outsourcing can be a great way to minimize costs while building a reliable and scalable recruitment model that fits your organization.
By using recruitment services, companies can leverage the expertise of experienced recruitment professionals who have extensive experience in providing solutions to all types of recruitment problems. This helps to recruit the right employees who are most suitable for the organization.
RPO is the most effective technique used by successful companies to make profits and reduce costs. Therefore, for a business to prosper, the plan must be detailed and concise, and holding back on quality directly affects your standing in the healthcare industry.
Exela HR Solutions is an industry leader in recruitment process outsourcing. We understand these pitfalls, which is why we work closely with our clients to understand all their needs and exceed all their expectations. Speak with us today to learn more about our offerings.
Sources: google.com | en.wikipedia.org | peoplescout.com
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