The world of healthcare, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices is in constant motion. Breakthroughs in medical science, rapidly evolving regulations, and an unrelenting quest for innovation mean that the industry is always in need of highly skilled and specialized professionals to drive progress and save lives. The key to success in this sector often lies in the quality of your talent pool, making recruitment a paramount concern.

Medical industry recruitment is a multifaceted challenge. It's not just about filling vacant positions; it's about finding the right individuals who can navigate the complexities of a highly regulated environment, stay abreast of the latest research, and drive forward the frontiers of science and medicine.

In this blog, we'll explore how Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services have become a game-changer for companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device sectors. RPO services, a strategic approach to talent acquisition, offer a lifeline to medical industry businesses looking to streamline their recruitment processes.

Dive in below to learn more about the role of RPO providers in streamlining processes for the healthcare industry.

Navigating the Complexities of Medical Industry Recruitment

Recruitment in the medical industry is a multifaceted and demanding process driven by the unique challenges and high-stakes nature of the sector. This complexity arises from several key factors:

1. Specialized Skillsets:

   The medical industry spans a wide range of fields, from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to medical devices and healthcare services. Each of these domains demands professionals with highly specialized skill sets. Whether it's medical researchers, clinical trial managers, regulatory affairs specialists, or healthcare providers, the need for precise qualifications and experience is paramount.

2. Stringent Regulatory Requirements:

   Perhaps one of the most defining features of the medical industry is the extensive and continually evolving regulatory framework. Companies must adhere to a complex web of regulations, standards, and compliance requirements set by different health authorities.

   Compliance in recruitment is crucial, as the industry's reputation, patient safety, and legal standing are at stake. Ensuring that candidates have the necessary qualifications, certifications, and ethical standards can be a significant challenge.

3. Rapid Technological Advancements:

   Constant technological advancements characterize the medical field. From groundbreaking research and development in pharmaceuticals to innovative medical devices, companies in this sector need to attract talent that is not only experienced but also adaptable to the ever-changing technological landscape.

4. Competition for Top Talent:

   The competition for top talent is fierce in a high-demand industry where innovation can lead to life-saving breakthroughs. Top-tier candidates are in high demand, and medical companies need to distinguish themselves as attractive employers.

   Attracting and retaining top talent is not just about compensation; it's about offering a compelling work environment, opportunities for professional growth, and a sense of contributing to meaningful work.

5. Time Sensitivity:

   The medical industry operates under strict timelines. Clinical trials, drug approvals, and product launches have predefined schedules that must be adhered to. Delayed recruitment processes can have cascading effects, jeopardizing projects and potentially impacting patient care.

6. Cultural and Ethical Fit:

   The medical sector strongly focuses on ethics, patient care, and safety. Ensuring that candidates align with an organization's culture and values is as crucial as their technical qualifications. Ethical lapses or cultural mismatches can have severe consequences.

7. Niche Talent:

   Many roles in the medical industry require niche expertise. From geneticists to medical device engineers, these professionals are not easily found in the general talent pool. Identifying, attracting, and retaining these niche talents can be exceptionally challenging.

Also Read: Embracing the Future: Integrating Generative AI in Recruitment

Why Pharma, Biotech, and Medical Device Companies Turn to RPO

The pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries are at the forefront of medical innovation. However, this pursuit of excellence comes with its set of unique recruitment challenges. These challenges often include the need for highly specialized talent, an intricate web of regulatory requirements, and the ever-present pressure to speed up time-to-market for groundbreaking treatments and devices. In such an environment, traditional recruitment approaches often fall short of meeting the industry's demands.

This is where Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) steps in as a game-changing solution. Let's explore the key reasons why companies within these sectors are increasingly embracing RPO services:

1. Specialization in the Medical Industry:

   RPO providers that specialize in the medical sector bring a deep understanding of the industry's nuances. They are well-versed in the specific skills, qualifications, and certifications required for roles in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices.

   The healthcare sector demands professionals who are not only knowledgeable about their field but also capable of navigating a complex landscape of clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and quality control. RPO providers with medical industry expertise have a track record of identifying such individuals.

2. Access to a Global Talent Pool:

   The medical industry's quest for top talent often extends beyond national borders. RPO services have a global reach, tapping into a diverse and expansive talent pool. This is crucial for companies that need to source experts from around the world for research, development, and clinical trials.

3. Cost-Effective Recruitment:

   Recruitment can be a resource-intensive process, from posting job ads to conducting interviews and background checks. RPO services bring economies of scale, enabling medical companies to save on recruitment costs while maintaining a high quality of medical and ethical standards.

   By outsourcing their recruitment processes, companies can allocate their resources more efficiently, focusing on core activities such as research, development, and product innovation.

4. Scalability and Flexibility:

   The medical industry is dynamic. Fluctuating staffing needs tend to arise due to project timelines, regulatory changes, and market dynamics. RPO services provide the scalability to expand or contract recruitment efforts as needed, ensuring that companies always have the right talent in place to meet their objectives.

5. Compliance and Risk Mitigation:

   Regulatory compliance is a non-negotiable aspect of the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device sectors. RPO providers with expertise in these industries are well-versed in ensuring that candidates meet the necessary regulatory requirements and can effectively mitigate risks associated with compliance violations.

6. Time-Saving Benefits:

   Speed is often of the essence in these industries, where new discoveries and product launches can have life-saving implications. RPO services streamline the recruitment process, reducing time-to-fill positions and helping companies stay competitive in the fast-paced medical market.

7. Enhanced Candidate Quality:

   RPO services employ rigorous screening processes to identify high-quality candidates. This ensures that medical companies have access to a pool of potential employees who not only meet the necessary qualifications but are also a strong cultural fit for the organization.

8. Risk Mitigation:

   The medical industry is heavily regulated, and compliance is paramount. RPO providers with expertise in the sector are well-versed in ensuring candidates meet the necessary regulatory requirements. This significantly reduces the risk of compliance violations, which can be costly and damaging to a company's reputation.

Conclusion

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services have proven indispensable for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies. They offer streamlined, cost-effective, and compliance-driven solutions tailored to the unique demands of the sector, enabling companies to focus on their core mission—advancing healthcare through innovation.

Exela HR Solutions stands out with:
Customization: Tailored solutions.
Global Reach: Diverse global talent pool.
Compliance Expertise: Ethical, risk-mitigating recruitment.
Efficiency: Reduced time-to-fill positions.

In this fast-paced industry, Exela HR Solutions helps keep you agile, efficient, and industry-compliant, ensuring your team's focus remains on transforming healthcare and saving lives.

Speak to an expert today: https://ehrs.exelatech.com/contact-us

DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.

According to the world staffing association, more than 3 million temporary and contract employees work in hospitals during an average workweek. The use of temporary staff is no longer limited to clerical, manufacturing, and warehouse work. While staffing firms have always had a presence in the healthcare field - nurses, for example - the growth in temporary healthcare staff has accelerated over the last few years. These firms employ not just nurses and doctors, but also a full range of healthcare professionals. Generally, hospitals rely on staffing services to find reliable and reputable healthcare workers. In addition, hospitals can use temporary healthcare staff to fill roles for a short period while they focus on other critical responsibilities. Because of these and other benefits to the healthcare industry, there has been a significant increase in the demand for temporary employees.

What would motivate anyone to work temporarily? Many people would claim that it is irregular or even risky at times. However, that's not entirely true! You may not be aware, but there are several benefits of temporary healthcare employment. If you’ve been toying with the idea of looking for a temporary healthcare position or if you are in the healthcare business, read on to find out some of the most significant benefits of this growing trend:

More Opportunities

Temporary medical positions are an excellent opportunity to get your foot in the proverbial ‘door’ while meeting new people. You can interact with people from varied backgrounds by traveling to various locations or working in different facilities. This can help you with networking and future employment.

Medical staffing services simplify discovering a range of different career opportunities in hospitals, clinics, schools, physician's practices, and rehabilitation centers.

Healthcare will never stop evolving, and as new opportunities and requirements keep pouring in, so will job vacancies.

Scheduling Breaks

Healthcare is too important to be short-handed - staff getting sick, family emergencies, and childcare can result in a decreased level of care for patients. By utilizing temporary healthcare staffing, those positions can be filled, and patient care is not compromised. This allows for the facility to continue to run smoothly by dipping into a pre-existing pool of professional nurses or doctors on-hand that have already been screened by the temporary staffing agencies.

Growth

As a temporary staff member, if you stay with the same institution for a while and perform well, chances are they will choose to promote you to another position instead of looking for a new hire. Moving up in the same company can give you success without the hassle of job hunting and interviewing.

Pay Scale

Most temporary jobs pay a higher hourly rate and may even include a housing allowance or other living arrangements. Some hospitals are in such urgent need of temporary health care workers that they may even give temp staff a bonus as an incentive to keep returning. Most temporary healthcare staff will also receive full-time benefits without being required to work those same hours. Some full-time and part-time staff also work per diem to increase their income.

Also read: 8 Recruiting Hacks That Recruiters Know They Must Use but Don’t

Broaden Your Skillset

Moving from one hospital to another can give you a whole new world of learning opportunities. According to studies, changing your job at regular intervals helps to improve your ability to appear confident.

Healthcare is a constantly evolving profession, and there are always new things to learn. A new facility may offer you something new to learn, or you may get the opportunity to work with a different range of patients. Additionally, each company presents the opportunity to work with innovative methods and technology. If you work in a big hospital, there is likely a more significant division of labor, which means you may have the opportunity to enhance your knowledge within your specialty. On the other hand, a smaller institution with fewer resources may teach you how to handle many roles at a time. As a result, you expand your knowledge and break out from your "regular" routine.

It's Not Permanent

If you are assigned to a position that you do not enjoy, you are not bound to stay there indefinitely. It will be considerably easier to leave if you are unhappy while working as a temporary team member. Having said that, it is important to stay mindful of the number of times you can jump jobs. Too much of it, and employers may think your career chart lacks stability.

Temporary Healthcare Staffing Market Trends

One of the primary reasons supporting market expansion is the growing population of senior citizens. Besides that, increased knowledge about the benefits of temporary healthcare staffing, job-related incentives, and the availability of chances in many locations are other reasons supporting the market's growth.

Additionally, healthcare staffing services are increasingly employed due to the evident dearth of healthcare workers. Travel options, short-term assignments, flexible work hours, and clinical experience at various locales are also available. This upward trend of temporary healthcare staffing needs better ways to scan and hire these workers. Healthcare Recruitment Process Outsourcing or HRPO is the perfect, most efficient way to recruit healthcare staff. HRPO is the process of finding, assessing, and hiring healthcare professionals for a company or organization. Most HRPO solutions are fast and allow you to recruit from staff worldwide, delivering a diverse range of candidates with varied skill-sets.

How can Healthcare RPO help the Challenges Faced by Temporary Healthcare Staffing?

According to some studies, temporary health workers are more likely to get hurt on the job, particularly when it comes to specific jobs that are inherently dangerous. Hiring a steady stream of new employees to work with your equipment and machinery can be risky. Before starting, you need to ensure that your temps are fully trained on health and safety.

Additional Training Time

Temporary staffing is just that: a quick fix. Unfortunately, the more you rely on temporary labor, the more people you have to train and the more time you have to invest in, ensuring the work is done correctly. After a certain point, it becomes ineffective to keep training temporary people for a job that should be a permanent one. This is one of the easy challenges that HRPO can solve quickly. By identifying the best candidates, recruitment process outsourcing can access a large database of qualified candidates and screen resumes to find a suitable candidate for the position. This will save your business training time and money spent on employee training purposes.

Less Time to Vet Candidates

Since you're not making a long-term commitment to a temporary employee, you may be less inclined to spend as much time screening and certifying them as you would on a full-timer. As a result, you may accept someone who is only "okay" for a job rather than waiting for the perfect match. In such circumstances, this is an acceptable trade-off for the ability to move quickly and fill staffing gaps.

In this case, HRPO is the solution. There are several reasons a healthcare organization might choose to outsource its temporary staffing process to an HRPO. Perhaps they don't have the time or resources to do it in-house or may not have the expertise to vet candidates effectively. By outsourcing tasks like recruitment and onboarding, an organization can spend more time on crucial tasks such as improving processes and systems, enhancing patient care, etc., saving the organization time and money while providing top-notch healthcare services.

Culture Fit Can Be a Challenge

Another downside of rapid recruitment of temporary healthcare staff is that they may not all be a good fit for your workplace culture. This may result in some temporary employees who do not fit in with your workplace atmosphere or struggle to collaborate with other team members.

This worry may be removed by picking a qualified staffing partner like HRPO who will consider your corporate culture by selecting temporary staff to send your way. HRPO can help bridge the gap between the employer and the candidate by providing a more personalized experience for the candidate and helping assess the candidate's cultural fit, and making sure that they understand the company culture.

Long-term Planning is More Difficult

Commonly, new hires take anywhere between a few months to a year to become proficient enough in their position to make substantial contributions to the organization. Unfortunately, temporary employees frequently require more time to meet this standard, making it difficult for them to become essential members of your team. As a result, long-term planning in processes and team member duties might be complex. HRPO can solve this problem, too. It works with the healthcare organizations to create a long-term staffing plan by helping their HR identify the best candidates.

As is evident, temporary healthcare staffing can benefit any healthcare organization, whether a big hospital or a small independent clinic. It can be a quick solution to a staffing shortage, and it can also provide a long-term solution to growing your company. In addition, using temporary healthcare staffing can ensure that your company has the resources it needs to succeed.

Exela HR Solutions Offers a variety of end-to-end Recruitment Process Outsourcing services for temporary staffing. You can choose to outsource as many HR functions as you deem fit. With years of experience, Exela is the market leader in Business Process Automation.

The Exela HR Solutions team can help you focus on your business and scale up while your HR functions like Recruitment are managed on time, with precision and consistency. Partner with the right team to solve all your recruitment problems! Find out more here.

DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.

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

DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.