Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

Hiring the right candidates is critical for any healthcare organization looking to stay ahead of the challenges facing the healthcare industry. However, the terminology and processes involved in the world of healthcare recruiting and talent acquisition can seem daunting. Below, we provide a healthcare recruiting reference glossary to help you decipher healthcare recruiting terminology.

Common Healthcare Recruiting Terms

Allied Health Personnel: Trained and licensed healthcare workers other than physicians, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, podiatrists, and nurses. The term is sometimes used synonymously with paramedical personnel, all healthcare workers who perform tasks that must otherwise be performed by a physician, or health workers who do not usually engage in independent practice.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS): An ATS is a software application that enables the electronic management of recruitment functions. An ATS stores candidate data to allow recruiters or hiring managers to search, filter and route applications. ATS software can also be known as Talent Management Software (TMS), Candidate Management System (CMS) or Recruitment Management System (RMS), with some ATS platforms being tailored or designed specifically for healthcare recruiting. ATS solutions are often used in conjunction with an RPO program for more efficient hiring.

Assignment: An assignment is a temporary task, project or job performed by a contingent worker. Assignments may also refer to the length of time a temporary employee, such as a traveling nurse, will be working for a healthcare organization.

Blended Workforce: A blended healthcare workforce uses both full-time and contingent, or temporary, workers. Blended healthcare workforce planning uses both RPO and MSP programs to fill positions and manage talent and vendor services.

Business Intelligence (BI): BI tools provide a powerful analysis of program-specific data and metrics. BI tools are used with RPO, MSP and Total Workforce Solutions programs and provide transparency between a healthcare organization and healthcare staffing providers.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): BPO uses third-party business service providers to perform business activities and functions vital for running an efficient healthcare organization. BPO services may include payroll, medical coders, insurance specialists, healthcare IT, HR, accounting or customer service.

Candidate: A candidate is a person who has applied for a job and is qualified for temporary or full-time consideration by a healthcare organization. Candidates can apply to positions that are managed by an internal healthcare HR team or a Healthcare RPO provider.

Consultant: A consultant is another term used for temporary employees or contingent workers. Consultants often perform professional work for healthcare departments such as IT, medical billing, revenue cycle management, policy, project management and clinical roles.

Contingent Worker: Contingent is an overarching term that covers freelancers, independent contractors, consultants or any other outsourced, non-employee workers. They are generally hired on a per-project or temporary basis.

Clinical Staff: Clinical roles often have face-to-face contact with patients for the purpose of diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care. Some clinical professions are behind-the-scenes, such as laboratory professionals whose work supports diagnosis and treatment. Clinical roles often require certification or licensing by the state and local government.

Contingent Workforce Management (CWM): CWM is the strategic approach to managing an organization’s contingent workforce.

Contract Worker: A contract worker is also known as a 1099 or independent contractor. There are very specific guidelines for classifying workers as independent contractors, including whether the worker controls when and where work is to be completed if the worker provides their own work equipment and supplies, and how the workers are compensated.

Customer (or Contact) Relationship Management (CRM): CRM systems manage a company’s interaction with current and prospective customers or contacts – including employees.

Direct Hire: Direct hire positions are permanent, usually full-time with benefits.

Diversity Supplier: Diversity suppliers refer to minority, woman, disabled or veteran healthcare recruiting and staffing suppliers.

Employee: An employee works directly for an organization in a job with no specific end date. Employees may be full-time or part-time.

Employer Branding: A talent acquisition strategy designed to make a healthcare organization an appealing place to work. This targeted marketing effort attempts to shape the perceptions of potential candidates and current employees.

Employer Value Proposition (EVP): A unique set of offerings, associations and values to positively influence target candidates and employees. EVP benefits recruiting, healthcare employee engagement and retention and can reduce the need to pay a wage premium for top talent.

Exempt Workers: An exempt worker must be paid at least $23,600 per year on a salary basis and perform exempt job duties Exempt workers are not entitled to overtime pay for hours worked outside of normal 40-hour work week.

Healthcare Locum Tenens Staffing: Staffing of physicians, advanced practitioners, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and dentists who take temporary assignments which involves temporary relocation and staffing firm coverage of housing expenses. Locum tenens workers are typically paid as independent contractors rather than employees.

Healthcare Skills Gap: The healthcare skills gap is the difference between the skills required for a healthcare job and the actual skills possessed by a candidate or employee tasked with the job.

Healthcare Staffing Services: Provide temporary hires that include supplemental staffing to medical facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient clinics as well as the provision of licensed nursing personnel RNs, trained medical technologists, and unlicensed staff home health aides, homemakers, personal assistants, etc.

Healthcare Workforce Planning: The process a healthcare organization takes to develop a holistic, long-term and proactive approach to strategically assessing and accessing all forms of talent. Specifically, healthcare workforce planning links strategic objectives and their associated workforce implications with multiple avenues of talent engagement and resourcing such as direct hire, contingent, SOW and temporary staffing.

Non-Exempt Workers: Non-exempt workers are entitled to overtime pay for work done outside of a standard 40-hour work week.

Independent Contractor (1099): The general rule, according to the IRS, is that an individual is an independent contractor if the employer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done. Independent contractors are also known as contractors or freelancers or gig workers.

Job Board: Job boards are internet-based talent acquisition websites that aggregate either local, national or international job offerings.

Job Requisitions: Refers to a request to a staffing firm or employment agency to supply applicants for a specific position. A job order is the specific set of requirements set forth by an employer for an actual open position.

Per Diem Nurse Staffing: Staffing of registered nurses, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses and nursing assistant on assignments of less than four weeks, which typically does not involve relocation for the worker.

Permanent Physician Staffing: Staffing an open physician position with a permanent hire.

Predictive Analytics: In an HR and healthcare recruiting context, this refers to the ability for a healthcare organization to use information and analytics to determine future outcomes for better workforce management. For example, predictive analytics may be used to analyze data from resumes, job descriptions, ATS and HRIS systems to predict various talent management outcomes.

Pre-employment screening: Pre-employment screening services are critical to healthcare staffing, ensuring candidates are certified and include background verification, drug screening, skills assessment and behavioral assessment tools. A thorough background screen verifies important factual information about a prospective employee (i.e. identity, employment history, education credentials). It also helps gain critical information about an applicant’s character and past history that isn’t always apparent in an interview or application, such as criminal history, credit history, driving record, etc.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A KPI is a measurable goal that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs to evaluate their success related to specific business metrics.

Machine Learning: Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. In an HR setting, an example of machine learning is the ability for a computer program to identify patterns and relationships in data to predict a specific outcome such likelihood of a candidate changing jobs within a certain period of time.

Managed Service Provider (MSP): MSP programs provide end-to-end workforce and vendor management for users of contingent labor.

Non-Clinical Healthcare Staffing: Non-clinical staffing encompasses positions in a healthcare setting such as front and back-office roles across a variety of departments and patient care settings.

Non-Traditional versus Traditional Employee Benefits: Traditional benefits include life, retirement, health and disability benefits. Non-traditional benefits include various types of perks such as child and elder care options, work-from-home days, casual dress code, lunch allowances, etc.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): RPO programs provide direct-hire talent acquisition services for professional and non-professional positions that solve compliance, scalability, cost, quality or other recruiting challenges.

Service Level Agreement (SLA):  An SLA is a commitment between a service provider and customer. Aspects of the partnership – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed upon between the service provider and the service user.

Social Media Healthcare Recruiting: Social media recruiting is a technique that sources or recruits candidates through the use of social media platforms as promotional and/or advertising channels.

Statement of Work (SOW): An SOW is a document that captures the work activities and deliverables to be supplied as part of a contract or project timeline. SOW arrangements are used in contingent workforce programs.

Supplemental Staffing: The provision of temporary workers to a company to supplement the current workforce for peak loads, special projects, or planned and unplanned worker absences. Also describes the regular practice of using contract healthcare staff in hospitals and other medical institution settings.

Temporary Workers: Temporary workers are generally hired to fill short-term positions or to complete specific projects with a set time frame. Temporary workers also fill positions that have irregular or seasonal work schedules.

Temp-to-Hire Workers: A temp-to-hire worker is hired as a temporary worker with the knowledge that the short-term position may transition to a full-time job. Temp-to-hire workers can be managed by an MSP program and then transitioned to the employer once they become permanent employees.

Total Workforce Solutions: Total Workforce Solutions blend Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) capabilities in one integrated program.

Travel Nurse Staffing: Staffing of primarily registered nurses (RNs) on assignments of four weeks or more. A traveling nurse assignment can involve temporary relocation and housing expenses are paid for by an employer, but not always. Despite the use of the word “travel,” local nurses are sometimes used for travel assignments. The most common assignment length is 13 weeks, which may be renewed.

Vendor Management System (VMS): VMS platforms help businesses manage and procure staffing services – temporary, and, in some cases, permanent placement services – as well as outside contract or contingent labor. VMS platforms are generally used with MSP programs.

Workplace Diversity: Workplace diversity refers to a collective mixture of differences and similarities that may include: individual and organizational characteristics, values, beliefs, experiences, backgrounds, preferences and behaviors.

Regardless of the size of a healthcare organization, recruiting the right candidates is an integral part of growth and sustainability. By understanding some of the most commonly used terms in healthcare recruiting, you will be better equipped to meet with healthcare recruiting service providers and more efficient in sourcing, screening and hiring top healthcare talent.

Traveling nurses have become more popular in the past few years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates more than a million registered nurse openings by the year 2024, twice the rate seen in previous nursing shortages. With current nursing shortages, healthcare organizations are looking for ways to recruit additional nursing staff quickly. Because of this, how to recruit a traveling nurse is a growing concern in healthcare.

What is a Traveling Nurse?

Traveling nurses are healthcare professionals who provide care for chronically-ill or homebound patients, or assists medical facilities with staffing shortages. Traveling nurses assume all of the duties associated with nursing, however, they are travel from location to location, from patients’ homes to a variety of healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics and out-patient care facilities. Education prerequisites may vary, though a basic requirement is a nursing license.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, traveling nursing are projected to grow by 19 percent by 2022. Recruiting a traveling nurse who possesses all the qualities and qualifications a healthcare organization requires for its clinical staff can be difficult. For starters, traveling nurses enjoy more competitive salaries than traditional nurses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, regular licensed practical nurses and licensed vocational nurses earn $43,170 per year on average, while according to Payscale.com, a travel nurses’ salary can reach up to $103,893.

The higher wages and a higher level of freedom make it essential for healthcare employers to understand how to hire traveling nurses in a cost-effective and timely manner. In this post, we inform healthcare organizations of the best practices when it comes to hiring traveling nurses.

Set Up for Success

Creating a robust recruiting infrastructure is the key to successfully recruiting traveling nurses. The goal of healthcare HR professionals should be building a cost-effective recruiting program that fosters a talent pipeline filled with candidates that meet all of the organization’s traveling nurse requirements.

The recruiting program should be focused on quality and include processes such as clinical liaison reviews of nurse applications and yearly reference checking to ensure compliance and licensing issues are minimized. Once a healthcare organization had established the groundwork for successful travel nurse recruiting, they can then focus efforts to ensure they attract the most qualified candidates to their organization.

Assessing Traveling Nurse Staffing Needs

Because of the transient nature of their work, recruiting a traveling nurse requires a longer lead time than that of a traditional nurse. Healthcare hiring managers who are able to assess future staffing needs accurately have an advantage in recruiting traveling nurses because they can reach out to candidates proactively, long before the start date of an open position.

The closer a healthcare organization reaches out to a position’s start date, the higher the risk that qualified candidates will have already extended current assignments or accepted new ones. Early outreach also allows healthcare organizations the luxury of additional time to find candidates that are best suited for open positions.

Hiring managers need to take inventory of current nursing staff and account for maternity leave, retirement, medical leave, turnover and available local talent pool. This enables hiring managers to forecast staffing needs well ahead of time and provides the opportunity to source and recruit travel nurses who can provide a high level of patient care quickly.

Provide Detailed Traveling Nurse Job Descriptions

When recruiting a traveling nurse, it is important to provide very detailed job descriptions. The more information provided in a job description, the better the chances of finding an ideal match in terms of skills, licensing, experience and cultural fit.

Job descriptions should provide traveling nurse applicants with full details about the type of unit they will work in, specialty training or licensing requirements needed for the position and what shifts they will be required to work. For example, is there special equipment a potential candidate should be proficient in using? Should candidates possess training in multiple specialties? By providing a clear and detailed portrait of requirements, a healthcare organization will better filter out candidates who are poor fits and find better matches more quickly.

Reaching Out to Candidates and Conducting Traveling Nurse Interviews

Speed is essential for healthcare organizations looking to hire the best traveling nurse talent. Once applications are submitted and qualified candidates screened, HR teams need to move swiftly to schedule phone interviews with candidates. The availability of a traveling nurse can change in an instant, so it is imperative that top candidates are made aware of an organization’s interest as soon as possible.

When hiring traveling nurses, telephone or video interviews sometimes take the place of traditional in-person interviews. When interviewing candidates, it is best to ask unambiguous straightforward questions about the candidate’s clinical expertise and experience, so the candidate clearly understands what will be required of them in the position. Candidate’s responses to questions should clarify their specific skills and experience in detail. Aside from analyzing the candidate’s credentials and experience, the interview should also give a sense of the candidate’s personality.

While conducting an interview, it is important to remember that interviews are a two-way street. While a healthcare organization is evaluating the traveling nurse candidate’s credentials, experience and abilities, the candidate is simultaneously assessing how well an organization measures up to their expectations. Traveling nurse candidates may ask healthcare organizations the following questions:

• What is the nurse-patient ratio at the facility?
• What is the demographic make-up of your patients? Seniors, children, women, low-income?
• How are the hours scheduled? Is there schedule flexibility?
• What are the responsibilities of this position? Will the scope be expanded?
• What is the housing policy and stipend? Will I be assisted in securing housing or am I on my own?
• What are your orientation and onboarding policies for traveling nurses?

After interviews have been conducted, hiring managers should identify the candidate who exhibited traits of a quick learner that can adapt to new situations easily and someone who is a team player. Besides strong clinical skills, hiring managers should look for a positive attitude, enthusiasm, flexibility, good interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with others.

Selling the Position

In a tight labor market, healthcare recruiting is more than just sourcing and interviewing candidates; it is also about selling the job to talent. Healthcare organizations need to keep in mind that most traveling nurse candidates will have multiple options when it comes to selecting their next nursing assignment. To keep a candidate interested, healthcare organizations need to provide as many details as possible and take care in explaining the advantages of the offered position.

Bearing this in mind, healthcare organizations should work to foster favorable impressions of their staff and facilities during interviews and while extending offers to candidates. Healthcare organizations should also ask candidates about their interests and highlight amenities and attractions in the surrounding area that may be of interest.

Common selling points for traveling nurses:

• Awards, recognition, rankings and accolades earned by the organization
• State-of-the-art equipment and medical treatment being performed by staff
• Recent renovations to the facility
• Commitment to nursing staff and how well travel nurses are treated
• Opportunities for professional development

Conclusion

Given the demands and challenges of today’s healthcare talent landscape, applying each of these hiring suggestions may not always be possible. However, if given the opportunity, these tactics can help ensure a successful and mutually beneficial arrangement between a healthcare organization and a traveling nurse.