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The pandemic is moving farther and farther away in our collective rear mirror. As of May 5th, the World Health Organization even declared that COVID-19 no longer represents a global emergency. Nonetheless, the effects of the pandemic continue to affect us today and are only expected to continue. This is particularly true when it comes to the healthcare staffing solutions we see today.
During the first few months of the pandemic, we saw a massive decline in caregivers, from hospital nurses to home health aides. Although we have seen marked improvement, the nursing shortage continues today. According to McKinsey, the US could lack up to 450,000 nurses for direct patient care alone by 2025, a deficit of 10 to 20%.
For example, Qualifi customer Saint Alphonsus found themselves in need to fill positions quickly for both screeners to take temperatures at the door as well as ongoing roles such as CNAs and techs. However, the interview tech they used had trouble keeping up with the high demand.
The healthcare industry faces many challenges and it will likely only continue as the population increases and ages. The last of the Baby Boomers will reach at least 65 years old by 2030. In the coming years there will be an increasing demand for caretakers and healthcare professionals.
Needless to say, the demand for healthcare professionals is skyrocketing and that’s made the healthcare talent market remarkably competitive. Healthcare recruiters are scrambling to get the best talent to staff their facilities from a dwindling pool of candidates. Now, more than ever, the healthcare industry needs better recruitment solutions.
However, that is easier said than done for many healthcare organizations.
Recruiting for the healthcare industry is certainly no simple matter. Recruiters in this industry face constant challenges to fill positions and keep them filled with qualified healthcare professionals. To illustrate that fact, we’re going to look at just a few healthcare challenges we’re seeing in the industry today.
First, we need to look at the rampant turnover rates in the healthcare industry that we’re doing today. According to the NSI National Healthcare Retention & RN Staffing report, the average hospital turnover rate in 2021 was 25.9%, representing a 6.4% increase from the prior year. Despite attempts to curb this turnover, hospitals have turned over 100.5% of their staff over the last years on average.
All the while, the healthcare industry continues to grow. The American Nurse Association estimated that more RN jobs will be available in the next few years than most other professions in the country. And according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we can expect the demand for RNs and healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and treatment fields to grow between 2020 and 2030.
The combined growing demand and high turnover rates have created an environment where staffing shortages are becoming a normal healthcare challenge.
Needless to say, this is putting immense strain on the recruiters in the healthcare industry as they attempt to keep existing positions filled while hiring for new positions as they appear.
With all of these challenges in mind, it’s easy to see that recruiting for healthcare isn’t going to get any easier. This is especially true when you consider that many of these recruiters are depending on traditional interviews, either in person or over the phone, to screen candidates. Although this tried-and-true method has worked well enough for decades, we are now seeing it fail as recruiters burn out and remain consistently behind on their hiring goals.
Traditional interviews take hours out of a recruiter’s day. Between scheduling interviews and actually screening candidates, recruiters are facing hundreds of hours of work and only screening a handful of candidates on a good day. To meet the demand of the modern healthcare talent market, it’s essential to reclaim this time and let recruiters focus on what they do best – finding the best candidate for the role.
However, there is good news. For modern problems, there are modern solutions. Automating the interview process can save hundreds of hours and allow recruiters to reach the best talent in their pipeline first — before they go to the competition. Qualifi’s on-demand phone interview platform allows you to easily record your healthcare interview questions, deliver them to candidates, and receive the interviews. That means no more scheduling and conducting live screening interviews and more time focusing on reviewing candidates.
For example, Reid Health decreased their interview time by 44% by working with Qualifi, all without having to increase headcount. Saving time on scheduling screening interviews, Reid Health was able to reach more candidates and hire the best with a humble recruitment team of three.
These automated interviews, more commonly known as the virtual interview, enable healthcare recruiters to tackle turnover through high-volume hiring.
High-volume hiring refers to the practice of recruiting larger numbers of candidates in a short amount of time, exactly what you need in an environment facing high turnover, rapid growth, and talent shortages. Whereas many job posts receive approximately 50 applicants, high-volume hiring can see upwards of 250 applicants. That’s a lot of screening.
And that’s where the asynchronous interview comes in. Rather than having recruiters waste hours of their time scheduling individual interviews, asynchronous interviews allow recruiters to interview 24/7 without scheduling the first one. It starts with the recruiter recording their end of the interview. This interview is then delivered to potentially hundreds of candidates with a few clicks. The candidates can then engage in the interview process at a time of their choosing — avoiding the whole scheduling debacle to begin with. This is then returned to the interviewer. Recruiters are then able to listen and review these interviews back-to-back.
As such, virtual interviews offer the ideal solution for healthcare recruiters.
But the benefits don’t end there. It’s not enough to screen candidates quickly. You need to hire them quickly as well. According to Robert Half, 57% of applicants lose interest if the hiring process takes too long – potentially costing you your ideal hire in the process.
As such, improving the candidate experience is paramount and asynchronous interviews provide that experience. Rather than forcing a candidate to wait days on end to find an ideal interview time for both parties, recruiters are able to offer an interview a candidate can engage in at any time. So, in the process, you’re able to show candidates that you value their time while also being able to engage them almost as quickly as they apply.
Qualifi offers the best on-demand phone interview platform on the market to make these lofty goals possible. Schedule a demo today to see how you can hire better tomorrow.
