Insights

 The healthcare industry evolves quickly, and healthcare workers remain one of the most important workforce in our society. Doctors, nurses, technicians, and support staff are essential in keeping our healthcare system running smoothly, and our need for these professionals will rise sharply in the next 3 to 5 years. Investing in the talent you have now will help you stay focused and optimistic about how your company can lead the way for new hiring challenges the industry will face.

Here we’ll explore ways to recognize, reward and compensate your greatest asset, foster a supportive workplace culture, and encourage your employees to do good things for their communities and themselves.

RECOGNITION AND REWARDS

Caregiver of the Month – This is the simplest and most effective way to acknowledge outstanding employee performance company-wide. A program like this can boost morale throughout the organization and for individuals whose efforts and accomplishments often go unnoticed. It’s important to devise a strategy that includes eligibility, determination, and recognition and to ensure the program is served regularly. You don’t want employees wondering "Where did that Employee of the Month program go?"!

Peer-to-Peer Recognition – By giving your staff a chance to nominate each other for awards and recognition, you’re enabling them to be a part of retaining talent while they strengthen bonds with their colleagues. You can add a simple form to a page on your intranet that gets approved and added to social sites and internal newsletters, and even gamify and monetize submissions and votes. There is great joy and appreciation when you read your company newsletter and see that one of your fellow employees said something nice about you.

Social Media Recognition and Stories -  You can feature employee contributions and achievements on your company’s social channels to showcase your organization as an employer of choice. It’s an effective employer brand tactic that gives an authentic view into what it’s like to work for your company. Even if you can’t think of any other content to curate on a regular basis or decide on the particulars of an employee recognition program of any kind – this is the simplest and most visible approach to take.

Merchandise – The great thing about giving your employees exclusive clothing, gear, and accessories as rewards is that you gain so much back in terms of brand awareness. The visibility, the first-hand experience, and the pride of showing off your brand to colleagues and everyone else goes a long way when the item is useful and high quality. Hoodies, custom sneakers, water bottles, and power banks are in demand swag right now. But you don’t have to spend a lot to have your brand in front of your staff all the time.

Role Promotions – As you think about hiring needs for the upcoming year, think about who you can promote internally first and then fill the role they left. Sure, that sounds like Hiring Manager 101, but when you have a role-based hiring plan up front and even let employees who are eligible for promotions know about future hiring needs, you set them up to strive to attain the elevated role. You absolutely want your most experienced staff to have grown with and adapted to your organization, so promotions in lieu of hiring externally save you time and money and boost loyalty.

Flexible Work Options – When you give your role eligible employees options such as working from home (corporate-based positions), flexible scheduling, part-time work, and role-sharing, you enable them to have better work-life balance leading to increased job satisfaction and retention. Arrangements like this can also help reduce burnout and work-related anxiety. Policies have drastically changed pre- and post- COVID, and it’s okay to be trying to figure out what’s best for your employees and the success of your organization at the same time.

REFERRAL PROGRAMS

Technology – An (1) easy to use website or app, that’s (2) elegant on any device, with (3) engaging and action-oriented content, and (4) built for both internal and external referrals are key elements of referral technology that’s built for success. Eliminate extra paths and complicated rules for making a referral and meeting the requirements by partnering with a company who specializes in referral technology. Employees should be able to refer someone to a job from any work or personal device within a few clicks, allowing hiring teams to understand the data behind all referrals. Using technology to match employees to referrals, administer payouts, and to create an environment of competition is a healthy way to engage your work force.

Financial Rewards – By strategically offering financial compensation for referring talent, companies can attract top performers who already have a light connection to you. It’s an incentive for the employee to make the referral, and for the candidate to leverage their connection to the employee. Referred employees stay at organizations longer, make better employees, and when you offer money to turn your employees into recruiters, you are empowering them to be gatekeepers of your brand, fostering a culture of inclusivity and ownership.

Gamification – A fun and engaging way to increase participation in employee referral programs is to incorporate a gaming component. By adding things like leaderboards that track and highlight referrals on your intranet or referral site to awarding badges for milestones, a friendly competitive spirit is ignited. The program becomes a talking point among your teams, and when you add elements like posters in common areas and visibility on employee newsletters, you can be sure you’ll reach all your employees and drive first time and repeat participation.

EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

Social Media Recognition – Just like an employee may follow your social media accounts and engage with and share your content, you can do the same for them. When your team members post about their positive work experiences or a milestone they achieved, it becomes an opportunity to tell that story to your followers. It’s an authentic, unscripted view into the connection between employee and company that can serve as a component of your employer brand and help attract candidates.

Employee Ambassadors – You can identify passionate brand advocates and empower them to share their stories at industry events, community gatherings, and hiring fairs. They don’t need to be a part of your recruiting team, just positive caregivers and non-clinical staff who love working with you, or industry influencers who work at your company whose networks may intersect with the talent you are trying to reach. These folks can facilitate and participate in panel discussions and podcasts, give facility tours to prospective candidates, and serve as the "faces" of your employer brand and recruitment efforts.

Employee Generated Content (EGC) Programs – There are several ways to get employees involved in content creation for your organization. For example, you can encourage your clinical and non-clinical employees to explain their roles, comment on why they love working for you, and highlight the work culture you nurture on their own personal social media accounts and on LIVE sessions – managed by you - on your owned social media platforms. With EGC, you gain credibility, engage employees, deliver fresh perspectives, even combat negative reviews by presenting a first-person view into life at your company. All of this progress can improve brand trust and application rates when candidates see, hear, and feel the true voice of your organization.

RETENTION

Competitive Pay and Benefits – Pay and benefits should be reviewed regularly to ensure your compensation packages are competitive within your local market. Often times, compensation review can give insight into the reasons talent may be leaving as well why talent stays. A 4% raise can be worth more but cost less to you from a recruitment perspective than paying new talent a signing bonus or offering a higher salary or hourly amount because you are desperate to fill an open role.

Career Pathing and Professional Development – Providing clear pathways for individual career advancement and the resources to get your employees to where they want to be professionally are likely the most underused tactics to retain talent. By investing in your staff’s growth, you are sending the message that you value them and want them to stay. When you offer opportunities to learn about advancements in the field, promote skill certification, and even pay for classes to help advance one’s knowledge in their specialty, you help motivate employees to stay committed to you, even as the competition for their skills and experience intensifies.

Work/Life Balance – This is a direct reflection of company culture more so than the implementation of flexible work options. To recognize that your staff are people with full lives outside of their career is at the core of employee support, leads to better decision making, and can ultimately improve patient care. The last thing you want is for your employees to burn out or to think that the grass may be greener with your competitor because of a more robust work/life balance promise.

Internal Surveys and Exit Questionnaires – Anonymous surveys are important tools to gauge employee sentiment. Through gathering honest feedback, organizations can learn what is working, what’s not, and what employees want in the future leading to decisions that can boost morale and job satisfaction. Doing this regularly (we recommend every 6 months) shows employees that their voices are valued, strengthening their commitment to the company. You can also build dynamic surveys on your internal portals to engage employees regarding current events, programs, and input on company decisions that affect them directly. Speaking with an exiting employee or offering them an unrequired exit survey can also provide valuable data and insight into changes that may be necessary.

Mentorship Programs – Assigning your new and junior level staff to experienced employees to act as mentors can help facilitate knowledge transfer, encourage new and deeper skill development, and maintain an environment of inclusivity and support. Mentors can strengthen their leadership abilities and gain fresh perspectives from younger colleagues while continuing to learn about the changing healthcare landscape and the expectations that candidates have when considering a career in healthcare.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND SUPPORT

Volunteer Programs – When you offer ways for employees to volunteer, you create a number of positive benefits. Giving employees paid time off during working hours makes it easy for them to dedicate their time to causes they feel strongly about, building a stronger connection to the company’s social responsibility initiatives. This increase in engagement can lead to higher productivity and a better overall work environment.

Matching Donations – This is an easy way to double the impact of employees’ donations to charities that are important to them, and shows the company’s commitment to supporting the positive change these contributions can deliver.

Event Sponsorships – Hosting and sponsoring community events enhance your company’s reputation and gives your brand ambassadors an opportunity to shine. And this is not just about supporting local charities and participating in 5K runs. You should encourage parents to attend Career Day at their kids’ schools. You can sponsor the popsicle stand at the summer fair or help build a new playground. Co-branding on a healthy food truck at a local music festival is also a fantastic way to introduce your brand to a younger audience. There are so many more ways to participate in community events than there are reasons not to!

MENTAL, PHYSICAL, AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Employee Assistance Programs – EAPs are a vital benefit to healthcare workers, offering confidential mental health resources, counseling, and support programs during challenging times in their lives. The demanding nature of working in this industry can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout and exacerbates work/life balance struggles. You are in the business of healthcare, and caring for the health of your employees should be of the highest importance. By supporting your employee’s mental, emotional, and spiritual health, EAPs are an effective measure to create and nurture a positive work experience and improve patient care.

Mental Health Days – As part of an effective EAP, allowing your employees to take paid days off to take care of their mental well-being is a generous and caring approach to recognizing their contributions to your company. No matter the industry - but healthcare in particular - there are days when caregivers just need to be the recipients of care, or simply disconnect temporarily and recharge. This gives them the fuel they need to come back stronger and with greater clarity and focus the next day.

Mindfulness Training and Stress Reduction – Workshops focusing on stress management and mindfulness are relatively new to the healthcare industry, gaining popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs like these help healthcare workers cope with the common and also uncommon workplace stressors – those in and out of their control. By providing these resources in a team setting, employees also learn how to rely on each other to get through difficult situations.

Gym Memberships and Dieticians – By offering these benefits, companies can improve employee health leading to increased energy and stamina, better focus, and higher productivity. Employees who learn to eat well – at work and at home – and who are in good physical shape have more confidence, manage stress better, and are able to take on new projects more effectively. There is no question that good physical health (including getting proper sleep) is a key factor in overall happiness and living a longer life.

Nurturing your greatest asset is about fostering a supportive, giving, and empathetic work culture where employees feel recognized, valued, and empowered. While some of these programs can be easily executed, some may be more difficult to implement. We can help you navigate the right approach and ensure your company prioritizes the health and well-being of your staff, cultivates an environment where talent wants to stay, and drives employer brand and hiring success.

 Healthcare organizations often focus their talent attraction strategies on tried-and-true external tactics like job board postings and sponsorships, niche site display advertising, and whatever their greatest competitor is doing to poach their talent. Yet more often than not, the hidden possibilities of what an organization owns and earns by reputation are overlooked because of a lack of resources and expertise, and the urgency with which talent for high volume roles is needed. It’s easy to rely on paid media to get applications, but content remains king and authenticity is the great differentiator.

Our approach to attracting healthcare talent is to start by leveraging and nurturing the channels you own, supported by the reputation and influence you earn in the community and industry, and boosted with media that’s trackable and actionable. Here are 24 tactics we’ve deployed for healthcare companies and how we’ve considered them as part of overall recruitment strategies.

OWNED MEDIA

Engaging & Optimized Website Content – Your career website is the undisputed core of your talent acquisition and recruitment marketing strategy and can be used not only as a destination but also to attract talent through SEO best practices and content that gives an authentic view of what it’s like to work for your organization. Employee testimonials, robust job descriptions, and powerful creative and messaging are a magnet for healthcare professionals looking for the right opportunities.

Informative Blog Posts – Creating blog content is a great way to tell your stories, showcase working for your organization, and establish authority. It’s also a crucial element of informing Google that your site is continuously growing – a dynamic, content-rich destination that gives career seekers the results they are looking for when searching for jobs. Search engines and candidates alike value meaningful blog content, and creating it is one of our top strategies to establish and keep healthcare employers as part of the ever-growing conversation regarding healthcare careers.

Email Newsletters – Regular newsletters featuring job openings, company and industry news, and links to other owned content (like blog posts) are easy to create and automate through your CRM, ATS, or even your company email provider. It’s surprising that many healthcare organizations don’t take advantage of sending regular communications to career website visitors who register for your Talent Community (other than job alerts).

ATS Mining and Experience Enhancements – Speaking of your ATS, we recommend curating a list of qualified candidates who have applied to jobs in your ATS over the last 18 months but have not been hired and invite them to view and apply to available jobs again. It’s likely they have lost interest in your company or got discouraged from not being interviewed or hired for the previous role. And, an audit of your ATS process can find barriers to completion, reasons for drop-off, and functional optimizations that can increase candidate flow and qualified applicant conversions.

Social Media Profiles – It’s never too late to check social media off your list of things your organization MUST consider from a recruitment perspective. No matter your target audience, every candidate uses one or more of the big 5 – LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram, and yes – TikTok. For authentic storytelling, you’ve got to be there, create, engage, and repeat. Your content and messaging are crucial here – creative storytelling is more important than the targeting itself.

Branded Content – Videos, personas, infographics, and ideal candidate profile visuals for specific roles are impactful content types to consider building to engage and convert your audiences. AI can be used here for inspiration, not final executions. Our intent when developing branded content is to create long form content that can be used and reused in different formats, lengths, and contexts to ensure maximum segmentation, visibility, and relevance.

Video Content – Video content remains the most likely to be shared of any media type and it also receives the highest engagement rates. YouTube is owned by Google and is the 2nd most visited website in the world. Now, give your employees the power to create their own video content (called user generated content or UGC) about why they chose your company and why they stay, and you have an authentic story that becomes part of your company’s DNA.

Employee Referrals – Using technology to help encourage referrals, increase visibility of referral-eligible jobs to your employees, and automate payouts and communications is a huge benefit to any organization. But really, any efforts you take at all to let your employees or candidates refer or get referred to open roles will decrease advertising spend, increase quality and likelihood of hire, boost retention rates, and reduce time-to-fill. The more strategic an employee referral program is, the better the chance of success – aiming for 35% of hires coming from referrals is a good place to start.

EARNED MEDIA

Press Releases – Announcing your hiring initiatives and milestones, educational partnerships, and innovative practices and technology from the perspective of employees can generate valuable media coverage and increase brand visibility. By collaborating with your PR and Marketing departments, you’ll become an asset to the organization rather than the department that is often the first to see reductions in budget.

Media Interviews – The opportunity to communicate your company’s employer brand story to industry publications and news outlets presents an opportunity to create new audiences at a mass scale. Your community events, facility openings, and on location hiring events should be branded and involve Talent Acquisition & Recruitment Marketing representatives who you will be proud of being the ambassadors for your employer brand.

Podcasts – Certainly one of the most popular channels for content creators right now is Podcasting. You can allow select employees to showcase company values, work/life balance, and achievements in an engaging and accessible format. Podcasts can be far reaching yet intimate in nature with video, audio, and transcribed content used together or separately and edited for many formats and lengths. A 30-minute podcast with an industry pundit and a Nurse Practitioner can generate short-form content for weeks or months.

Influencer Partnerships – Collaborating with influential people in the healthcare industry, healthcare talent acquisition, or TA software or recruitment marketing solutions can lend credibility and increase visibility with talent who value the connection to reputable individuals. We encourage not only saying yes to these opportunities when they come about, but to also seek them out actively.

Recognition & Awards – The surest way to increase your organizations’ chances of receiving industry recognition and awards is to apply to everything that is relevant to you. Best Places to Work, US News and World Report lists, and the DAISY Award are a few of the organizations that can boost employee morale, improve your reputation, and raise your NPS score to make you a more desirable company to work for.

Community & Event Sponsorships – Collaboration with schools and universities, annual 5k runs, and businesses focused on health and wellness are positive ways to strengthen ties with the community and enhance your visibility and reputation. Your employer brand can really shine here - with so much more than a logo in centerfield. Activating your employees to be the voice of your company in their communities supporting the things they believe in can improve employee retention.

Social Media Engagement – In addition to owned social media platforms, it’s important to participate in the conversation happening in your company and the healthcare industry at large. Engaging with and sharing content from others has a reciprocal effect, and it’s just a nice thing to do. Spending 20 minutes per day on the social profiles of competitors, healthcare influencers, and partners can teach you a lot and give you inspiration. This engagement also includes encouraging your employees to post positive reviews of your organization on Glassdoor and to respond to comments.

PAID MEDIA

Google Ads – This tactic will ensure you are in the top position on search engine results pages (SERPS) on Google. It’s straightforward to manage and measure, and becomes more powerful when you use the data it delivers to optimize your strategy and approach. In turn, the results of the enhancements you’ve made can increase organic search engine optimization (SEO) that will enable you to reduce your reliance on paid media.

Job Board Sponsorships – With Indeed’s ever changing rules (that’s mostly a good thing) and move to remove organic (non-paid) traffic, leading the pack of job boards will get a little more competitive for them. Programmatic job technology companies are deservingly all the rage and will remain that way. It’s imperative to set up these campaigns with expert skill and the goal of maximum exposure to qualified candidates who are actively seeking new healthcare roles.

Display Advertising – Their targeting flexibility, format options, and opportunity for creative brand messaging with imagery and video make display a strong tactic for brand awareness. But with lower conversion rates than search advertising and job boards for specific roles, a fine-tuned approach to your display spend and meticulous tracking are the ways to go.

Social Media Advertising – Like organic social and managing your own profiles, social platforms are where everyone is gathering. U.S. paid social media spend is forecasted at $83 billion in 2024, an increase of over 13% from last year. According to the 2023 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 86% of marketers said that paid social gave their business more exposure, and 76% said that it increased traffic. Content types, audience targeting, and messaging are extremely flexible with native platform search and relevance (what’s trending) being a primary focus.

Retargeting – As we move to a completely cookieless world in the coming months, it’s important to know that retargeting is still possible with zero- and first-party data – the data you collect directly from website visitors, talent network sign-ups, or ATS candidates. Personalizing experiences and using contextual advertising will be at the core of retargeting to make it effective. With first-party data you’ll be able to deliver better targeted job ads across individual platforms and convert talent that has already interacted with you.

Content Syndication – This tactic involves republishing your content on other websites in order to give your brand and the author greater reach. You’ll see this type of content often at the bottom of high traffic sites like cnn.com (see the Paid Content section). This is different from guest blogging which is creating a new piece of content specifically for one publication. There are nuances to creating and publishing syndicated content in terms of authority, linking, and SEO that can greatly affect results.

Video Advertising – YouTube and social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok make targeting, engagement, sharing, conversion, and establishing an emotional connection with your audience easy. The right format and length of your video ad can make all the difference, and it’s important to understand how the different video ad types for each channel are served, controlled by users, and measured. You only have about three seconds to capture attention, so your video ad has got to be impactful the moment it begins.

Native Advertising – Job ads that match the look, feel, and function of the media format where they appear provide a seamless experience to the user and don’t disrupt from the user’s interaction with the site they are on. Sponsored and promoted posts on Instagram and LinkedIn and recommended articles on Yahoo are examples of this tactic. Native ads are typically very polished and clearly labeled as ads, usually easily distinguishable from organic content.

Streaming Video & Audio – With their popularity continuously increasing with promises of better viewing and listening experiences, streaming services are raising rates and adding more ads and commercials to increase revenue. This is an opportunity for healthcare organizations to increase brand awareness within younger audiences to introduce them to careers in the industry at a time when fresh talent is needed the most. The next five years will be crucial to engage and convert an entirely new generation of healthcare workers, and these platforms are where they spend much of their free time.

We can help you develop the attraction strategy that’s right for your organization. That process will likely involve shifting budget from ineffective, expensive, and immeasurable tactics to those that are just the opposite. We’ll do this with baseline data, clear goals and ROI expectations, and your desire to be innovative and enviable by your competition.

 In today's competitive job market, attracting and retaining top healthcare talent is a priority. The landscape of Talent Acquisition solutions has evolved significantly, and in this digital age, the importance of a strong employer brand cannot be overstated – it’s a powerful differentiator and has direct impact on the success of the organization.

Companies that have strong employer brands are winning in every way. Couple a strong employer brand with the current digital marketing trends, and you’ve got the competitive edge you need without the abundance of funds that some large organizations have.

However, according to Talent Acquisition leaders, financial and capital resources are the biggest barriers to building and nurturing an effective employer brand. That response is no surprise, but it goes much deeper than that. It also has a lot to do with the personnel on your team, their expertise, workloads, and available time, and how you engage and enable your employees to be part of the Talent Acquisition process.

So how do you do better without increasing headcount and budget? By understanding the following truths and considering partnerships that fit into your Talent Acquisition budget and make the assets and resources you already have more effective. Things are changing rapidly, and it's already too late if you don’t start now.

Build A Strong Employer Brand

Talent Acquisition professionals are aware that they’ll need to do more with less in 2024. And it’s no secret that employers perform better in terms of their recruitment marketing efforts when they have a strong employer brand. Better outcomes also improve the internal perception that an employer brand is working. That positive outlook further enhances your brand, incentivizes your employees to communicate it externally and stay with the organization, and impacts the bottom line in terms of less spend and time on recruiting outside talent.

Employee and candidate surveys, retention rates, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and engagement with your brand on social are great ways to measure your brand internally and externally.

Your Employer Brand is not something you write; it’s what you are – that’s why the voice of your employees is such a crucial part of getting Employer Branding right.

Authenticity and transparency are key in shaping a compelling employer brand that resonates with prospective candidates. From your career website headlines to your calls-to-action and your job descriptions. How are you unique, and how do your employees thrive? These are the questions an effective Employer Brand should answer.

Overcome Barriers

Oftentimes, Employer Brand strategy and Recruitment Marketing are managed by different teams. HR controls day-to-day management, marketing controls design and messaging, talent acquisition controls strategy & execution, and leadership controls the budget. This synergy requires teamwork, recognition of one another’s value, and clear expectations of deliverables.

The most essential part of this alliance is securing leadership buy-in for the strategy developed. This will likely require a business case, competitive intelligence, and an ROI evaluation. A polished, business goal-oriented approach will ensure a seat at the table when budgeting decisions are made.

Job advertising is getting more competitive and expensive every year, and while metrics are abundant, recruitment marketing leaders rarely feel that paid advertising works. Indeed and LinkedIn drive the lion's share of traffic and applications to jobs, but there is so much volume on these sites it’s difficult to really stand out.

Leverage Digital Marketing Trends Skillfully

For Talent Acquisition & Recruitment Marketing professionals in 2024, it’s imperative that you understand what AI tools such as Chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Bard can do and what they can’t do. AI should not be used to write your content, social posts, or job descriptions. Still, it can be used for inspiration, data benchmarking, boosting SEO performance, predictive modeling, and optimizing media buys. AI will not replace your TA team, but that team will evolve into a blend of creative and analytical thinkers using AI models to become more efficient and more quickly.

In a future "cookieless" world, zero and first-party data will be crucial, and companies need to start adapting to the new norm and get creative with tracking marketing efforts. With upcoming changes to Google and iOS to launch soon, building email and mobile # lists, conducting website and social surveys, and re-engaging networks already built are several ways to collect and leverage this type of data.

Personalization has been a strategic pillar in career website development for several years. In 2024, it will become even more prevalent. With the right tracking mechanisms and technology in place, job seekers no longer have to search for jobs, or indicate location, or select preferences. When used correctly, entire experiences can be customized to any aspect of a visitor’s characteristics, demographics, and behavior.

Prioritize The Candidate Experience

Your career website is still the core of the candidate experience – nearly 90% of job seekers will use it to learn more about working for your organization. It’s imperative that the site is branded, user-friendly, full of engaging content, including videos, informative, and integrated with your Applicant System (especially on mobile devices since that is likely where most of your traffic comes from) and that it encourages action.

High applicant drop-off in the 80-90% range for healthcare is not unusual but can be easily reduced with an ATS experience audit and restructure. Organizations can’t let the most important part of the applicant process be the very thing that alienates, discourages, or frustrates job seekers into not beginning or completing an application.

How your organization communicates with applicants post-apply is also important. Design your Thank You page to make it engaging and use it to encourage applicants to stay connected to you while you are reviewing their application. Don’t make applicants enter the same data multiple times, and ensure resume parsing is working correctly. Let your applicants know their application status at every step of the process. If your ATS does not have these capabilities, you may need to look for a new one that meets the needs of your applicants.

Recognize That Job Seekers Are In Control

Job seekers have many options to connect with companies and apply for jobs. Sometimes there are so many options, making it difficult for recruiting teams to manage and measure many sources. Healthcare companies have made changes to work practices, shifts and schedule flexibility, remote and telework jobs, and job sharing at the location and unit level to meet candidate and employee expectations and to stay ahead of competitors.

The reality is that healthcare professionals want to work for an organization based on brand recognition and experience. The requirements, responsibilities, skills, and qualifications for a similar role at one organization or another are not very different. Our research has shown that healthcare professionals, more than those in other industries, seek out specific employers and will work hard to get a job at a certain company.

The Gig Economy is prevalent in the healthcare industry, with independent clinical & non-clinical professionals monetizing their knowledge and experience in roles like Per Diem, Traveling Nurses, and Technology. This can help lower recruitment and staffing costs by giving you the flexibility to hire short-term based on specific staffing needs.

Embrace A Multi-Channel Approach

Design your multi-channel approach to Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing in this order: Owned, Earned, and Paid. Advertise and engage on channels you OWN; then by leveraging the channels, you EARN visibility & credibility, augmented by PAID advertising when you need it. This approach relies on the least amount of external spending at the start of your journey.

Employee Referrals remain the most popular method to attract, hire, and retain healthcare talent, but many companies don’t make it easy for employees to refer the right people. 50% of hires is a good target for the total number of hires that can be attributed to an employee referral. That requires a program that is visible, accessible, and usable for every employee everywhere.

A company with a strong Employer Brand is likely to use social media, actively participating on employer review sites, and engaging on industry-specific platforms. Search Engine Marketing, Display Advertising, and In-App Advertising are also channels where organizations can attract the talent they need with precise targeting and messaging control. And, of course, for high-volume visibility and conversions, LinkedIn and Indeed job postings perform well.

Invest in Continuous Improvement

Building a strong employer brand is an ongoing journey that requires continuous improvement and adaptation. Companies must track performance metrics, solicit feedback from employees and candidates, and remain agile in response to evolving market trends and candidate preferences. Organizations that commit to innovation and continued learning are better equipped for long-term success and sustainability.

Infinitee Healthcare – Employer Branding, Amplified

We provide hospitals and healthcare systems with customized solutions and flexible strategies to help you navigate today’s complex labor market and maximize your recruitment marketing performance. Our consultative approach blends proven healthcare talent acquisition solutions with data-driven insights to build, deploy, and optimize recruitment marketing plans tailored to your specific hiring goals and challenges—fortifying your employer brand and boosting candidate volume at every level.

Contact Vince@infinitee.com for a free, high-level audit of your overall candidate experience journey. It will include insights into brand visibility, career site performance, and application conversions.