Poor communication and processes, results in loss of talent.

Healthcare companies are losing talent due to slow decisions, slow internal processes and poor communication.

Healthcare clients are in a candidate-driven, critical-skills-driven market place. THIS IS REALITY! You snooze you miss out! The recruitment process doesn’t end when the hiring manager says we would like to offer; that’s great but it is most probable that there is multiple other competitors out there doing the same thing, and it’s first in best dressed. You need to move quickly in extending an offer, obtaining the references, and most importantly getting a Contract of Employment out to candidates and getting them signed up to start!

Yes it’s the hiring manager’s responsibility to “sell” the opportunities of your organisation to candidates, but most importantly it’s their responsibility to ensure the candidates you have selected joins your organisation and in a timely manner.

In the last fortnight we have seen many clients dragging their feet in confirming interest in candidate for Radiographer, GP, Medical Device Sales, Practice Management and Sonographer roles (just to name a few). Whether this is because they are busy doing other things, or not prepared to think outside the box to find a solution to their (In their words) ”needed someone 12 weeks ago” job opening. However more diabolical is clients informing candidates they would like to offer them a role in their Practice or Hospital and it taking up to 5 days + to get a formal verbal offer or even a letter of offer and contract of employment to them. How do you expect a candidate to react? How would you react? Getting this document to a candidate is important, doing it quickly is not only professional but shows the candidate; you want them in your team!

Hiring managers with slow response times are causing their organisation to lose out on their most valuable resource —- Human capital! Loosing top candidates with critical skills in healthcare to your competitor, will at the end of the day cost you money, leave you short staffed and increase the time your hiring manager is off recruiting rather than doing the role they are predominately been recruited for.

Healthcare companies need to realise that to get ahead of their competitors, they need to move quickly and hire quickly so their competitors cannot steal that elusive healthcare professional with critical skills; whether that is a Radiologist, Sonographer, General practitioner or a Dental Hygienist. They need to ensure that the time lag to get a formal offer and written documentation to a candidate is communicated. Saying “We will get the contracts out to you.” Is not acceptable, especially when it’s 8 days later and the candidate still hasn’t received the contract!

ADOPT A SENSE OF URGENCY! Once you make the decision to fill a vacancy in your team, be committed to that decision and make your hiring decisions quickly. View the hiring process like a project; meet your goal of hiring the “best candidate” in the shortest amount of time. Indecisiveness, time delays, budget reviews, etc., can all occur; but it is important that you keep your recruiter and your shortlisted candidate informed and advised of potential delays. Streamline the hiring process. The time involved in interviewing, evaluating, and hiring can be greatly reduced when participants in the hiring process are present for each step, ready to participate, and ready to make decisions.

Once you have made a decision to hire a healthcare professional, get your formal verbal offer to them immediately, and get the letter of offer and employment contract to your candidate within 24 to 48 hours of that verbal offer! If your PA or HR team write up contracts of employment, tell them you want them by a specific time. What is important for you isn’t important to someone else. Your organisation whatever process they follow has to ensure they work as a team effectively and efficiently to secure talent! Getting a formal written offer to a candidate quickly is professional, and leaves the candidate feeling good about the offer! If there is a delay because you need someone to sign the contract; then communicate this to the recruiter of the candidate! Keep them informed!

Remember, the greater the talent of the candidate and the critical skills they bring to the market, the shorter the time he/she will be available and the better “recruiting” you will have to do in order to gain his/her acceptance.

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