If you like to keep on top of employment trends, you may be aware that the healthcare industry has been scrambling to find qualified workers throughout Canada. In fact, according to Statistics Canada, vacancies in health care and social assistance increased by 60% between Q2 2019 and Q2 2021. This is the largest increase of any sector, and means that 1 in 7 job vacancies are now in the healthcare industry. 

With the rising demand for qualified specialists in the field, it’s become an increasingly competitive space. As a medical recruiter or hiring manager, this makes healthcare recruiting even more challenging. The good news is, we’re here to help. Here’s what you need to know to address your healthcare recruiting dilemmas.

Focus on your Employer Branding.

Improving your Employer Brand is one of the first steps you need to take if you want your organization to stand out in a competitive market, regardless of the industry. The competition is now very tight, and you want to make sure that you are attracting available workers to your organization. Here are a few ways to help improve your company brand:

• Enrich your careers page. You can add some photos that show how a typical workday with you would look. Highlight your company culture and benefits.
• Use employee testimonials. Make sure you have great employee reviews. You can even upload videos with your current employees sharing their experiences.
• Monitor employee reviews. Ensure you’re keeping an eye on sites such as Glassdoor, so that you can address any previous employee qualms that may be turning candidates off of your organization. 

Post your job ads on healthcare job boards.

There’s nothing wrong with posting your job ads on the mainstream job boards. However, for more targeted outreach, you should try posting on healthcare-specific job boards. To name a few:

• HealthCareCAN
• Healthcarejobs.ca
• CPHA.ca
• Health eCareers
• HospitalJobs
• CareerVital
• Healthcare Source
• Healthcare Jobsite

Focusing on job boards like this will ensure that you are reaching out to healthcare specialists directly. Hence, you’ll find appropriate candidates more quickly.

Assess each candidate’s soft skills.

It’s no secret that every company, regardless of industry, should assess each candidate meticulously. Look for posts on modern resume tips to help you identify what you should look for in your candidate’s resume. Knowing what to look for should also help you evaluate their skills and experiences. Also, remember the importance of assessing their soft skills. Working in the healthcare field requires professionals to be people-centered in their approach. They should highly value helping others, and excellent listening and communication skills are crucial.

Ace the interview.

After reviewing each candidate’s resume and cover letter, it’s time to move to the next important step — the interview. Before anything else, assess your present interview process and look for ways to improve it. In a competitive, candidate-driven market, losing a candidate during the interview process is something that needs to be avoided. 

Here’s some tips on how to wow your candidates during a video interview. 

Conduct pre-hire testing.

Now that you’re left with only the top candidates, it’s time for the last important step before finally hiring them. Conducting pre-hire testing will ensure that the candidate you choose to hire is truly fit for the job. It also drastically decreases the chances of hiring someone unskilled for a certain position. If you really want to hire someone perfect for the job, do this prior to extending a job offer.

Offer competitive compensation and benefits.

It goes without saying that in a challenging industry like healthcare, you need to be offering fair and competitive wages. Be sure to research the average salary of healthcare positions to ensure that what you’re offering is on par with your competitors. To help you out, here’s a summarized list of top healthcare salaries in Canada:

• Pharmacy Manager – $98,284
• Health Director – $97,500
• Clinical Manager – $93,480
• Health Manager – $84,825
• Program Manager – $82,711
• Program Director – $81,088
• Nurse Manager – $77,771
• Office Manager – $48,459

Adding some employee benefits is a considerable advantage as well. You may consider providing sick leave, maternity/paternity leave, medical/dental insurance, relocation assistance, and flexible work schedules. On top of these, you might consider offering employees paid travel allowance, college debt assistance, and higher education assistance. Check out this episode of our podcast, The Talent Scout, for more information on what benefits actually attract and retain employees. 

Final Words

In this competitive market, it’s important to have a well thought out recruitment process – from how you attract candidates to your role, to the interview process and your shortlisting and selection processes. For more information on how to improve your recruitment process and strategies, check out the helpful guides we have in our Resource Centre. 

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