Why does a growing Healthcare Practice need to be online?

Increasingly, our world is going ‘digital’, especially if you’re in a country like Australia. The healthcare industry is not immune to this, but you might wonder how does an online brand make a difference to your ability to hire staff into your practice?

In this piece, I will explain:

1. What is an online brand, particularly in the context of an employer in the healthcare and medical industry? And why it is important?
2. What tools are available out there for you to build your brand?
3. Eight tips to creating a memorable employer brand

Online brand as an employer

One of the key responsibilities of a practice manager of a medical or healthcare centre is hiring. Adding a new staff member to the team is an important decision and can only be made when you have quality professionals candidates to choose from.

BUT… as with everything else, quality candidates means they are probably the best in the industry, which means you need to make sure you are doing your best to attract them to your practice over others. Good quality candidates, particularly in the healthcare space, are in high demand. This is because healthcare and medicine is primarily a person-to-person service. The individual you hire is the direct representative of your medical practice and the patient’s decision to return to your practice depends wholly on how they are treated at the centre and whether they trust the staff. This is why it’s important to have good staff and you can only hire good staff if the good people are interested in applying to your roles in the first place.

This is where your practice’s online brand comes in.

In the context of attracting new doctors (GPs and specialists), nurses and healthcare management and administration staff, a potential applicant will use your online presence - website, business profile, images, articles published by doctors at your practice - to evaluate whether it’s the type of environment in which they want to work.

Tools to build your online brand

It is common now for potential applicants to do their own research on a practice and find out as much as they can about it, before they even apply for the job! There are many tools are available to you to build your brand online, to create the right first impression.

• Create a professional online profile page to showcase your practice
  A profile page for your healthcare practice on a professional platform elevates it in the eyes of a visitor. Whether you have a website or note, having a business page on an platform dedicated to the healthcare industry, similar to HealthcareLink, shows an applicant that your practice is serious about the staff it hires and your workplace environment. 
  
  One of the advantages of the HealthcareLink business profile page is that you can have employer testimonials or recommendations. This is worth an immeasurable amount to a potential new employee, almost hearing in their own words, what past employees thought about working in your practice. 

• Post a video of the medical practice on YouTube
  Video is very popular these days and it attracts the attention of viewers online. A video allows you to share a story in a very short period of time. A two-minute video of your practice, with a few waves and smiles from the reception staff, nurses and doctors can provide just the right type of incentive for an applicant to choose to submit their application to your practice. 

• Publish articles that showcase your senior doctors’ expertise
  There are different platforms where doctors, nurses and allied health professionals can share their experience and expertise by publishing articles, including on HealthcareLink. When a senior doctor writes about an unusual case he has worked on, he shows his peers his level of experience. He also shows candidates that there is depth in the practice. This is important if the role provides assistance and support to complete a RACGP fellowship. 
  
  Employers signed up to HealthcareLink receive free credits to write and publish articles on the platform, that get in front of over 27,000 practitioners. 

Eight tips to creating a memorable employer brand and profile

The key to making sure your brand and practice sticks in the minds of potential applicants is to ensure it answers the questions they have in their mind.

1. Add pictures of your reception, sample practice rooms and team photos
2. Link the YouTube video you created (see above) so candidates get real feel of the workplace environment
3. Link your social media pages
4. Share who works in the practice, for example, the number of doctors, nurses, support staff, perhaps even onsite pathology and physiotherapy, etc.
5. Detail your work-life balance policy, flexible agreements and minimal out-of-hours requirements to suit the candidate’s needs and priorities
6. Explain how you support continuous professional development and the importance of participation in the registrar training programs
7. Indicate your competitive remuneration arrangements, for example that doctors have the opportunity of earning significant income, billing types, daily or weekly patient traffic rates, etc..
8. Give an insight into the software packages and other technological tools you use within the medical practice, which promotes your business as being at the forefront in adopting change in the way you practice medicine and manage your practice. There are more tips to enhance your business profile page here.

Start building your practice’s online brand here at HealthcareLink - Create a free practice profile