Talent transformation: Who knew innovating in healthcare hiring could be so much fun?

When it comes to talent acquisition at St. Joseph's Health, we've been undergoing a transformation within the HR organization to increase effectiveness and alignment, both strategically and operationally.

The first step was to bring all the recruiters together so that they could start to leverage and learn from each other's expertise. While hiring for each area has some differences, there are certainly best practices and common processes that could be implemented for efficiency. As a team, we then mapped out all of our processes, down to the minutes involved in each, to identify areas of improvement. Two areas soon became apparent:

1. A number of disparate technology solutions were in place. Recruiters were bogged down by manual and transactional tasks and not able to spend nearly enough time on efforts that would move us forward in the quality of our hires.
2. The three areas of hiring – Physicians, Nurses, and Non-Nurses - were siloed. There was little sharing of learnings, collaboration, common processes or technology.

The combination of these two influenced the initial plan to streamline processes and automate wherever and whenever possible. A top priority was the time-intensive process of reference checking. We deployed SkillSurvey's Pre-Hire 360® which is a patented online reference solution that incorporates job specific surveys designed by I/O psychologists. Using SkillSurvey took away the phone tag traditionally involved in getting three references per physician candidate and shortened the time to collect references from 4 – 7 days to less than 48 hours.

But to fully understand its impact, here's feedback from John Cerniglia, physician recruiter at St. Joseph's, who conducts 25-30 physician searches each year, and plans upwards of 90 site visits:

"Previously I was able to go back to my hiring managers with a list of who the references were and very basic information. Now I can deliver a whole report with quantitative and qualitative details about what a candidate's strengths and weaknesses are. This is very powerful in the decision-making process, and also has implications for our longer term development strategy.

"Using Pre-Hire 360 allows me to get qualified candidates scheduled more quickly, and ultimately to plan more effective site visits. Overall, I've been scheduling more visits with the best candidates.

"I used to have to block off 5-7 pm two nights a week to make follow up calls, so my wife is much happier now because I am more present!"

Not only did the automation of reference checks shorten the amount of time it takes to complete the check, but using SkillSurvey, the quality of the references increased exponentially and this comprehensive feedback has implications long after the initial hire. This new information posed several significant opportunities for the team.

1. Candidate placement. Especially for Nursing positions, where we need as many qualified applicants as we can get, we can now be very smart about taking full advantage of great applicants we do have who may not be the best fit for the role they applied for, but would be excellent for another. Using information from online reference checks, we have that extra insight to pinpoint the best match for each person; this might be based on skills and expertise, personality of staff, shift or clinical needs, etc. So for us, reference checking is no longer just a screening tool, it's also a placement tool. Matching based on insights should increase satisfaction in the long term on both sides, as well as foster a more optimized applicant pool.

2. Employee Development. At the conclusion of reference checks, we get back to hiring managers with more insight than ever before into a candidate's strengths and weaknesses. This obviously helps in the selection of the final candidate(s), but it can also now influence onboarding, training, and development plans. If hiring managers are more prepared for the specific professional joining the team, they are better able to set that person up to be successful.

3. Sourcing. Finding new candidates is a key component to our jobs. A big benefit from online reference checking is that you can invite references to opt into your talent pool and so it becomes a passive source of talent for us to mine. Our recruiters are working through this new lead source and determining the best way to take advantage for their hiring areas.

As valuable recruiter time has been freed up from the burden of chasing down references, we have been better able to take advantage of the expertise across groups, sharing ideas, mentoring each other, and taking on new projects. Everyone feels more empowered and more engaged and on track. The automation of the reference check process has provided St. Joseph's with benefits that will have an impact long after the initial hire.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.

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