There’s no doubt that there are some incredibly talented care professionals working within the healthcare sector.
However, it’s just a matter of persuading them to join your organisation.
In fact, research recently revealed that England will be short of nearly 400,000 carers to look after the older population unless the UK strikes a deal to allow free movement of EU care workers.
The reality is, care workers are required to do long, demanding shifts, which can take its toll over time.
There can be no arguing that there’s something putting off up and coming UK professionals from starting off a career in the care industry.
Whether that’s down to the job requirements, the salary or something else is beside the point.
As a healthcare employer, it’s your job to find the best talent from a very competitive pool of professionals – no pressure!
This means competing with other local healthcare employers.
Ultimately, it all boils down to one question; what makes you the best healthcare employer for professionals to work at?
To help you answer this question, here are a few things for you to consider.
Have you created a brand?
A brand is something most of us associate big corporate companies with like Apple and Pepsi.
Although this is an idea your organisation can benefit from as well.
Think of it this way, what attracts thousands of young professionals in marketing, sales, IT and so on to apply for jobs at Apple?
I’ll give you a clue, it rhymes with hand.
That’s right, their brand has earned them an incredible reputation which professionals strive to work for.
They love what they stand for and their products so much, that they’ll actively apply for jobs that don’t even exist by handing in their CV!
The same principle applies to your organisation.
Ask yourself:
- What kind of success stories do you have?
- Have you got a fantastic work culture?
- Do you promote a healthy work/life balance for your staff?
- Is patient care your number one priority?
- Is your work forward-thinking, challenging and varied?
- Can you offer training and development opportunities to both permanent and temporary care workers?
- Do you provide great benefits?
The chances are there will be at least one area you can work on.
Creating a brand takes time, patience and attention to detail.
Are you offering the right support and reassurance?
With Brexit continuing to cast a very big shadow of uncertainty over the care industry, healthcare workers need some reassurance over their futures.
Whether that’s offered via further training opportunities or the possibility of a contract extension is completely up to you.
Naturally, if you only need a care worker for a month or two, don’t promise the world.
However, what you can do is listen to their needs and try to put their minds at rest.
Pull together a list of concerns and motivational triggers for your next care workers to see if there’s a running theme.
Once you’ve established this, you can start to recognise what your candidates want the most.
How does your recruitment drive compare to other organisations?
Like any other industry, don’t be afraid to do your homework on other healthcare organisations.
- What job boards are they using to advertise vacancies on?
- Are they using social media to showcase their brand? If so, is it working?
- What kind of benefits and salary are they offering? Is it better than yours?
Once you’ve collated this kind of information, you can start to pinpoint the areas which are effective within your industry and the ones that aren’t.
You can essentially use this research to develop the ideas and start positioning yourself as the best healthcare employer to work at.
Are you being thorough enough in your recruitment process?
You’ll find that a lot of care workers are employed based on experience and qualifications alone – but what about their values and behaviours?
What will make you more appealing to job seekers and make you stand out from the crowd is if you took the time to consider every element of a candidate.
With there being such high demand in the care industry, sometimes organisations cut corners to fulfil a short-term requirement.
But what happens if you need a care worker for longer?
Are they the best fit for the patient?
Do they have the right attitude to lead your brand/organisation forward?
Always think long-term and be thorough in your recruitment search.
Ultimately
If this is an area which demands too much of your time, you could consider using a care recruitment specialist like us.
Here at Temps4Care, we have a huge talent pool to work with and conduct all of the screening, interviewing and contractual bits for you.
We’ll live and breathe your brand, sourcing only the best candidates for your organisation.
Furthermore, you’ll be using an experienced team who know the industry and how to make your brand stand out from the rest.
This will also leave you more time to focus on the hands-on aspects of your job.
For more information on how we can position your organisation as the best and help you find the first-class talent in a demanding market, get in touch with our team today.
Hopefully, this article will give you some food for thought and will enable you to try new things in your hunt for top care talent.
Good luck!
