A partnership so close We Become You

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:47:00 GMT

Post contributed by Jeff Jurinak. Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyJurinak

I remember the day I started at Pinstripe, there was a lot of talk of RPO, vertical structures, sourcing, pipelining and seamlessly becoming the client. I remember thinking, Wow! Ok, let’s see.

Almost four years into the journey and now I’m making videos to represent a small picture of what we do and what I have learned. Check out my debut below. The most important thing I have learned is that getting to know my clients and being able to focus on their needs makes a difference in being able to deliver better talent. And, Pinstripe affords me the time and resources to do that.

I have worked in several HR roles over the years and was often so busy running from one meeting or task to another that when I finally got back to my desk I had to spend most of my time returning communications to the low hanging fruit, or looking for a position. That worked some days and most days just sated the volume need. Working that way doesn’t produce the best talent or result in the best fit.

At Pinstripe, working on one account, I get to know the company. I get to know what the people I work with at the company are doing each day, and so I know where I can fit in and make the biggest impact. I get to know what the company needs are, what the culture is, and that helps me find and recruit people that will be the perfect fit.

My goal in working with a client is to become part of that company in a way because I’m representing them. The “We Become You: Good Medicine” video showcases a lot of the passion, energy and commitment that goes into “Becoming You.”

We Become You: Good Medicine

Where’s the Red Banana?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:33:00 GMT

Post contributed by Jeff Jurinak. Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyJurinak

Recently, I saw a tweet by S. Robertson: Read an article about bananas. I will never buy a Cavendish banana again. Just had a red banana, it was divine. #bananas

When you purchase bananas, do you ever wonder, “Why is my banana always the same color and shape?” The answer (as you probably predicted) is money. And of course that is right, what else could it be?

Now, when you think of your recruitment team, do you ever think, "Why are the same people working on all the variety of my openings?" The answer (as you probably predicted) is… ok, so you see where I am going with this, I am sure.

Reading Dan Koeppel’s: Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, you learn the future the banana faces from cloning and not being ahead of the curve - a result of being operated by greedy humans. The parallels between the future of bananas and RPO services are interesting. Do your organization (recruitment needs) and your fruit basket (at home) require variety and specialty depending on your needs and tastes? Most likely, yes!

As an RPO provider, do we deliver a cheaper, standardized banana that we can sell to everyone, or do we deliver a variety of bananas that can nurture the needs of those we partner with and will offer the specific nutrients that are needed for an organization like yours?

My thoughts go a bit like this: pure play RPO providers specialize in focusing on your talent needs and offering a dedicated team so we can focus in on your talent needs; not cloning practices from other service lines to force feed a fit. Also, fortunately RPO isn’t a banana so the practice won’t take a hard left or get struck by disease and suffer a catastrophic failure. Other RPO providers that offer a variety of service lines do a great many things, but do they do them all very well or do they already have established models in which to wedge your talent needs?

RPO offers many distinct advantages for your organization; a pure play could be the right solution for you, if variety of excellent talent is what you are in need of, not a cloned out model of practices that promise to provide a model that should fit.

When investing RPO providers, I recommend you take S. Robertson's advice and choose the red banana!

For more on RPO and Bananas, check out Barry Diamond's RPOlosophy blog!

The Next Installment in Pinstripe's Award Winning Series

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:17:00 GMT

Post contributed by Jeff Jurinak. Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyJurinak

Did you know that movie theaters make more money on selling concessions than on movie tickets? I don't know if this bothers, surprises, or pleases you, but I found it interesting. How much money is continuously invested in the advertising of the latest, greatest and most epic movies only to lead you to the concessions!? Fortunately for us, companies looking to secure a strong partner for their hiring needs don't just watch commercials and look forward to the *free extra butter nights (*only available at some locations).

Pinstripe continues its strong presence in the RPO space with another top ten finish on the HRO Today Baker's Dozen list, a yearly ranking to showcase the top providers, nationwide of RPO services. This is our fourth year in a row securing a top ten place on this list, demonstrating that we are not just posting impressive trailers and promising *free extra butter nights, but an exceptional and real approach to pinpointing top talent for every company that we create a partnership with.

A continued and focused intent on building partnerships, not just forming relationships, and tailoring our recruiting efforts to meet and exceed the needs of our clients, has allowed us to continuously move forward and to differentiate ourselves in the RPO space.

We dedicate teams to each client, working to secure top talent faster. Like an Alfred for Bruce, or a Lois for Clark or even a Q for James, we provide a secure backbone for each partner to build, feel strong and move forward in their dedicated area of expertise.

We continue to strive forward, looking towards next year's fifth part in the Pinstripe series entitled, "Being more like us, and less like everybody else."

Not an ordinary company, not an ordinary partner, Pinstripe continues to prove that we are not just counting on hip trailers, or *free extra butter nights, but that we are creating a team that offers our clients the show and dinner, the meal and the deal.

Congratulations Pinstripe on another excellent year, and in the words of Buzz Light Year… ok, I won't, because I know you already know.

~~ The End, Happily Ever After ~~

A Little Magic in Healthcare?

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:44:00 GMT

Post contributed by Jeff Jurinak. Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyJurinak

Patient satisfaction scores are becoming more and more important every year. Each hospital or system obviously wants to have the best scores, but wanting and achieving are two enormously different things. So, how do we get there? A little razzle dazzle, rabbit’s feet, maybe a little magic? Probably not, but maybe it’s worth a try. Several major systems are turning to the entertainment industry for help with patient satisfaction scores. Not what you expected? I read an article the other day that talked about how several systems are pairing up with Walt Disney Co. for help. After all, when it comes to understanding the importance of customer service, not too many places are better than Walt Disney.

Late next year, Medicare will begin withholding 1 percent of its payouts to hospitals. This percentage will go in a pool of money to be paid out later as “bonuses” to hospitals that score well on several areas, one of them being patient satisfaction. This is only one striking example of how satisfaction scores can affect your hospital or system.

Think of the spin you could put on hiring consultants from Walt Disney Co, to come in and shake up your team with lots of creative ideas and positive energy to help your staff learn how to better control stress and see issues differently. The morale up-tick alone would motivate some staff, attract the highest quality new employees and would surely increase patient satisfaction scores. Add to that the actual training, and tools that could be added to your staff’s “tool box” and you are well on your way to seeing your scores improve.

So many mergers, so many buy outs, so many joint ventures, how about a fun, creative, invigorating concept that would help with morale and recruiting? Now I am sure it is not as cheap as the seminar next Tuesday on “Razzle Dazzle” or the “rabbit's feet” decorating contest you were considering heading up, but nonetheless I leave you with this to consider, “If it's a new problem, perhaps it demands a new approach. If it's an old problem, it certainly does.” – Seth Godin

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Productions. Used with thanks, but not formal permission.

Announcing the Winner of the Pinstripe Social Recruiting Contest!

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:13:00 GMT

Happy Social Media Day!

Last week, Pinstripe announced a social recruiting contest in honor of Social Media Day 2011. All we asked was that you share with us your stories of social recruiting success, for the chance to win an iPad2.

We received some great entries. And, the winner is…..

Lauren Haymond. Lauren, we’ll be shipping your iPad soon!

Lauren shared her story of success at a boutique technology consulting firm that did not use outside search firms and had no access to job boards. She was able to determine that a large community of IT professionals use LinkedIn to network and manage their career information. “Through the use of LinkedIn, I was able to identify and network with candidates that would have never heard of my company. I used all of the basic search tools, joined groups and consistently added contacts. Working the network I built through LinkedIn, I was able to make better placements faster,” she wrote. Lauren was able to build a solid network of IT professionals and ultimately make more than 30 hires and increase the overall caliber of talent in the organization, with no applicable search fees.

The honorable mention goes to our friend Bill Boorman, who shared the story of his social recruiting project for the grand opening of the Hard Rock Firenze. If you aren’t familiar with Bill, check out his blog and #TRU Events.

Special thanks to all our contest entrants – we, at Pinstripe, enjoyed reading your success stories!

Social Media Day is June 30th and Pinstripe is Celebrating

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:01:00 GMT

Post contributed by Barry Diamond. Follow Barry on Twitter @bddiamond

Social Media Day is June 30th and Pinstripe is celebrating by hosting a contest open to all innovative and creative recruiters.

The contest is simple: DM @pinstripetalent to share your best social recruiting success story.

One fabulous recruiter will be chosen as a winner and given a brand new ipad2!

This post was originally published by Barry Diamond on the RPOlosophy blog.

Why I Love Being a Healthcare Recruiter

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:53:00 GMT

By Erin Arkin

Just the other day I was asked why I love my job as a recruiter at Pinstripe Healthcare. My mind promptly started making a list...yes I am a list person. Of course, I took a second to compose my thoughts and here are some of the things (yes only some) that I identified.

1. Without providing direct patient care, I affect patient care and outcomes. Every time I work with a nurse manager or hiring leader in the hospitals and health systems I support, it happens. Whether it is the new talent coming in or allowing the Nurse Manager to stay focused on providing the best care (instead of reviewing resumes), these things impact the day to day function of a unit and patient care.

2. The people I get to speak with. Everyone has a story and part of what I love is to listen and hear the story of what drives people to make the choices they do. In nursing, I often hear that someone went into the field because of something impactful that happened in their life. It could have been that a parent worked in healthcare and they grew up around it. Another reason could be that a friend or family member was impacted by someone providing great care and that individual wanted to be able to affect someone's life in a positive way. No matter what the reason, the stories keep me engaged and help me get those people into the right positions.

3. The challenge. I love the hunt and being a detective. When I get to dig around and find those talented people it keeps me engaged. When I have those "hard to fill" positions it becomes more about using resources than it does waiting for people to apply to the opening. Being able to reach out to someone to start a conversation is exciting and challenging as I never know going in how it will end.

4. Technology and Innovation. As an organization, Pinstripe understands that technology helps us recruiters do our jobs better, faster and more efficiently. In some cases, it also makes the life of a candidate much easier. Technology alone won't be the solution but if we have the right people using the right technology we can make a greater impact on our client's outcomes. Not all healthcare recruiters have the access and training around what is out there so I know how lucky I am that our organization embraces and gives us access to these tools.

So now I ask you, why do you love your job as a recruiter in healthcare?

The Excitement and Importance of Healthcare Hiring

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:51:00 GMT

By Tara Cassady

What a great opportunity I had last week as one of our very talented recruiters and I got to meet with hiring leaders for a growing healthcare system in the northeast United States. We are currently recruiting for a number of leadership positions for this healthcare system, which is transforming from a community hospital into a regional medical center. We sat down and talked with 7 or 8 different managers and directors, the message was consistent and the excitement and purpose were solidified!

These healthcare leaders couldn’t articulate enough:

The importance of hiring the best talent
The honor they have in serving not only their community, but now the region
How engaged their employees are and how much support they get from leadership

How exciting for us, we have the opportunity and challenge to bring them the right talent to continue on this important journey. And, how exciting for us that we again get to realize our ability to impact patient care.

Leading healthcare recruitment teams and getting to work closely with Nurse Managers and Patient Care Directors has provided me a great sense of connection and purpose to the work we do at Pinstripe Healthcare! This is easy to forget as we sometimes rush through the days trying to complete tasks. As a healthcare recruiter, have you stopped lately to recognize the impact you make on your community and patient care?

Healthcare Recruiting - Keep Your Eye on the Metrics!

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:09:00 GMT

By Judi Dorazio

A competitive healthcare market, managing turnover and vacancies, ensuring the right mix of new grads vs. experienced healthcare professionals, and managing through the changes resulting from Healthcare Reform. These are just some of the challenges healthcare organizations face while striving toward the ultimate goal of providing top quality patient care. One key component in attacking these challenges head on is to acquire the best possible talent.

There are many aspects to consider in designing a best in class talent acquisition function. However, we will focus on the metrics. It is critical to tie metrics into your overall recruitment strategy. Establishing recruitment metrics will help you track cost and measure the effectiveness of your recruitment function. Additionally, well defined metrics are important for setting performance and productivity goals, as well as ensuring the whole recruitment team is striving forward with an eye on the same target.

There are many possible metrics to track, but it’s best to keep it realistic. Be careful for the pitfall of having so many metrics that they just become numbers that are not tied in with an overall business strategy. When choosing your metrics, ask yourself: "What am I trying to accomplish in my recruiting function?"

These days it’s not only about time and cost, but also quality and satisfaction. Some examples of recruitment metrics include:

Time to Fill
Time to Hire
Cost per Hire
Quality of Hire
Hiring Manager Satisfaction
Candidate Satisfaction
90-day retention
Source Effectiveness
Candidate Pipeline

How quickly have you been hiring bedside nurses to fill your vacancies? Are they the top talent? What recruitment source was effective to bring them in? How often are your new hires turning over? Are you acquiring top talent, with the right skills for your vacancies, at the time when you need them? With the numerous challenges in healthcare recruiting today, tracking metrics is essential to understanding where to adjust or makes changes and to providing clear data towards continuous improvement in your talent acquisition function.

Where Do I Fit in as a Healthcare Recruiter?

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:33:00 GMT

By Andrea Peet

Working remotely as a nurse/healthcare recruiter with a large hospital group, you sometimes ask “where do I fit in?” I know that I am sourcing, interviewing and presenting the best of the best to my hiring leaders, but, where do I fit? In 13 years of healthcare recruiting I have never seen the big picture like I just did a week ago. Yes, I have always known that by hiring the best of the best nursing professionals it makes an impact on the hospital. It helps with retention, turnover, high patient satisfaction scores and meeting hospital standards.

Recently, I received an email from one of my favorite hiring leaders offering sincere thanks for all that I do. I get emails often from leaders thanking me for the great nurse that I found them or the quantity of candidates I presented for them to screen to find that one superior nurse. However, the email that I got last week made me realize where I fit in! The email stated, “I want you to remember that every time one of the nurses we have hired together changes the life of a family or infant, you were part of it”. Never did I sit back and view my role like this. I am part of the bigger picture, but I never thought of it that way. I work remotely and rarely on-site, so I don’t get the luxury of looking at those patients when they have a smile on their face from their satisfaction with the care they received from a nurse I hired. The hiring leaders, nurses and support staff get to witness this every day.

I am proud to be a nurse/healthcare recruiter and love my job. I just never knew where I fit in. Now I do! I also help change lives of our patients, just in a different way.

Elevate Your Healthcare Recruiting Effectiveness

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:43:00 GMT

Post contributed by Jeff Jurinak. Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffreyJurinak

Working in healthcare HR is an interesting journey, with many ups and downs. This can be a frustrating experience in pushing for healthcare recruitment results. How do you differentiate yourself so that you are seen as a highly valued partner to the organization, versus the needed support staff you sometimes feel like?

Do you understand how leadership views your effectiveness and what measures they use to evaluate your results? Some positions (like a phlebotomy supervisor, behavioral health nurse, and administrative assistant to the president) will obviously take longer to fill than others, some candidates are going to make you look bad with their indecision, and other candidates are going to make you look like a super star.

So how can you elevate your effectiveness?

Show hospital leadership in your monthly meetings what you have been doing. Explain the concept of your funnel, how the work you do takes shape and moves forward. Show where there can be roadblocks and setbacks, little bits at a time. If they are a bit in the “know” they will help you help yourself in future dilemmas. Demonstrate that you are proactive and committed to improving your effectiveness to deliver excellent results so that your hospital or clinic will continue to outpace others in the community.

Demonstrate that you never stop looking for new ways to improve department effectiveness, which will lead to high-quality hires and great patient care. Show that you are the type of partner looking for new and innovative ways to increase efficiencies and drive for results. Be engaged in the work you do now and the work you will be doing in the future. This will help you to stand apart as a highly valued partner taking your organization’s talent strategy to the next level.

Technical Skill vs. Customer Service: The Changing Environment of Healthcare

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:48:00 GMT

By Kaci Seals

As a recruiter with experience in many different healthcare specialties, I have seen no specialty that has changed as much as Emergency Services over the last 15 years. There was a time when your typical ER nurse was not only technically strong and knew it, but so did everyone they worked with…and took care of. You’ve seen it… the nurse who enters the room, doesn’t listen to anything you are saying and knows exactly what they think you need before they have even assessed your condition.

Well, I am here to tell you there is no longer a place for that type of nursing in healthcare. With the Emergency Room being one of the primary drivers of inpatient volume, that type of abrupt and rude behavior does not serve the larger goals of a facility. While still adrenaline junkies who master the technical skills, great ER nurses know that patients have a choice and that the patient’s interaction with that nurse sets the tone for the rest of the patient stay. That initial interaction can also impact the patient’s decision to choose the facility for emergency care for them or their family in the future.

So how has this changed my recruitment over the years? I used to focus almost solely on skills. Can they read telemetry? Do they have ACLS? Do they have previous ER experience in a similar sized environment? All of these things remain a priority today, but they are no longer my top priorities as a recruiter.

I am much more interested in a nurse who has a true passion for patient care, who wants to take care of patients and who knows that every patient has a choice. I'm interested in a nurse who understands that when a patient chooses our organization, it allows us the privilege of delivering exceptional care and the best experience possible for that patient and their family.

I would much rather send a slate of candidates who have the latter “softer” skills than a slate of strong technical candidates who just don’t get it. After all, you can teach skill. Compassion and caring are a bit more difficult to teach.

Keeping it Fresh in Healthcare Recruitment

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:00:00 GMT

By Tessa Linsman

Healthcare recruiters have been riding the wave of easy to find candidates over the past 5 plus years. Has our ride come to an end now with the anticipated changes heading our way in the healthcare industry? It has definitely become more difficult to find those candidates with experience and a good solid work history.

So what are we as recruiters doing to evolve with the changing dynamics of the healthcare industry? How do we prepare ourselves to meet the ever changing needs of our clients and remain successful in presenting experienced, high quality candidates for them to hire?

In order to remain competitive and at the top of our game, we need to change the way we approach recruitment. The first word that comes to mind is often seen as a four letter word with recruiters, although I assure you that “Pipeline” actually has eight letters! No more days of waiting for the right candidate to apply to our position, now we have to take ourselves out of our comfort zones and forge ahead into the great world of sourcing aggressively for our candidates. How do we do this you ask? We can do this by trying out new technology-based recruitment tools to help us discover those untapped resources that bring us high quality candidates.

Our companies can offer up these resources, but it is up to us, the recruiters to delve into our new technologies with open minds and a passion to learn and be the best at what we do! This definitely makes our jobs more challenging and in turn more rewarding when we find that “needle in the haystack candidate” from a search string that we just ran.

They say that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Therefore, in the recruitment world if we keep challenging ourselves to learn new technologies and make positive changes to find the best physicians, nurses, technicians and other employees for our clients, we as individual recruiters will continue to be successful and our companies will continue to rise to the top of their industry and grow abundantly! So keep it fresh, keep moving forward and enjoy the ride!

Are You a Nurse?

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:07:00 GMT

By Amanda Liimatainen

Are you a nurse?

I’ve been asked this question no less than three times in the last two weeks. “Are you a nurse? You sound like one and you actually understand what I’m saying.”

I am not a nurse. However, I’m extremely flattered when a nurse asks me this question. I am the daughter of a nurse. I grew up in healthcare. Thanks to Mom, it started when I was only ten. I often joke that once you get sucked in, it’s hard to leave. I have definitely been a patient. And there’s nowhere I’d rather be, professionally. I’m not physically impacting patients' lives, but I do have the ability to affect their quality of care. I feel that my work has a purpose.

I partner with the hiring manager. I work hard to understand the unit, its culture, and the patient’s needs. I translate that into the quest to find the best possible candidate for the unit. I pay attention to the nuances in communication with the people that I interview. I probably have more clinical knowledge than the average Joe, but I cannot extubate a patient, read an EKG, or dress a wound, unless you count wet to dry bandaging on my dog that was hit by a car or a Scooby Doo Band-Aid for my kids. There is so much that I don’t know. What I do know is that I only want to present a candidate that I would want to care for my mother, my father, or my child. There is a purpose and a passion for recruiting in healthcare, as much as there is purpose and passion in nursing as a profession.

Healthcare Teamwork and Its Greatness

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 22:15:00 GMT

By Jeff Jurinak

This is an account from one of my healthcare hiring managers that I thought was worth sharing…

Working in a hospital is an excellent journey full of challenges, fulfillment and excitement. Sometimes when I take a moment to look around I am filled with awe about the work around me. I am helping to create and advance the care we provide, and elevating the baseline of overall health and opportunities for care in our community.

I walked in early today, as usual. As I walked to my office, I saw a visitor looking around nervously, and she looked unsure of something. I was surprised to see someone there at that time and I asked if I could assist. She looked as if she was going to cry and she was clutching the classifieds. She said, “I saw the ad in the paper for work available in your department and thought I would come to introduce myself.” I invited her inside and we talked for a few minutes. I learned about her experiences, qualifications and interests. She was another interesting person ready to give her all, but with little relevant experience and work history.

Not sure how to proceed (I had met with two excellent candidates already), I called my recruiter in the morning to give him the heads up. He talked me through the next steps. Although this unplanned visitor was not right for my opening, my recruiter took her information and said he would explore other avenues or opportunities for bringing this motivated and promising job seeker into the hospital.

I felt relieved and prepared after talking to my recruiter. He was helpful and shared his knowledge, but we have a partnership, so we discussed how I could best handle the situation and what I can do if it happens again in the future. I want to help people, but I also have to bring the most qualified person into my department to provide the best care possible to the people we support. Now, after the discussion with my recruiter, I feel calm and assured that we will handle the situation in a positive way for me, for the visitor and for my newest addition, who I am excited to have join the team.

With our strong, prepared and unified healthcare team, I feel ready to serve the community with energy, passion and competence. I know the challenges will be nothing we can’t handle....

How to Hire the Best and Brightest Graduate Nurse

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:19:00 GMT

By Cindy Yarbrough

Are you experiencing any of these issues?

High vacancy rates
Low core to contingency
Experienced nurses who are unwilling to transfer or make a change
Inefficiencies in orienting large groups of Graduate Nurses
Inconsistent hiring and orientation processes across your hospital system?

Here’s a quick case study about how we tackled these problems.

As a recruiting partner to a large healthcare system in the U.S., we assisted in developing a program that has made a huge impact in these areas.

First, we enhanced our recruiting process to hire and retain the best and the brightest graduate nurses into a nurse academy. Working closely with Education and HR, we implemented a standardized orientation length to meet an individual needs-based orientation. Throughout our system, graduate nurse orientation averaged twelve to eighteen weeks with high turnover in the first year; medical-surgical and telemetry units having the highest vacancy.

The purpose of this program was to establish hiring criteria and develop an individualized orientation based upon the graduate nurse’s needs and initial competency assessment. In turn this would prepare all graduates to be telemetry ready at graduation and increase our core/contingency ratio.

The program was uniquely designed to last eight weeks. During this time, the graduate nurse attended multiple educational sessions which included scenario-based situations to enhance critical thinking. The educational sessions began with an overview of the program, including the role of a Futures Leader and Futures Instructor.

In conclusion, our graduate nurses stated they felt they were hand selected during the recruitment process and had much more support during orientation than they had anticipated. By making permanent unit placements after the program, we are better at matching our graduate nurses’ skill level and desires to our open positions, resulting in higher retention, higher core to contingency and a better ROI.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to address your nurse recruiting issues. I’d love to hear what tactics you’ve undertaken that have worked. Please share your ideas!

Selling Your Healthcare Organization to Top Candidates

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:27:00 GMT

By Samantha Schendel

Today’s healthcare job market is as competitive as ever, and with that comes challenges for recruiters. It is often our responsibility to sell a great candidate on a position that he or she would be perfect for, but which might be at a lower salary than they expect. The market demands superior healthcare professionals – therefore we need to differentiate our organizations from the competition.

One of the great perks of working in a healthcare setting is the benefits, which may not be as widely available in other markets. More often than not, the best candidates will weigh their benefit options when choosing a new employer. This does not necessarily mean that your hospital or healthcare system has to have the most competitive benefits package. Sometimes, all you need to do is provide a different insight and help the candidate fully understand the available options, which can make the decision making process much easier. It is important to sell a candidate on the fact that they are not only caring for their patients, but that they are going to be taken care of as well!

Your organization’s newsworthy accomplishments are a great way to sell a position as well. People want to work for companies that are attention grabbers for the right reasons. Those in the healthcare field are often interested in the news that applies to their line of work, so why not brush up on the most recent research conducted at your healthcare facility or announcements that apply to your specific positions?

Another selling point can be the opportunity a candidate will have to grow in the healthcare field. It is important to educate candidates on the opportunities they are eligible for within your organization. Thus, it is important to have knowledge of the opportunities for professional development that exist within your company, and how they compare with competitors. Is your candidate a nurse who might someday aspire to be a nurse manager? Or a physician who wants to take on new and challenging cases? Why not focus on what it might take for them to meet these goals.

Finally, it is important to be the face of the company. You are often the first point of contact that the candidate has, so you want to remind them that they could be working with friendly people just like you! This might ease the candidate into knowing that they will work alongside professional, helpful people in a solid team environment. Providing a good customer experience sticks in the mind of someone who might be debating between similar positions at different companies.

What helps you sell your healthcare positions?

Change Up Your Lures When Fishing for Top Talent

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:37:00 GMT

By Vanessa Scarbo

Have you ever found yourself wondering what kinds of lures are best for catching your favorite fish? Maybe not. But, if you’re a recruiter, it is highly guaranteed that you have pondered what types of “lures” are best for finding top talent.

As recruiters in the healthcare industry, we at Pinstripe Healthcare know that the same techniques and methods used for recruiting nurses may not be the same as those used to hire nursing aides, or psych techs, or even physicians. Just as fishing lure companies conduct extensive research to discover what works best with each aquatic species, so to do top-notch recruiters and recruiting firms in order to deliver greater results based on these insights. A few analogies may help explain this case.

Let’s first take a look at trout. The secret to reeling in trout is mimicking the movements of natural forage such as minnows, creek chubs, aquatic insects and other food sources. When we recruit nurses, we often are required to speak to them as peers and “mimic”, or represent, clinical knowledge to have discussions that not only build our credibility but also enhance conversations to make potential nursing candidates more interested in the position we are recruiting for. Tools made available for nurse recruiters are essential to make these conversations possible: clinical terms and acronyms glossary, current nursing event newsletters, nursing marketing templates and scripts. These tools allow recruiters to knowledgeably explain details and answer questions regarding the position, and the industry, he or she is recruiting for.

Colors and sizes are important, too. Color and size matter quite a bit when choosing lures for crappie fishing (“crappie” is a fish and not an adjective for that position you’re working on filling). The best lures for crappie don’t just glow in the dark in a luminescent green. Instead, they glow in multiple colors separating out the best lures from the basic lures. Consider social networking. Any healthcare organization’s recruitment department can set up a Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter page, but how many of these sites are being developed for significant use? Experienced recruiters know that LinkedIn pages are well-traveled sites by allied health professionals, and when these pages don’t simply glow green like less-effective crappie lures and instead glow with multiple colors, think functionality and features, the catch of potential and qualified candidates increases. The lesson here is that simply creating a social networking site is not enough; it is about creating a site for your organization that sets it apart from the competition to drive usage and candidate flow.

Recruiting is much like fishing, and the further we enhance our “lures” and specialize tactics based on field and position title, the better able we will be to catch the best talent in the marketplace.

Slip into the Shoes of a Nurse Hiring Manager

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:45:00 GMT

By Baiba Rumpeteris

“To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.”
- Anonymous

It’s easy for us at one time or another to feel a certain amount of frustration with our nurse hiring managers. It could be because they are not responding to a voicemail, email, giving feedback or offering approval. We often feel they don’t understand the importance of getting back to us, but maybe we should take a step back and slip into their shoes. Our world can be crazy, as we juggle requisitions, candidates and doing what we do to fill their needs in a timely manner. But, what is their world like? As we feel our blood pressure rise because it’s Friday afternoon and we are waiting for an offer letter to get approved, what is going on in their world? Maybe they are dealing with a code, juggling beds to accept another patient on their unit, trying to figure out assignments because they are short staffed, disciplining an employee, rushing off to meetings, dealing with life or death emergencies and an array of other scenarios we don’t see.

Just like we are passionate about what we do, they are passionate about their jobs. Most people go into nursing because it is a “calling” and they feel it is what they were born to do. It takes a special kind of person to be a recruiter, and it takes a very special kind of person be a nurse. We may not always see the compassionate caring side of the hiring managers, but I believe that there is good in everyone, and although they may not display that side of themselves to us all the time, they are people who care deeply and have dedicated their lives to serving others.

It is our role as recruiters to develop and nurture the relationships with our managers, empathize with them when they are frustrated, and provide them with ideas of what we can do to help find highly qualified nurses for their positions and make their hectic lives easier. Our world can be crazy, but imagine walking in their shoes.

Proactive Recruitment in the Demanding Healthcare Job Market

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:51:00 GMT

By Lori Rogers

Today’s healthcare job market is growing strongly, especially in certain parts of the country (take a look at the growth illustrated for “Education and Health Services” in this jobs growth report). Yet finding the best nurse to fit that open position isn’t always easy.

Taking a proactive approach to nursing recruitment and an advanced look at the year’s talent needs is key for today’s healthcare hiring leaders. Thinking proactively is especially important given the substantial nursing shortages we are seeing throughout the country. Here are a few suggestions. Hiring leaders can attend nursing school open houses. By doing this, leaders can talk with nursing students that are in the later years of their nursing program who can be tapped into for future hiring needs.

Another proactive approach is to attend annual or monthly state nursing association meetings – networking with other hospitals and employer associations that hire the types of nurses one would consider for future openings is helpful.

During the interview process, it is crucial for the leader to have candid discussions with interviewees on what their staffing needs will be in the future and to provide timely feedback. It’s important for leaders to treat nurses not as a number but rather as an integral team member that is looking to improve the overall patient care. Furthermore, nurses are being contacted by a number of recruitment firms and staffing agencies.

As nursing shortages continue in the future, proactively reaching out through various avenues will allow the leader to build stronger alliances with potential nursing hires and compete with others for a candidate's attention.

Surviving vs. Succeeding as a Healthcare Recruiter

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:57:00 GMT

By Erin Arkin

I recently read an article titled Three Recruiting Strategies to go from Survival to Success in 2011 via Monster.com that hit home. I have been doing Healthcare recruitment for a while but every so often I come across something that reminds me of some of the key responsibilities I have as a recruiter.

As a healthcare recruiter, I often hear from nurse managers that they understand the market. They know that there are a lot of nurses out there looking for jobs and they want to know why it takes so long to fill a position when other hospitals are having cut backs and closing units. While I agree that this is true, those same nurses that are actively looking for work could also not be the best fit for the position or organization for any number of reasons (salary, location, hours, etc.). Educating managers that more "inventory" means you spend more time finding the perfect fit, not less, is important. We, as recruiters, need to help managers understand we are looking for a long-term fit and not a short-term solution.

Becoming a trusted advisor to your nurse managers is also key. Quite often they see the recruiter doing administrative tasks which, don't get me wrong, is a large part of the job (resume review, phone interviewing, scheduling, etc.) but by including some additional information to give the manager more insight into the candidate's background and the market, a recruiter can begin to develop a level of credibility and trust. Do the research on the competitors and degree programs and make sure you share the information with your Manager. They will appreciate it and you will become an invaluable resource.

With an ever changing market place and economy, education is always going to be important. This article not only serves as a good reminder but states it will keep recruiters from "going crazy as a recession-time recruiter" which I feel (some days) is the bigger value. I want to be successful, not only for me but for the healthcare system I recruit for and these are just some of the ways I am evaluating my success to the organization.

How do you measure your success and what strategies are you implementing for 2011?

Continuing My Quest to Recruit High Quality Nurse Leaders

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:04:00 GMT

By Alisa Pirollo

As Tara Cassady wrote in her post last week, there continues to be significant challenges to Psych Nurse Leader recruitment despite the high unemployment rate. Tara listed a number of efforts we’ve utilized in what I now consider to be my “quest” to find Behavioral Health Nurse Leaders.

The Bureau of Labor statistics indicates “overall employment of nursing and psychiatric aides is projected to grow 18 percent between 2008 and 2018, faster than the average for all occupations.” I realize I began this by indicating nurse leaders were hard to come by, but this statistic indicates there’s more to the story.

As I attend my client's “all staff” meetings, I hear managers report about the great job their staff is doing, the great patient satisfaction scores, and sadly, that patients they are seeing have a higher level of acuity than they’ve ever seen. Patients are being admitted sicker and sicker. I don’t wonder why it’s so hard to find nurse leaders in this field. It’s tough. It’s exhausting physically but more often emotionally. The nurse leaders are looked upon to motivate the staff, and in this environment nurture them. Keep them energized to face each day with enthusiasm and positivity. And to do the same with the patients.

As a healthcare recruiter, there are things I can do to help, while continuing my quest. And let’s face it; healthcare recruiters are “helpers.” That’s why we pursued, fell into, or landed in this industry.

Ensure I am providing only “the best of the best” for staff level positions. This saves my hiring manager precious time. He’s not sitting in interview after interview. It’s common sense and common practice of Pinstripe Healthcare recruiters but it doesn’t hurt to state the obvious.
Provide these candidates quickly. Ensure my pipeline is hearty. If staff level positions are filled, managers have more time to focus on things like succession planning.
Don’t assume employees are reading “referral bonus” flyers. Make individual contact with employees. I was startled to hear a Director tell me she didn’t realize my Nurse Manager position hadn’t been filled – she saw the flyer but didn’t pay too much attention. Prod employees to think out of the box. Everyone has a neighbor, friend of a friend, etc. And don’t forget the physicians. They’re hard to get a hold of but most likely have some good contacts.
Keep in touch with new hires. I realize this is somewhat difficult as we are all busy. However, this is the time to forge a strong relationship. The recruiter is the first person they meet in the organization and often the first person they go to once on board for questions of all types.
Always, always keep business cards handy and encourage hiring managers to do the same. I reside in the same area as my client, but that’s not critical. You don’t know who you will run into at the airport, grocery checkout or Disney World.

These are just a few of the things we can do to ensure we’re filling the hard-to-fill, but in demand healthcare leader positions. What would you add?

The Truth About Healthcare Recruiting Reference Checks

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:56:00 GMT

By Jen Bluemner

If you are like 96% of organizations out there, chances are that reference checks are a critical part of your hiring process. But, how much good are they really doing?

An interesting two-part article from the respected recruiting industry website www.ere.net suggests the answer might be that reference checks may not be helping very much at all. Worse yet, an over-reliance on background checks could actually hamper your efforts to hire the right employees.

Providing quality patient care is the mission of every healthcare organization. Arguably, the most important step in achieving this goal is hiring top-notch talent. Ultimately you can’t provide the best care without the best caregivers. In pursuing top talent, hiring managers and HR have long relied on time-tested tactics to inform their decisions when filling physician, nursing, and other positions. As times change though, sometimes it’s worth re-examining and tuning up old habits.

One of the oldest habits when it comes to healthcare hiring is the reference check. It’s so commonplace that you may not have stopped to consider its value. But perhaps you should. The article “What’s Wrong with Reference Checks” suggests that reference checks are actually statistically one of the worst predictors of employee performance.

Some of the biggest problems with reference checks include:
1.   The individual answering the reference check often simply doesn’t have the first-hand knowledge of the candidate necessary to provide an accurate assessment.
2.   As organizations become more and more concerned with the possibility of libel lawsuits from former employees, HR departments are being instructed not to provide the type of value judgments that would actually be valuable as a “reference.”
3.   When references do provide detailed info on potential hires, the information on performance is related to the job they did and not the one they will be doing.
4.   It’s human nature for people to tend to be positive (even when a positive appraisal may not be deserved).

With many factors working against reference checks as an objective measure of a candidate’s quality, a sparkling reference may end up telling you more about the individual giving the reference than the individual being checked on.

If you're hiring a nurse, technician or therapist who is responsible for providing high-quality patient care, you surely want to know that her former colleagues and managers think she's competent and has the capabilities to deal with individuals experiencing a variety of medical issues. But, since it is hard to truly gauge competency and capabilities through a reference, utilizing other information like work history, education, and interview performance are likely to provide the best insight into how well she will perform within your organization.

The Challenges of Behavioral Health Recruiting

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:02:00 GMT

By Tara Cassady

So my 2011 #1 recruitment wish is:

- Locate experienced behavioral health nursing candidates

Even with unemployment rates as high as they are, there are certain positions that continue to be a challenge to fill and Behavioral Health Nurse Managers are one such group. We have tried a lot of efforts to reach this group of people including:

-          Eblasts through our Talent Relationship Management database
-          Targeted emails to board members of APNA
-          Networking through relevant associations, relevant LinkedIn groups and with the physician group
-          Advertising in relevant publications and on Facebook
-          Direct mail
-          Employee Referral Flyer
-          Search Engine Optimization
-          Niche job boards: APNA (American Psychiatric Nurses Association), HealthECareers, Nurse.com, AONE.org, Allhealthcarejobs.com
-          Cold calls to target organizations
-          EVEN…….. Newspaper advertising and engaging outside healthcare recruiters!

Now, I realize there isn’t a silver bullet and it takes hundreds of things, but I have to admit I struggled to stay positive when I brought a number of recruiters together across the region who are working hard to recruit experienced behavioral health candidates and we all have the same result despite our efforts. No qualified candidates. Where are they? Our Director of Nursing tells us that nurses don’t want to go into management anymore – they are in Advance Practice.

I tried to be encouraging – it is about sustaining the efforts above and finding new and creative ways to find the talent. At Pinstripe Healthcare we pride ourselves on being able to fill these hard-to-fill positions that healthcare organizations typically struggle with. So while we keep plugging away at finding the purple squirrels above, I’d like hear from you. What unique and innovative ways have you used to locate qualified candidates for those seemingly impossible-to-fill positions?

New Year, New Recruiter

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:10:00 GMT

By Dana Harris

A new year is almost upon us. Where did 2010 go, anyway? I like this time of year at work. Many of my coworkers and hiring managers are taking time off. The phone is quieter. This precious down time gives me an opportunity to reflect on my year, my accomplishments, and my downfalls. What did I do really well? Where can I improve? How did those 10 extra pounds sneak up on me?

I feel like I did a better job this year with seizing opportunities. When a nurse decides to look at new opportunities, I, as the recruiter, must move! I know that my hospital and my unit have the very best opportunity for him/her, but he/she may not know that yet. I must sell the hospital, sell the unit, sell the organization and sell myself, fast! This year I acted as if every candidate already had another offer from a competing hospital. That mindset created a sense of urgency that I need to have as a recruiter. Even if the candidate is only looking at my opportunities, I have a chance to really impress them with a smooth and efficient interviewing and hiring process. So that is one thing I did well this year. I guess I should include a downfall. Darn.

My biggest area for improvement this year would have been my pipeline. I must work to think past a singular opportunity for each nurse I touch. Just because my current opportunity may not have been the best match for them, an opportunity I have in six months might be perfect. I need to continue to work with future openings in mind and do a better job of keeping in contact with nurses from the past. I’m working on it. My partners in healthcare recruitment are nothing short of genius. They are using technology and social media to create constant interest, build relationships and stay in front of good nurses for today and the future. One of my goals in 2011 is to continue to learn from my coworkers and build on their skills so that I can continue to reach and stay in touch with the caliber of nurses my healthcare organization deserves!

So what about you? What did you do well? Where can you improve in 2011? I recommend that you take some time over the next week, while the numbers of emails you receive are down and the phone is being mercifully quiet, to think about how awesome you were this year and how much more awesome you can be next year. Reflection is good for the recruiter’s soul. Enjoy the holidays, relax and refresh with friends and family. Then come back next year ready to exceed even your highest expectations!

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