Healthcare organizations across the country are scrambling to find the employees they need in a tight hiring market. With job openings outnumbering job applicants, hospitals, outpatient clinics, and primary care practices are all competing in a fierce staffing arms race that’s driving up wages for in-demand employees. As experienced healthcare workers get snapped up fast, many employers are beginning to take a second look at non-traditional candidates to help close this growing staffing gap.
Healthcare organizations could afford to be selective with their new hires in the pre-pandemic years because they could choose from a large pool of candidates. In those days, hiring managers would scour resumes looking for red flags indicating that potential hire wouldn’t be a good fit. Here are two classic examples of resume red flags:
When a hiring manager sees an applicant with a series of short stints at several different positions, that’s called job-hopping. Many hiring managers believe this behavior is an indication that a potential employee might have a habit of clashing with their coworkers or not meeting their employer’s expectations. Hiring managers also consider that the job-hopping applicant might also leave this job early, and they’d quickly be back to staffing square one.
These assumptions overlook the possibility that a candidate could have an excellent reason for working so many different jobs. Or, that job-hopping could actually lead the candidate to develop a very valuable and unique skill set. Nevertheless, applicants with several short-term job stints on their resumes were often passed over for candidates with more stable job histories.
Another common pre-pandemic deal breaker was candidates who’d been out of the medical field for five years or longer. A lot can change within an industry over that time, so many hiring managers believed that these candidates wouldn’t be able to reintegrate into the healthcare field without serious retraining.
Of course, people sit out of the workforce or from specific jobs for many different reasons. Maybe they’re raising children or caring for an older family member. Perhaps they needed a break to try something new. Unfortunately, these candidates often lost out to candidates without industry breaks in their resumes.
Now that healthcare employers don’t have a deep pool of candidates to choose from, hiring managers are taking another look at candidates with softer resumes. Job-hopping and time away from the industry are no longer seen as concerning red flags. As a result, many hiring managers are reexamining the second and third-tier candidates they previously rejected to find ways to fit them into the office.
Healthcare organizations are also now more open to non-traditional forms of hiring, like temporary or temp to permanent positions. This hiring approach enables an organization to open its arms to a different type of employee without taking on the risk of a full-time hire. Healthcare workers are also increasingly gravitating towards temporary assignments because they allow them to earn better wages and test out a job’s fit before committing to it full time.
Of course, not every second and third-tier resume will be a home run hire. Hiring managers will need to undertake a rigorous vetting process to ensure these candidates can still be good fits within an organization. However, diamonds in the rough do exist, and hiring managers can uncover them with some extra work. Additionally, healthcare organizations must adjust their hiring, onboarding, and supervision practices to accommodate temporary employees. However, both these non-traditional candidate groups can make significant contributions to healthcare organizations.
During this period of hiring uncertainty, healthcare organizations will benefit by partnering with a professional staffing organization like Med-X Staffing Services. Our team has the clinical and staffing expertise necessary to perform the deep vetting process required for candidates with softer resumes. We take the time to understand our client’s needs and company culture, so we know exactly which candidates will be the best possible fit.
Our team also has a large pool of candidates from nearly every healthcare position available to fill your job openings on a temporary or temp to perm basis. This hiring process also requires thorough vetting to ensure the match is perfect on both sides.
If you want to escape the staffing arms race for good, contact Med-X Staffing Services today by phone at 971-314-5170 or by email at paula@myteammedicalstaffing.com.