Feature article - Chris Holdcroft, NAHCR Directions, Winter 2014

Winter 2014

Alternative Recruitment Strategies: A Proven Approach for Finding Better Candidates and Reducing Employee Turnover Chris Holdcroft Senior Consultant for Talent Management, HealthcareSource Health care recruiting can be challenging across the board, but it’s especially true for entry level positions in departments with high turnover or for atypical positions.

Large pools of candidates are needed, there’s often not enough time to conduct thorough phone screens, and time is wasted interviewing “non-viable” applicants. When new hires are unaware of job expectations, it often leads to turnover.

Alternative recruitment strategies are a solution that has worked well for Bronson Healthcare Group. This regional, not-for-profit health system in southwest Michigan created three innovative programs to hire Environmental Services staff, temporary trainers, as well as certain types of nurses and patient care assistants.

Launching Alternative Recruitment with the Test Drive Program Bronson Healthcare Group began exploring alternative recruitment after learning about a program that the local Michigan Works! office was developing. This workforce development organization was collaborating with area industries to provide candidates with a realistic picture of what work was like in different sectors. Bronson Healthcare Group explored how to implement a similar program in-house. Bronson had a large number of positions and high turnover within Environmental Services (EVS) which made that department a good place to start. EVS needed to not only attract candidates, but also reduce the high turnover.

“Our first step was interviewing management and employees to generate buy-in and to understand the characteristics of successful new hires,” said Emily Miley, MPA, Employment Specialist at Bronson Healthcare Group. Common problems in the EVS department included attendance and punctuality, not meeting appearance standards, not understanding the responsibilities of working in a hospital environment, and failing to see how their position had direct impact on the success of the hospital.

In addition, the HR challenges were numerous: many candidates didn’t have a large amount of work experience, candidates often lacked an understanding of the requirements of the position, and phone interviews were difficult due to communication difficulties or scheduling issues. With so many open positions, many managers were often placed in a situation where they were interested in the same candidate and ultimately competed with each other.

In response, the HR team at Bronson Healthcare Group developed the Test Drive Program. EVS candidates were invited to a two to three hour on-site informational session.

Since candidates were required to RSVP, individuals who failed to RSVP self-excluded themselves. “The focus of the sessions is twofold. Candidates get more information about careers in healthcare and what EVS jobs are like, while managers and recruiters have the opportunity to observe and conduct pre-interviews,” said Miley. The Test Drive sessions provided EVS candidates with an overview of the Bronson system, as well as provide insight into job expectations, standards of conduct, attendance and appearance requirements, hours, pay and benefits.

Attendees also learned interviewing and resume tips. All attendees were asked to participate in an interactive team project. This let recruiters and hiring managers see how candidates collaborated with potential teammates. At the conclusion of the meeting, recruiters debriefed with hiring managers and identified candidates to invite back for more in-depth interviews. “The candidate reactions have been very positive and we’ve gotten higher quality candidates,” noted Miley. “Setting expectations upfront is very important because working in a hospital is very different from cleaning offices or hotels.”

The results have been impressive. EVS turnover, transfers, and candidate screening time have significantly decreased.

Turnover in 2007 was 24.5 percent and year to date in 2014, it’s 8.4 percent! The estimated cost savings in the first year of the program was $65,900. Bronson Healthcare Group has now expanded the Test Drive program to other departments including Food Service, Security, Material Management and Patient Transport, Patient Care Assistants, Patient Sitters, Medical Assistants, and Registered Nurses.

Expanding Alternative Recruitment to Atypical Hospital Positions and Nursing When Bronson Healthcare Group implemented its Epic system, it needed to hire 40 trainers for the go-live within a few weeks. These were unique positions for the HR team, since they were temporary, six-month assignments that required specific skills that health care recruiters don’t usually look for. The ideal applicants needed excellent presentation skills, open availability, and had to complete a six to eight week training course to be formally credentialed.

NAHCR • P.O. Box 14365 • Lenexa, KS 66285-4365 • Phone: 913.895.4627 • Fax: 913.895.4652 • Email: nahcr@goAMP.com

Winter 2014 In response, the recruiting team modified the Test Drive program.

“We invited about 20 candidates for each session and then split the attendees into two groups. Each participant had a five minute, one-on-one interview with three different people.

In addition, attendees were given an advance assignment – making a five minute presentation in front of the group,” said Miley. This approach gave candidates detailed and realistic expectations about the job and it also gave the Bronson team an insight into each candidate’s presentation skills.

Individuals who were not interested again self-selected out, allowing the organization to hire a large number of committed and invested new employees at the same time. There was very little turnover, since new hires knew exactly the positions expectations.

For nursing positions with high turnover, such as emergency room staff, recruiters at Bronson Healthcare Group realized that they needed a larger candidate pool. They implemented a small group interview process for novice nurses, nurses without acute care experience, graduate nurses, and patient care assistants (PCAs). Hiring managers met with up to four candidates and provided detailed information about their units.

“After implementing the program in 2013, turnover has decreased significantly for among both RNs and PCAs. In 2011, our turnover rate for RNs was 6% and year to date in 2014, it’s 3.4%. Similarly, the turnover rate for PCAs in 2011 was 9% and year to date, it’s 4%,” said Miley.

Lessons Learned and Recommendations According to Miley, better candidates and reducing turnover have been the biggest benefits associated with alternative recruitment strategies. Other advantages include the time saving for the HR team. It’s now possible to screen a large pool of applicants in two to three hours, rather than the 10 hours required to conduct individual phone screens with 20 applicants.

For organizations that are considering an alternative recruitment program, Emily Miley offered six recommendations: 1. Get manager buy-in. This is the most important component of a successful alternative recruitment program. Without manager participation, this type of initiative will fail.

2. Identify the positions best suited for alternative recruitment. Look at areas with large numbers of regular openings and positions where a large applicant pool is necessary.

3. Determine what information is important for candidates to have upfront. Engage managers and employees in the departments. Provide honest realistic aspects of the job that are important for applicants to know before they accept an offer.

4. Define the characteristics of the ideal applicant. Work with people in each department to determine what qualities to look for in applicants. Choose interview activities that will help assess those qualities.

5. Use recruiting technology to automate and manage the process. Bronson Healthcare Group uses its applicant tracking system to send out meeting invitations to candidates. The system is also a central place to store notes about candidates. It’s possible to quickly see if an applicant has attended sessions in the past.

6. Make the program your own. With alternative recruitment programs, it’s important to continually ask for feedback and to be flexible. Be willing to revise, update, and improve processes over time.

Bronson Healthcare Group’s experience has shown that alternative recruitment programs can be a win for all stakeholders in the hiring process. Recruiters save time through more efficient screening and reduced turnover.

Hiring managers get better quality candidates. Applicants have realistic expectations about the job before accepting an offer. At the end of the day, all these factors contribute to better patient care.

About Chris Holdcroft In his twelve years with HealthcareSource, Chris has managed Client Services and was the Product Manager for the Position Manager Applicant Tracking product for Versions 5 through 10. He is now a Senior Consultant for Talent Management, helping hundreds of health care organizations improve their talent management processes.

He can be reached at solutions@healthcaresource.com. 

NAHCR • P.O. Box 14365 • Lenexa, KS 66285-4365 • Phone: 913.895.4627 • Fax: 913.895.4652 • Email: nahcr@goAMP.com