Medical Recruitment Strategies and Onboarding Tips for Behavioral Health Organizations
We don’t have to tell you that if you work in the behavioral health industry you are dealing with people’s lives.
Hiring, training, and retaining quality employees throughout your organization is crucial to providing quality care to the people you serve and improving your organization as a whole.
When you need to be selective in your hiring process it can be hard to get enough applicants. But even if you find the perfect applicant and hire them, your job isn’t done yet.
In this article, we will explain
- Why are medical recruitment strategies important
- 3 medical recruitment strategies for behavioral health organizations
- Tips for successful onboarding
- How to improve employee retention
- Where to find expert consultants to help you get started
Let’s dive in!
Why Are Medical Recruitment Strategies Important?
Since February 2020, hospital employment declined by around 94,000 jobs and it is only expected to get worse.
Having the right staff, and enough staff, is crucial to your success.
Your staff is at the front lines working with the people you serve and have a direct impact on their experience, and your revenue.
So how can you ensure you have a steady flow of great candidates applying? Keep reading to find out!
3 Medical Recruitment Strategies For Behavioral Health Organizations
If you have the budget for it, the easy way to improve recruitment is to increase compensation and benefits. But anyone can do that.
Here are a few medical recruitment strategies that can get the attention of your desired applicants and enhance your organization’s recruitment.
1. Have the End in Mind
What is your goal? Is it to improve the experience of the people you serve? Do you want to cut costs?
Determine what your desired end result is and then attract candidates who will help you meet it. Make a list of the various skills and characteristics you would need from the role in order to meet goals.
Determine what is a necessity and what can be taught, we will get to the second part a little later.
2. Marketing Matters
No matter how well-known your company may be, you still need to market any new job openings. This should all be part of your overall behavioral health marketing strategy! The job market is becoming increasingly competitive and it is no longer enough to add a job listing on your website.
When marketing not only should you talk about the job and its requirements but also your organization and culture.
Some ways to market your job openings are:
- Paid advertising on Linkedin or Google
- Organic social media posts
- Go to career fairs at colleges and universities
- Optimize the company career page to show up on search engines
Pro Tip: Think about the terms that job applicants may be searching for and utilize them in your page title, subheadings & page content. To help you find the key terms people are actually searching for, you can use a free tool like Ubersuggest.
To learn more about marketing your behavioral health business as a whole, take a look at our recent article with 9 key tips for marketing your company.
But before you start marketing your job listing you want to make sure it will capture the attention of your desired applicant and motivate them to apply.
3. Improve Job Listing
Just like you want to make sure your candidates are the right fit for you, they want to make sure the role and your culture are the right fit for them.
Share your mission statement, values, culture, and benefits so they can learn why they should work for you as opposed to your competitors. Avoid the cheesy buzzwords, jargon, and any industry cliches that don’t really explain anything.
Then you can go into detail about what their responsibilities would be and what their day-to-day will look like. Having this clear during the interview process will help the onboarding process and ensure they are happy with their expected role.
Tips for Successful Onboarding
Did you know that 31% of new employees leave within the first six months? That’s a lot of time and money wasted.
Most employees leave because of poor management and lack of support. So here are a few tips to improve your onboarding process.
Start Early
It can take a while to onboard new staff and get them assimilated. Therefore it is crucial that you start preparing them before their first day on the job, especially if it will be a leadership role.
Ensure they have all important documentation and begin helping them set up any technology or software they will be using. This way they don’t spend their first week just dealing with IT issues and signing documents.
Train Everyone
Many companies make the mistake of assuming their new employees know everything. Even high-level staff who have years of experience still need to be trained on your organization’s processes and how they fit into their team.
The first three months are critical for new employees and if they are overwhelmed they may quit.
A few ways you can train your employees are:
- Lunch and learns
- Courses with certifications
- Assign them a trainer
- Create videos
Once you set up an onboarding process and create your videos you can repurpose them for future onboarding.
Create a Team
When your staff doesn’t know how to work together it can cause operational issues that affect the people you serve and your bottom line.
They need to understand how their roles work together and have efficient communication to ensure operations run smoothly.
According to the Harvard Business Review, about 57% of senior executives find it hard to fit in socially in their new roles. Therefore it is crucial when bringing in new leadership from outside your organization that you facilitate team bonding.
How to Improve Employee Retention
There’s nothing more frustrating than spending the time, energy, and money to hire and train an employee only for them to leave shortly after.
But what you don’t realize is you might be the one driving them away!
In a study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2021, 63% of respondents said that the reason they quit was low pay. 63% said it was because of no opportunities for advancement, and 57% from feeling disrespected at work.
In a study conducted by GoodHire, 82% of workers said they would quit their job because of a bad manager.
Create an Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
You may have a value proposition that is clear for the people you serve, but what about your employees? Making sure that your employees feel like they are being rewarded for their hard work is crucial to keeping them committed.
Your EVP can include:
- Free ongoing learning opportunities
- A clear path for development
- Mentorship programs
- DEI culture
Not only does this increase your chances of retaining employees but can also help motivate applicants to apply.
Enhance Communication with Staff
When employees don’t feel seen they are more likely to begin looking for a place that appreciates them.
It is crucial to develop a relationship with your employees. While you can’t always get one-on-one time with everyone, there are a few things you can do to develop some form of a relationship.
- Recognize success publicly
- Explain reasonings behind decisions
- Use platforms for co-workers to communicate
- Make it clear there is two-way communication
An employee that is engaged is more likely to remain loyal to the organization and put more effort into their work.
Promote From Within
There is nothing more frustrating to an employee than seeing themselves passed over for a promotion in favor of a new hire. When your employees dedicate years to your organization they want to feel recognized and rewarded.
Promoting your employees from within or allowing them to be a priority for new roles shows their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. It also encourages employees to put more effort into their work because they know there are growth opportunities.
When your employees continuously struggle to get promoted they will be more likely to look elsewhere.
Future Considerations
- Focus on quality, not quantity – Having tons of applicants means nothing if non of them are a good fit for your role and organization. Focus on attracting the right people
- Create a relationship with academic institutions – This is a great way to get your business’s name out there and get first access to new candidates entering the field
- Develop an EVP – The sooner you figure out your EVP the easier it will be to attract and retain employees
- Money isn’t everything, but it doesn’t hurt – always include a salary range because that can be the deciding factor on whether or not they apply, “competitive salary” is no longer enough.
Create a DEI strategy – Having diverse staff can improve your team, enhance the experince of the people you serve, and increase profitability
Get Expert HR Consulting with C4 Consulting
Your employees are your greatest asset but can also be your organization’s downfall. The lives of the people you serve are in their hands.
So, it is your responsibility to hire employees who are qualified and will put the people you serve first.
To learn how we helped Northern Illinois Recovery Center (NIRC) fill a crucial leadership role, increase staff, and reduce staffing costs by 12% read our case study, How C4 Transformed An Ambitious Start-Up into A Successful Treatment Center
Ready to improve your employee recruitment, onboarding, and retention? Our behavioral health consultants can work with you to enhance your operations and HR processes.
