Spring Into Action – Interns, Externs, & Apprentices

Filling open vacancies within a company is a daily challenge for Human Resources.  Seasoned talent coming from competitors may try to leverage their skills and experience to potentially negotiate. Whether that’s higher salary or benefits packages when seeking employment with a new company.  The hiring process can become a game of negotiation between a company and a prospective employer. Unfortunately, the employer will lose prospective talent to a competitor from time to time.

When filling some vacancies, a key talent pool can often be overlooked. Spring has sprung, and ‘tis the season when many new college/university and trade school students will be entering the workforce as new graduates who seek to utilize their skills acquired through advanced education. HR professionals need to explore the new graduate population as resources to fill entry-level and mid-level roles within an organization. New graduates seek work so let’s give them a chance to show what they have learned.

 

Benefits of New Graduates

New graduates offer a variety of benefits to an employer. From their coursework, they have learned new strategies and educational content that can be applied towards job duties.  Group projects throughout their major and general education courses provide opportunities for students to think creatively. They learn to express their ideas while learning from others’ perspectives.  They must plan and strategize to meet timelines and goals to ensure delivery of successful projects.  Communication, collaboration and team building are transferable skills that are essential in the workforce and are key components of higher education learning experiences.  

There are different ways students can acquire relevant experience that relate directly to the role(s) they seek in their desired industry(ies).  Internships, externships and apprenticeships are three experience opportunities designed to develop business acumen for students.  Each of these three experience opportunities have similarities and differences yet all offer beneficial insights and enhance marketability of new graduates.

Externship vs. Internship

Handshake explains the difference between an externship and an internship. Externships focus on connecting a student with a mentor in a company to learn more about what the mentor does and what tasks, functions and trends are anticipated within an industry.  Externships are typically unpaid and short-term.  Internships provide hands-on experience within the student’s desired career field. Unlike externships, internships tend to be paid, although if paid, wages are typically low. 

Internships tend to earn academic credit and can last up to a year while externships are often a part of a class so no additional academic credit is earned. Externships are often very short lasting up to a few weeks.  Apprenticeships are typically full-time training programs leading to industry recognized certifications and full-time employment using those specific skills. Internships and externships do not always lead to permanent employment with the organization in which the student completed the internship or externship while apprenticeships are the opposite.  

Unique Advantages of New Graduates

Hiring new graduates to fill vacant roles provide a myriad of benefits to an employer. New grads are anxious to find a job that allows them to use their skills from training. They want to be self-sufficient, make money and pay off any existing loan debt so employment is a key goal for them. New grads can be easier on the company’s salary budget.  Because new grads lack years of formal, industry specific work experience, they may be hired at a lower, but fair, market rate as compared to seasoned talent. New grads can be “molded” by company leadership. Meaning that they can be taught professional and company culture skills more easily. 

The “because we have always done it that way” mindset is not firmly implanted in their minds. Whereas tenured employees and job seekers might think this way. Pairing new graduate hires with a mentor can be a big help. They can train the new grad with skills that were not learned in the classroom.  Hiring new grads can build career longevity and set the new graduate up for success leading them to pursue internal advancement opportunities as time goes on.  Talent stays within the organization which can save time and money on recruiting and onboarding due to turnover.      

“Inexperienced” Candidates

If a new graduate does not have an externship, internship or apprenticeship on their resume at graduation time, it does not mean the person does not have pertinent experience or transferable skills applicable to vacant roles within a company.  Consider any full-time or part-time employment the student worked while completing higher education. Working while going to school takes time management skills.  Being a barista or server requires excellent customer service skills. 

Tutoring requires a person to be a subject matter expert (SME) with the ability to communicate knowledge to others in ways students understand.  Call center and retail associates must be organized, meet goals and deliver a positive customer experience. Babysitting and nannying require compassion and the ability to keep children safe and entertained. These examples are a fraction of part-time and full-time jobs that students have worked while training.  All of these examples encompass transferable skills. 

New graduates who have a degree but not experience through externships, internships or apprenticeships can benefit from On-The-Job (OTJ) training provided by the company.  OTJ training is especially useful in the manufacturing environment. These graduates may come with technology related training but need specialized training with differing equipment within the work environment.  OTJ can be part of a higher education training or trade school training program also.  

Recruiting New Graduates

If your organization is ready to recruit for your own internship, externship and/or apprenticeship programs, having a specialized application within your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) will help. Collect essential data such as contact information, college or trade school attending, anticipated graduation, links to portfolios, and answer fields where students can share achievements and awards.  Ensure the ATS application collects all the pertinent information needed to select the most prime candidates.  Keep open communication flowing with students through text and email.

Make sure that students receive an acknowledgement when they apply and especially if they are not selected so they can plan accordingly. Creating message templates within the company’s ATS can make communication personalized while quick and convenient. Make sure all applicants, whether it be for an internship, externship, apprenticeship or permanent employment, have a positive experience in the recruiting process.  Negative experiences can easily travel on social platforms and through word-of-mouth. Create and maintain a positive view of the company’s recruitment process. Leave job seekers with a satisfactory experience so they can share something positive about the company.  

Conclusion

Only a few months until the Spring and Summer terms are over.  Spring into action now to recruit new talent from the upcoming graduate pool from higher education and trade schools. Make sure the company’s branding on the company website and social media platforms are welcoming to new graduates. Communicate the benefits and why new grads should come to work for the company.  Appreciating the talents that new graduates bring can lead to a long-term relationship between graduate talent and the company boosts productivity and profits.

The Impact of Gen Z in the Workplace

Looking to attract the next generation of talent? Then it might be time to use up to date, proven effective methods of hiring. An ATS, specifically ExactHire ATS is the perfect place to start. With ability to post to thousands of job boards, write accurate job descriptions, QR code applications and text recruiting you’ll be able to target and find the most qualified candidates out there.

Human Resources professionals are considered the unifying beacon for employees within an organization. Successful companies encompass a variety of talent and include workers from each generation to share knowledge and experience, all with differing perspectives.  Boomers are retiring, and some Gen X are strategically planning for retirement.  Over the next decade, there will be a loss of intellectual talent through retirements in those two generational categories alone.  Millennials are developing their careers helping to bridge the loss of Boomers in the workforce, but Millennials alone can’t fill the rapidly growing anticipated number of Boomer and Gen X vacancies. This is where Gen Z becomes the final puzzle piece to companies’ desire for productive talent. By 2025, it is anticipated that 30% of the workforce will be composed of Gen Z workers. Let’s learn more about this group of workers and how Human Resources and companies can support Gen Z talent to ensure success.

Who Makes us Gen Z?

People born from 1997 to 2012 are classified as Gen Z.  What makes Gen Z so different compared to other generations?  For starters, this group of people grew up completely in the Internet age so technology is a concept they have observed during their whole lifetime. The learning curve of technology does not exist, and Gen Z is often called “Zoomers” for a reason.  Members of this generation like to “see” who they are working with, even if it is through video software. Gen Z is the most diverse generation, and here are some key data points shared by the World Economic Forum:

  • 48% of Gen Zers are from Black or minority ethnic backgrounds 
  • 1 in 6 individuals identify as LGBTQIA+. 

 

Why do those stats matter? Here’s why:  Gen Zers seek work cultures that are welcoming to everyone.  

  • 1 in 2 Gen Zers won’t work in a place without diverse leadership
  • 68% of Gen Zers say their employer is not doing enough to build a diverse workplace

 

While Gen Z can be personified as diverse and inclusive, it can also be portrayed as “entitled” by critics. But are they really “entitled”, or are Gen Zers opening people’s eyes to change? Gen Z had a substantial chunk of their high school and/or post-high school education redefined by COVID. Remote learning and video conferencing were part of their daily routine so it can be a challenge for Gen Zers to understand why some organizations do not support remote or hybrid workstyles when Gen Zers completed their learning tasks in that matter. 70% will choose a hybrid job over one that is not according to the World Economic Forum

What Motivates Gen Z?

They’ve got money on their mind.  Forbes reports that 46% of Gen Zers listed salary as the driving factor when accepting a job. Gen Zers are not only supporting themselves, but many are helping support their parents with recession concerns and skyrocketing inflation.  Living independently is a challenge due to high housing costs. Ultimately, to offset all the rising expenses, Gen Zers seek jobs that pay well from the start. Gen Zers seek progression…career progression.  Companies need to ignite Gen Zers internal fire to work hard and achieve the attainable goal of earning leadership promotions and compensatory pay for their stellar performance. The work hard/play hard concept exists as long as it is mutually profitable.  

 

While salary is a high priority, work-life balance appears to be even higher.  Gen Zers seek work to fit around their personal life.  According to Forbes, 40% of Gen Zers consider flexible hours and workdays as a deal-breaker when evaluating a job offer. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed would prefer a job that offered full flexibility over one with a high salary. Companies need to take heed…if flexibility is not an option within the company culture, the result will be a loss of a substantial amount of Gen Z talent. Is a lack of a flexible work arrangement worth losing a pipeline of talent?

Mental Health

Mental health resources is an essential component of a Gen Zer’s employee value proposition (EVP).  The global pandemic increased mental health issues for people of all ages; however, Gen Z feels the effects more overall.  Multiple studies show approximately one in three Gen Zers feel that they are struggling with mental health issues. Companies must provide mental health resources for Gen Zers and encourage the use of those resources to employees of all generations without shaming.  Social connections are integral; COVID decimated social opportunities for this generation so many Gen Zers are eager to connect with others. Team and whole company events and outside of work service volunteers help Gen Zers fulfill their social needs and develop a work camaraderie. 

Positives Attributes of Gen Z

Gen Zers have many positive attributes.  This generation is highly driven and motivated to succeed.  They are socially aware due to its diverse nature and understand the importance of having all individuals contribute to the common goal.  Seventy-seven percent of Gen Zers want to work for a company whose values align with their own.  Gen Zers want to know that the company that they work for is making a positive influence internally and externally. Companies need to communicate the philanthropic causes and efforts supported by leadership and its employees.  Social causes and positive change are important to Gen Zers so companies need to provide opportunities for Gen Zers to make a difference by volunteering in community support and outreach events.  A company’s mission and vision are integral to a Gen Zer when applying for a role.  

Conclusion

To attract Gen Z candidates, make sure your job listings on your applicant tracking system (ATS) are written to include key content they want to know about the job before applying:  What will this job pay? What benefits exist that meet my needs? Is this role onsite, hybrid or remote?  What flexible work options exist? How will this job positively impact the community?  If your organization is unsure how to write job listings to attract Gen Zers, let ExactHire do the heavy lifting for you through our Full Service Hiring.  Knowing how to attract Gen Zers will help organizations find knowledgeable talent that is eager to commit to an organization that commits to them.  Don’t miss out on a generation that seeks to make a difference!

What makes Talent Acquisition so hard (and important)

Talent Acquisition (TA) is a complicated but highly rewarding concept. For Human Resources professionals focused in the realm of TA, they are on a high speed roller coaster with multiple twists and turns that can often lead them on a white knuckled trip. What makes talent acquisition so hard, and yet so important, is the main focus of the task. TA is a competitive, time-sensitive task that can yield disappointment but also joyous rewards. To really ensure you acquire the best talent you need ExactHire’s ATS. This allows you to compare hundreds of candidates against various criteria to get the best candidate for your position.

Talent Acquisition Challenges

The main reason TA can be so challenging yet rewarding is the same – the people factor. In the current job market, the talent pool is very competitive due to disproportionate numbers of skilled available talent compared to the number of vacant jobs. The competition is fiercely competitive. Rival companies are recruiting the same candidates that TA professionals seek to hire. Getting the message out to job seekers about the company’s vacancies and the company’s stellar branding to entice them to apply and pursue the company takes precision to filter through competitors’ noise. TA specialists can resonate their message more clearly and combat the noise by ensuring that company branding promotes the company as being the employer of choice due to culture.

Having a culture inclusive to employees with benefits that meets and exceeds the needs of employees solidifies TA’s claims to job seekers that their company is the one for job seekers. If job vacancies in certain geographic areas are more difficult to fill, examine what could help with filling those roles. Consider expanding the candidate search to additional areas or explore options for remote or hybrid work settings to attract more candidates. Utilize social media to its fullest and promote vacant job listings on major platforms. Social media platforms reach target audiences of differing ages and backgrounds. Using different social media platforms allows TA professionals to reach job seekers with diverse demographics.

The “People Factor”

Digging deeper into the people factor. What if applicants are plentiful, but none are perceived to have the needed skill set to be fully qualified to fill the vacant roles within an organization? This is where TA must partner closely with the department leaders of the vacant roles. Focus on the required skills needed for the vacant role. Candidates that meet those required skills can be evaluated further. They then identify the reasons why Human Resources cannot completely commit to extending a job offer.

For candidates who are contenders for a role but not 100% vetted, explore what it would take to mold a candidate for the vacant role in which they applied. The “perfect” candidate is equivalent to a unicorn; sought-after, beautiful and fictitious. If there are candidates for vacancies that can be shaped into productive contributors to an organization with some assistance upon hire, consider providing that assistance. It is possible that extra training or classes could be beneficial. The financial investment initially could pay off more down the road. A new hire will then have been given the opportunity to refine weaker areas to enhance their performance. Investing in employees, particularly new hires, can lead to higher employee retention and productivity.

Screening Candidates

Upon review of candidates, TA must be tasked with screening those who are potential for the company. TA is often the first impression of a company so TA professionals must display professionalism with a personable demeanor. Phone screens and interviews, whether face-to-face or virtual, generate nervousness in the minds of job seekers. TA professionals should create a positive rapport with interviewees. they can do this through sincerity and a genuine interest in learning more about the person’s desire to work for the company. Establishing a dialogue that is reflective of the company culture of inclusivity will help TA professionals formulate a working relationship with job seekers that help set a competitive edge. The best job seekers will be receiving employment offers from multiple companies. Job seekers will migrate to the company that demonstrates a bona fide interest in employees. This will help attract stellar job seekers from competitors.

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How to make Talent Acquisition Easier

Monitoring efficiency in talent acquisition can be challenging if data is not being collected and analyzed. Using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) consolidates applicant data into a central location for analysis and communication by TA professionals and other designated employees in the hiring process. Having a central location to screen applicant data and communicate with stakeholders in the hiring process saves time and creates a comprehensive trail of actions taken when screening applicant records. Robust reporting tools deliver accessible data quickly to identify efficiency gaps in the hiring process. Using analytics helps TA professionals confidently formulate short-term and long-term goals. These can be used in immediate activities and strategic planning with leadership.

Conclusion

TA professionals work diligently to overcome competitive challenges in the hiring process. It is often a role which entails erratic schedules with long days and weekend events. Disappointment is frequent when TA professionals witness coveted potential talent decline their best pitch at landing them within their organization. While it is a game of wins and losses in a very broad generic sense, talent acquisition hosts a plethora of rewards. Without TA professionals to lead the charge of recruiting and retaining key talent, an organization would be sailing a ship without sails ultimately leading to a lack of sales.

TA professionals relentlessly pursue potential talent. They need to have the support of executive leadership as they navigate the recruitment process. Providing TA professionals with the tools they need for success is the best option for an organization. Then leadership can ensure that the company’s growth and productivity as a whole will weather threatening situations. This will allow them to survive things such as pandemics and global recessions. Talent acquisition is truly a hard but essential component in an organization’s overall health. It is crucial that appreciation is shown to those charged with acquiring talent to the company.

Recruitment Process Content Scorecard

Employer Considerations for Posting and Managing Evergreen Jobs

When you think about where you spend the bulk of your time in the employee recruiting process, is a big chunk reserved for a certain type of position? If so, this role is probably an evergreen job.

Just as an evergreen tree appears green and alive all year long, evergreen positions require a constant flow of candidates because they experience high turnover and/or are positions that a large percentage of employees occupy. As a result, many companies keep these requisitions perpetually open on their job listings page in order to populate the candidate pipeline.

Evergreen jobs and turnover

Sourcing a steady flow of candidates to fill evergreen roles is essential–they are the positions critical to business success. Industries such as restaurant, healthcare, retail, call center and non-profit regularly source applicants for evergreen jobs such as server, home health aid, cashier, customer service representative and direct support professional.

Organizations often struggle with high turnover in these positions due to factors such as

  • the role being available on a part-time basis more frequently than full-time,
  • job seasonality (or seasonal availability of candidates),
  • low barriers to entry that make it easy for candidates to get a similar job elsewhere, and
  • low unemployment leading to more accessible wage increases at competitive employers.

Evergreen job hiring challenges

Hiring employees to fill evergreen positions can be tricky for a variety of reasons.

Misleading reporting

If you tend to keep the same job listings open all the time while regularly hiring candidates, it’s easy to unintentionally skew reporting in the name of ease. While the same job listing ID may remain open for a year (which can save time on reposting the job every few months), it will be harder to report on which referral sources, job description text (if you tweak it frequently with overwrites) and other factors lead to the successful hiring of multiple individuals because they are all tied to the same requisition. A good rule of thumb is to close out an existing evergreen requisition when a candidate is hired for that role, and then use the previous requisition as a template for easily creating a new one.

Job boards vs. organic search

While external job boards such as Glassdoor and Indeed favor fresh job listing IDs that aren’t reposted too frequently, search engines like Google spotlight tenured job description pages that have evergreen content (e.g. new imagery, comments, video, and other structured data). So what’s the right answer? Temporary job listing ID pages or persistent job description overviews?

You can benefit from both. Use your applicant tracking system to refresh a job listing for an evergreen role by closing old job listing IDs and using them as a template to create a duplicate job listing (with a new ID) every 60-90 days. Then, consider adding evergreen content pages within your ATS portal or on your corporate website that

  • list details about what to expect in the role,
  • answer frequently asked questions about the job,
  • highlight video testimonials from other employees in that position, and
  • link to a list of the job listing(s) currently open for that role.

With the dual approach, job seekers stand to find your recently posted job listing on external job boards, as well as via keyword-specific search queries on search engines.

Hiring compliance can be impacted

Care should be taken with determining how the frequency of evergreen requisition posting may impact an employer’s Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) compliance efforts. If the same job listing ID is kept open for an entire year–and we assume at least one candidate is hired from that requisition–then the entire year’s worth of internet applicants must be included in the applicant pool considered for adverse impact. In contrast, if a single requisition is kept open for only one quarter, and only one person is hired during that time, then the pool for adverse impact analysis is smaller which is generally preferable.

By periodically opening new requisitions–even when a hire does not take place in a period of 60 or 90 days–employers put themselves in a better position for compliance and limit their exposure. NOTE: If no applicants from a quarter’s requisition are hired, then the job ID can be closed and none of the applicants must be reported in the AAP data.

Managers at different locations

In the world of evergreen hiring, the location at which a future employee may work when he first applies to an evergreen position isn’t always apparent. And, depending on the industry and size of organization, different hiring managers likely manage candidate screening and/or interviewing at various locations.

Unless internal expectations are clearly set about how managers access a candidate pool that may be shared by different branches, the candidate experience could be hampered by poor communication from a variety of different locations vying for the same candidate. This can be exacerbated in a tight labor market with low unemployment as general managers compete for workers in high turnover, hourly, part-time positions.

Within the retail and restaurant industries, in which some brands have both corporate and franchise-owned stores, careful attention must be paid to limiting franchisor access to job applicants for franchisee-owned locations in order to avoid vicarious liability. When implementing hiring technology in this situation, it’s critical to understand how different applicant pools will be separated for administrators. At the same time, it’s important to avoid a confusing application process for job seekers who perceive all locations to be one brand.

Best practices for managing evergreen positions

Now that we’ve reviewed considerations for posting and managing evergreen positions, let’s cover best practices to improve the chances of your success in hiring individuals for these roles.

Understand what causes turnover

Only by analyzing factors that cause your employees to leave, will you be able to adjust their experience to prolong tenure and benchmark success. Consider the impact of job factors such as your organization’s

  • work schedule flexibility
  • pay rate relative to competitors
  • ability to communicate the proximity of public transportation, and
  • opportunities for continuous learning and advancement.

With an understanding of the primary drivers of turnover, you can re-imagine the employment experience to mitigate these factors. Proactively communicate how you address these items with job seekers in your career content and utilize an applicant tracking system that makes it easy for job candidates to search positions near their bus route. For example, the new hiring software platform that ExactHire is building allows candidates to optionally enter their address to see nearby locations with open job suggestions.

Geo-fenced Job Listing Search | ExactHire

Set internal expectations about hiring efficiency

Recruiters will have a greater impact on organizational success when they rally hiring managers around what to expect from the hiring process. These conversations include topics such as

  • what the hiring market looks like and which factors impact organizational turnover (e.g. what it’s going to take to keep employees),
  • the current velocity of hire and a reasonable expectation for number of hiring processes that can be managed successfully at once (e.g. should we hire more recruiters or consider Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?),
  • how promptly assigning statuses to candidates and entering hire dates in an ATS is critical to calculating time to hire and team efficiency,
  • the ideal dollar amount to plan for employee attrition in the operating budget, and
  • how to manage headcount appropriately–is it a set number of positions per job opening or can it flexibly fluctuate depending on need?

Consider job listing duration

Close out aging job listing IDs at least every three months or whenever you make a hire for the position–whichever is sooner. The impact of this practice is two-fold:

  1. By separating batches of applicants for an evergreen job into 90-day chunks–each with its own separate requisition–you limit the likelihood that the OFCCP will take a closer look at your data in an AAP audit because your data pool is smaller (i.e. a separate pool for each job listing ID) and therefore not likely to be statistically significant.
  2. By reposting evergreen jobs periodically with new job IDs, you’re ensuring that the posting date appears relatively recent to potential job applicants. However, even a 30-day old position may deter eager job seekers. Consider including text that describes the role as an evergreen position within the body of your job description. By letting candidates know that you’re always sourcing for this position, they will be less likely to overlook a couple-month-old job listing.

Create a landing page for evergreen jobs

To balance the effects of reposting job listing IDs on a quarterly basis, give your evergreen roles a surge of search engine optimization (SEO) by creating permanent job overview pages (on either your ATS or your corporate website) for the positions that are always (or soon to be) in supply. Include page elements such as

  • relevant keyword-rich content in headers and body text
  • video testimonials from employees in the same role
  • a frequently asked question section to answer common job-related inquiries
  • an overview of the steps involved in the hiring process
  • the unique benefits of the position, and
  • call-to-action buttons directing page visitors to a filtered list of the specific requisitions currently available for this type of role.

Reduce hiring funnel friction

Put yourself in the shoes of a job seeker and assess whether it is easy to find your jobs, easy to apply and easy to communicate with recruiters and hiring managers. While making the selection process efficient is a priority for any kind of job, it is mission critical for evergreen positions since a large volume of candidates must be sourced to meet the company’s hiring needs.

  • Easy to find – Easily share your job listings to external job boards and social media streams within a modern applicant tracking system, but also consider paid recruitment marketing avenues such as retargeting display ads that show content to job seekers who previously interacted with your employment brand.
  • Easy to apply – Utilize two-step applications to allow candidates to provide the basics in the first half of the application process. Shortening an application’s first phase will drive better applicant conversion. Also, select pre-employment assessments that don’t require too much time for an applicant to complete when presented at the point of application. Longer assessments can be utilized later in the selection process.
  • Easy to communicate – Meet job seekers where they are…which often is on their phone rather than a laptop. Incorporate text messaging into the candidate communication process as many individuals interested in evergreen jobs may be screening their calls and failing to set up their voicemail inboxes.

Incorporate pre-employment testing

Know what employee success in your evergreen roles looks like by assessing your current superstars and distilling their results down to the key traits that most heavily predict performance. Then, benchmark for these traits by creating a model profile within your employee assessment tool and use the assessment at the point of application or before a formal interview. To determine placement within the hiring process, consider the impact of a cognitive or behavioral testing tool vs. a job skills testing resource on your candidate funnel–which type(s) would produce the most compelling outcomes?

Nurture your evergreen pipeline

Since employers are always sourcing candidates for evergreen jobs, they must experiment with innovative approaches to engaging past applicants and attracting new job seekers. Create a special experience for people who are interested in being a part of your organization by inviting them to your talent community. These are the individuals who keep raising their hand with continued interest, like your recruiting content on social media and respond to your recruitment marketing efforts.

Here are some ideas for engaging them as applicant VIPs:

  • Use tags within your applicant tracking system to highlight their interest so that you may invite them to apply to specific job listing IDs as roles in their evergreen area of interest open at locations near them.
  • Invite them to opt in to an applicant insider newsletter with articles about new roles, culture and organizational goals.
  • Invite them to join a social media group focused on careers at your organization.
  • Create targeted recruitment marketing campaigns that reinvigorate their interest in your organization.

 

Although your organization has roles which will always be evergreen, your approach to sourcing candidates for these jobs will be ever changing.

Want to learn more? Download our guide!

 

Managing Evergreen Jobs | ExactHire Guide

Hiring in Healthcare: Does a Nursing Shortage Exist?

There’s a nursing shortage! I don’t know when I started hearing about it, but it was probably in the early 2000’s right before I set off for college. I distinctly remember hearing that nursing was a great career choice. And I once considered pursuing it–even after the movie, Meet the Parents, played up the stigma around male nurses. There was a shortage of nurses, I was told. There was good pay and job security, and it was a respectable vocation.

I didn’t go into nursing, but I continued to hear about the shortage of nurses, and I believed the stories. In fact, I still hear about it today. So I thought I’d take a closer look at what’s driving the shortage , since employment trends and hiring challenges are kinda my thing.

The Nursing Shortage is Complex

I had no reason to doubt the nursing shortage. I expected to find clear reasons behind it, and I was hoping to come up with a few solutions to address the challenges. Most articles made a simple, straightforward (and quite urgent) case that there is and/or will be a shortage of nurses. It’s an easy story to tell that gets people’s attention–the type of story that when told frequently will eventually evolve into common knowledge.

However, I quickly discovered that the nursing shortage is not straightforward. It’s a multifaceted issue with many viewpoints and considerations that don’t make it into our newspapers or favorite news sites. Trying to make sense out of the disparate views was challenging. Researching this topic was confusing to say the least.

Past studies predicted a shortage that never came. There are stories of nurses who left the profession because they could not secure a position. Some studies are conducted by organizations that likely have a conflict of interest. And in 2017, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) predicted a surplus of nurses for 2025! And yet, the prevailing coverage is: “it’s a well-known fact that the U.S. suffers from a nursing shortage.”

To be fair, predicting the future is not easy. You use the information you have at hand, and your predictions can only be as accurate as that information. However, it seems that too many stories on the nursing shortage are either omitting crucial information, or worse, misrepresenting the facts.  To better understand the nursing shortage (or lack thereof) it’s helpful to consider the following perspectives:

Delayed Retirement of Baby Boomers

“The nursing shortage is real…or at least it will be.”

Proponents of this perspective believe that all the talk in the early 2000’s and today about a looming nursing shortage was accurate; however, a generational change in views on retirement combined with the economic realities of a post-recession world caused many veteran nurses to delay retirement or rejoin the workforce.

It is true that the baby-boomer generation is retiring later in life than predicted. This is the case for the majority of occupations, not just nursing. However, they will retire at some point (and eventually require more healthcare). According to a National Nursing Workforce Study, 50% of nurses are age 50 or older, which means a significantly larger portion of nurses are closer to retirement than are not. So it makes sense that a shortage could occur when a large increase in healthcare demand coincides with a large decrease in nurses.

Underserved Areas

“The nursing shortage is real…but it depends on location.”

Smaller towns and rural areas often struggle to find workers when compared with larger, metropolitan areas. Many nursing graduates or re-locating nurses may find it difficult to secure a job in a particular metropolitan area. This does not mean that a shortage of nurses doesn’t exist, it simply means that to find job opportunities, job seekers must be willing to commute or relocate–many are not.

Unfortunately, this fact is seldom disclaimed alongside proclamations of a nursing shortage, and nursing graduates are often blindsided when local demand for nursing is non-existent. According to the HRSA, only seven states are predicted to carry a nursing shortage through 2030: California, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.

Artificial Shortage

“The nursing shortage is FAKE NEWS…hospitals want to ensure a surplus of nurses.”

Some of the more cynical may posit that the nursing shortage is part of a conspiracy led by hospitals. The thinking goes that if a hospital can ensure a surplus of nurses (its largest employment cost), then it can better control overall operating costs. Without a single, unified nurses union in the United States, a labor surplus provides hospitals with leverage in establishing wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

Would hospitals prefer to have too many nurses rather than too few? The answer is most certainly, yes. Are hospitals overselling or even lying about a shortage? With changes in healthcare legislation, an economic recession, and a generational movement away from previous notions of retirement, it is more likely that the complexity of the issue has caused the disconnect between studies, predictions, and reality.

So…does a real nursing shortage exist? Is it looming?

The above perspectives are just a few examples that add color to stories around the nursing shortage. While claims of a nursing shortage may sound like “crying wolf” to some, healthcare continues to grow faster than any other industry, and any change in the supply of nurses (entry of new graduates or the exit of retiring nurses) could quickly make a nursing shortage a reality.

So I predict that we will continue to see news stories and press releases that announce an emerging nursing shortage. I also suspect that the reasons for the shortage will begin to vary–a lack of nursing faculty and lower acceptances/enrollments at nursing schools seems to be the popular cause for concern today. However, regardless of how the story trends, there are a few key takeaways for employees and employers.

What you need to know about the nursing shortage:

  • For aspiring nurses: Understand how the demand for nurses will vary by region. Finding the right job may require moving to the right region. Additionally, depending on the area, available nursing positions may vary by specialty; it may be necessary to target more niche areas of nursing and to look beyond hospitals, especially for those who are just starting their careers.
  • For employers: Invest more resources in recruiting qualified applicants to “shortage areas.” This could include partnering with local governments and educational institutions to develop strategies for attracting talent. Of course,  more attractive and competitive compensation packages will also be necessary to retain talent. This is especially true if nursing shortages begin to develop in more attractive areas.

Both employers and employees alike must understand the reality as it relates to their particular set of circumstances. When employers, employees, job seekers, and students can separate crisis from “crying wolf”, everyone is in a better position to make employment decisions that advance their respective goals.

 

ExactHire provides hiring technology for the healthcare industry to help streamline the hiring and onboarding of new employees. To learn how our solutions can help your organization, contact us today.

Which Recruitment Metrics Are Right For You – Time to Fill?

Would you say that you are proud of the efficiency with which your company approaches the hiring process? Do you get excited about the opportunity to welcome new teammates onboard; or…you can admit it…does it make you cringe just a little bit thinking about how long it will take to get everything ready, round up all the interviewers to be involved and pore through all the applications? It all comes down to Time to Fill. In this second installment of my series about determining which HR KPIs work for your company, we’ll examine this telling metric.

In my previous blog about Cost per Hire, I indicated that there is generally a direct relationship between CPH and Time to Fill…in particular, as it relates to the cost of your staff members’ time to be involved in a drawn out hiring process. Take too much time to hire and the business could suffer due to lower productivity, and rush through the process and risk hiring the wrong candidate which will just negatively impact your turnover metric down the road.

How critical time to fill is relative to other HR metrics for your organization only you can determine, but consider this: just because you are a small or medium-sized organization doesn’t mean that you should get by with fewer steps in a shorter hiring process. Small companies can’t afford to “wing it” as it really can take the whole village to hire and onboard a new employee. Any size company can be diligent in making the many steps involved in the recruiting process turnkey; however.

Where Do You Spend Your Time to Hire?

If you’re like me, you manage by what you measure. And when I’m trying to lose a few pounds you can bet I’m recording my calories on my FitBit app…or if our household wants to save up for the next remodeling project, we’re entering our daily expenses into a spreadsheet. Even if I choose to indulge myself every once in awhile, overall by watching my behavior I change it for the better. Having the data in front of me helps me more intimately consider cause and effect. The same is true for the hiring process. Its easy to let a day turn into days and days into weeks when you are progressing through various milestones such as applicant review and interview scheduling without really monitoring your timeframe closely. That can easily translate into disengaged applicants that pursue other companies…and its a vicious cycle, your process then becomes even longer.

A Well-Oiled Time to Fill Machine

So, in the spirit of hiring introspection, let’s look at some basic hiring process stages and ideas for making them thorough, yet as time sensitive as possible.

Job description development

    • Have up to date job templates for frequently hired positions in place and then use them as a base from which to create more specific job listings
    • Use the job listing as an opportunity to set clear expectations about role requirements so that certain candidates self-select out of the process if its clear it won’t be the right fit
    • Create a Job Success Factors page to accompany the job description to paint a more vivid picture about a day in the life of this position

Post jobs to external boards & social media

Review applications and resumes

  • Set aside blocks of time throughout your week dedicated to application review so it doesn’t fall by the wayside
  • Use filters attached to job-specific screening questions to quickly view only applicants that meet basic qualifications
  • Have a comprehensive list of applicant status codes or dispositions already in place so that its easy to assign and continuously update applicants’ place in the hiring process

Conduct pre-screens

Applicant correspondence

Prepare notes & feedback

  • Use a form or otherwise standardize the manner in which you present candidate information to others – people will get used to quickly looking in certain places for certain information
  • Highlight applicants who are the best prospects to hiring managers by sharing their electronic records – keep it timely by requesting others’ response by a certain date/time in your notes or subject line

Pre-employment testing & assessment

Schedule coordination for in-house interviews

  • Request access to the calendars of others involved in the hiring process internally so that you may quickly see when they are/aren’t available
  • At the onset of the hiring process, reserve blocks of time on potential interviewers’ calendars in advance so that you know you can count on them tentatively being available during those times (even if it is a few weeks out)
  • Utilize video conferencing tools (i.e. basic ones could include Skype, Google Hangouts or GoToMeeting to name just a few) to schedule interviews earlier than they might be otherwise if the candidate were to have to travel to your office

Collect hiring manager feedback

Candidate communication – yays & nays

  • Engage applicants by proactively communicating to them about their status in your selection process
  • This can be done quickly by using email templates that include personalization strings (to populate the first name of the person and the position to which he/she applied, for example) and the ability to update applicant records in mass groupings within an ATS

Extend conditional offer of employment

  • Again, have a template for the language you typically use in offer letters/packages ready to go in an existing template
  • Give the candidate a clear deadline for responding
  • Explain the process of collecting information necessary to conduct background/reference checks, etc. in advance to the candidate should he/she accept

Conduct background and/or reference checks

  • Utilize a web-based form for collecting information necessary to run checks…embed the URL address for the secure form into a template in your ATS and quickly invite applicants right from the applicant record
  • Alternatively, check if your provider has a web services integration with your background check and/or reference check resource

Coordinate onboarding logistics with staff

  • Create an email distribution list of all the employees in your organization who should be involved in the onboarding of a new employee – that way, a quick message and/or checklist can be initiated with these people when the time is right simply by emailing one address
  • Incorporate employee onboarding software into your process so that, based on the division to which the new employee is hired, the appropriate staff members are automatically prompted of onboarding process and receive notification when new hire paperwork forms must be approved and/or electronically countersigned

Finalize start date details with new hire

  • Communicate with new hire to confirm start date and if onboarding software is in place, go ahead and explain that applicant will be receiving email prompting him/her to login and approve and sign various employment paperwork files

If you aren’t already employing many of these tips in your process, before you start consider documenting your average time to fill. Then, once some additional time-saving measures are put into place and in action over a period of a few months, measure your average time to fill metric again and see to what extent your organization’s efficiency has improved on that front. Share the success with your team and your CFO…as quantitative KPI info like this is exactly what you need to justify the cost/time involved with future process improvements. The ROI is there when you can create a turnkey process based on sound fundamentals.

ExactHire’s hiring software applications help small and medium-sized companies automate and improve the recruiting and onboarding processes. For more information on how our tools can impact your time-to-fill KPI, please visit our resources page or contact us.