Better healthcare staffing with video interviews
Josh Tolan explores the benefits of video interviews in recruitment in the healthcare sector.
Hiring in the healthcare sector is far from slowing down. According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, hiring is only looking to heat up in the next six months. In fact, more than half of healthcare employers are planning to hire full-time, permanent employees before 2014.
What does this mean for your hiring efforts? Most likely it will mean fierce competition for the best and brightest candidates. Since you don't want to lose out on the best people, you need to figure out a way to find great candidates and hire them fast.
The problem is the traditional hiring process can be extremely time-consuming, especially when looking for a highly-skilled candidate. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the time-to-hire for a large organization can number as many as 43 days.
"...more than half of healthcare employers are planning to hire full-time, permanent employees before 2014."
Most organizations, however, need to hire great candidates faster than this average. You need talented healthcare workers in your organization and you need to hire the best before your competition scoops them up.
One way to cut down on the traditional hiring process while still connecting personally with the best and brightest is the video interview. New technology is making it easier than ever before to find, source, and connect with the best candidates. From social media to time-saving applicant tracking systems, technology has really revolutionized the way we hire. Now video interviews are making the process of connecting with candidates easier, more personal, and much faster.
So how can video interviews help you hire the superstar healthcare workers you need? Here are just a few ways:
Video interviews shorten the process
First let's look at one of the most pressing problems facing healthcare hiring: the time crunch. You need top-quality workers in your company, hospital, or healthcare jobs, but you don't have more than a month to wait around for the right person. You need someone great...and immediately.
Video interviews help employers to connect with great people faster by cutting out some of the inefficient middle steps of the hiring process. For instance, instead of spending a half hour on a phone screen with a candidate you might realize immediately is all wrong for the job, you can instead use a one-way video interview.
In a one-way video interview, candidates answer on camera the written questions provided by employers. If you realize the video answers provided by the candidate don't mesh with your organization, you can quickly move on. Instead of being stuck on the phone for another 20 minutes, now you can find a candidate better suited for the position. Given this example, it's not hard to see why research from the Aberdeen Group found you can watch 10 video screens in the time it takes you to complete just one phone screen.
"...the time-to-hire for a large organization can number as many as 43 days."
Video interviews help jump the skills gap
The skills gap is a big problem for today's employers. Despite the fact that there are more workers looking for jobs than ever thanks to the down economy, it's still desperately hard to find candidates with the right skills and qualifications. For every corporate job opening, employers receive approximately 250 resumes.
Yet despite the clamor of workers looking for jobs, in 2010 there was a shortage of 7 million skilled workers. By 2020, this skill shortage could number as high as 21 million workers. This is especially true in the healthcare field, where many candidates need to have highly developed and specific skills.
One way to bridge the skills gap is to remove some of the barriers keeping the talent you need from your positions. For instance, geographic distance can become a huge problem keeping you from the right candidates. Many out-of-towners would be more than happy to relocate for a great new position. But because of the high cost of connecting with these candidates in the hiring process, many companies bypass these potential superstars altogether.
Using the video interview, you can cast a much wider net for the highly-trained and skilled candidates you need. With a live video interview, you can converse in real time and connect just as personally as if the candidate was on the other side of the desk, instead of the other side of the country.
It's easier to schedule interviews with far-flung talent if they don't have to board an airplane in order to interview. Plus, it saves you money on airfare and hotel accommodations. Best of all, since live video interviews automatically record, you can share your top candidates with the whole hiring team.
"For every corporate job opening, employers receive approximately 250 resumes."
Video interviews help you hire great temporary workers
The use of temporary or contract workers in the healthcare field is on the rise. According to the CareerBuilder survey, 27 percent of those surveyed planned to hire more temporary workers – --an increase of 12 percent since just last year.
So how can video interviews help you hire great temporary workers? The same way it helps you hire full-time superstars: by shortening the process and helping you jump the skills gap.
Since you're likely looking to hire permanent superstars, your schedule is probably packed. Video interviews allow you to connect personally with temporary talent without taking too much time away from your hunt for full-time workers. You can evaluate one-way video interviews in the gaps in your busy schedule and only focus in on the best candidates.
Plus with more companies taking on virtual or telecommuting workers, you can hire a marketing guru or IT wiz located in another area code. Video interviews will still allow you to get a personal feel for the candidate, even if they don't spend every day in your physical office location.
When it comes to the competitive world of healthcare hiring, video interviews can help you cut out the fat of the traditional hiring process and find the best people faster.
About the author:
Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video powered hiring network that connects job seekers and employers through video resumes and online interviews. Connect with him and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.
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