What is being called the Great Resignation is revealing a lot of things about the U.S. workforce that was previously hidden just under the surface. Between employee dissatisfaction and a desire for more freedom, employees are letting it be known that they no longer accept the pre-COVID employment model. For recruiters, this means a targeted approach to finding job candidates is even more important now.
The Great Resignation has seen millions of people leave their jobs and search for greener pastures. For some, that means going to another company in the same industry. For others, it means starting entirely new careers. Still, others are starting new businesses or simply retiring. It all points to the same thing: more work for recruiters to do.
The worst part for recruiters is that the number of open positions hasn’t declined. If anything, there are more jobs available today than there were a couple of years ago. That is certainly the case in healthcare. This means recruiters need to get better at what they do. One strategy to that end is targeting.
Table of Contents
Know Your Audience
Think about what recruiting actually is. In its most basic form, it is just marketing. The recruiter’s job is to market an open position to a number of available candidates in hopes that one of them will eventually land the job. The recruiter needs to sell that job to get candidates to apply.
You can take the marketing mentality one step further by considering all the rules that successful marketers follow. Perhaps the most important rule of all is to know your audience. Once you know them, you make every effort to target them exclusively. Focusing on a targeted audience reduces the risk of wasting marketing resources on people who will not buy.
Targeted recruiting works the same way. There is no point in trying to sell a job to a hundred candidates whose chances of caring about that job are slim to none. It is better to focus on just five targeted candidates who really want that job.
Targeting Requires Data
Marketers need tons of data to identify and target their key audiences. So do recruiters. Enter iMedical Data, a company that compiles first-party data into healthcare professional databases. They have databases covering physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and even therapists.
Interestingly enough, their data sets are used by both marketers and recruiters. A marketer might use the nurse practitioner database to introduce NPs to a new product or service. Likewise, a recruiter might use the therapist database to find the best candidates for an open position.
Data is key to targeted recruiting because it identifies those people who will be recruited. Ideally, recruiters want first-party data that is both qualified and up to date. Such data gives them the best chances of getting the desired results.
No Time to Waste
As the Great Resignation continues unabated, healthcare recruiters have no time to waste. The demand for healthcare services is not waning; it is actually increasing. Employers need to fill those open positions and they expect recruiters to come up with the candidates.
When all is said and done, the most successful recruiters are the ones who produce candidates ready to be hired. Doing that consistently requires following a strategy of targeting the most appropriate audience. Adopt a targeted recruiting approach and your efforts tend to produce better results.
It is clear that the Great Resignation has created a paradigm shift in the modern workforce. In healthcare, it has created a need for even more targeted recruiting among both headhunters and HR directors. If you want to succeed, target the right audience.