Thursday, August 09, 2007
As one of the most sought after professional speakers in the nation, we are truly honored and excited to have Dr. Paulson speak at our conference.
Terry has spoken for NAHCR, FSHHRA, the American Medical Association, The American Heart Association, Emergency Nurses Association, the Hospital Corporation of America, Johnson & Johnson, et. al.
Terry Paulson is a PhD psychologist, columnist, and celebrated author of the popular books They Shoot Managers Don’t They?, Leadership Truths One Story at a Time, and Paulson on Change. His programs empower leaders, professionals, and teams to make change work and explore what matters most. Dr. Paulson is a Past President of the National Speakers Association and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. His humor and down-to-earth style prompted Business Digest to call him “the Will Rogers of management consultants.”
Lecture Topic: “The Optimism Advantage”
As an HR professional, you are aware of the escalating concern over increasing staffing shortages. All you seem to hear is negative news about how bleak the future is for HR, but it is your duty to keep a positive attitude in this age of cynicism. Choose optimism, resourcefulness, and persistence over feelings of helplessness and frustration and embrace the changes that come in the HR world. Dr. Paulson’s motivational program will help you and your team focus on the optimism advantage as your continue to face organizational obstacles. Remember – your role is not just hiring; you are on the front-line of the battle for quality healthcare.
posted in: News
Friday, July 27, 2007
One of the biggest challenges in online recruiting has been a lack of detailed, regularly updated and public information on candidates. Social networks have the ability to change this, and we’re still in the early-adopter stage. There are signs that social networks are growing up, expanding their audiences beyond the earliest adopters, and increasing their usefulness to recruiters.
posted in: News
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Many organizations struggle to get enough high-quality applicants. While corporate websites, job boards, and events generate lots of flow, most agree that the quality is lacking in a vast majority of applicants. It is evident that little emphasis is placed on making the recruiting pitch truly exciting. The lack of effort is indicative of an often oversubscribed premise that the talent you are after already knows how great you are as an employer, so you don’t need to spark their interest in your openings.
posted in: Recruitment
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Despite the recession and the widespread layoffs, many organizations are continuing to pursue new college graduates. NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, reports that overall, companies expect to hire just 3.6% fewer new grads this year than last year. While the number of students that are actually getting offers is down slightly, many companies are making a strong effort to be on campus and assure students that they will be hiring again soon.
posted in: Recruitment
Monday, July 16, 2007
There is a great article on ere.net titled, “55 Low-Cost Ways to Recruit Nurses”. Dr. John Sullivan provides a list of some pretty easy ways to get those recruits in the door. Here are a few:
1. Employee referral program. The most effective recruiting tool of all is the ERP. Revisit it and re-energize its marketing program. Consider holding a raffle for a free trip to an exotic place for all of those who made referrals during the quarter. Remember to talk it up at regular management meetings for more impact.
11. Bring a friend to work day. Hold an invited open house on your site and encourage your nurses to bring a top colleague. Have managers show them your best practices, technology, and top people.
13. Boomerangs. Call all of the good nurses who left your facility over the last few years and ask them whether they would like to return. If they turn you down, ask them to be referral sources. Incidentally, tell top nurses when they quit that you would like to keep in touch with them and that they are welcome back (especially immediately, if their new job isn’t as good as the recruiter said).
16. References of candidates. When checking the references of promising candidates, consider them for direct hiring. Incidentally, if you hire either the reference or the individual asking for the reference, you’re much more likely to get the other one also. It’s also true that if you leave a positive impression with the reference, they will “talk you up” if your candidate happens to call them to get their opinion on which job offer they should accept.
Again, these are just a few please read the full article for all 55 tips.
posted in: Employee Referrals, Recruitment
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Occ Ther Asst? Phys Med Supv? If these are some of your job titles, you may be losing out on applicants. You may be losing them not only because the applicant doesn’t know what the job titles mean, but because Google, MSN and Yahoo don’t know either. When a job seeker hits the internet for a job, they might search for: “Nursing Positions in Boston”. If your job postings are missing some of these keywords, then you are missing out on applicants.
Read the full article to learn more about maximizing your job descriptions with the right keywords.
posted in: Recruitment, Job Postings
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Finding new nurses is just one of the problems that face many hospitals, retaining them is another. By offering flexible scheduling and a few other efforts see how you can help retain those hard to find nurses.
posted in: Retention
Monday, April 30, 2007
When you recruit on the internet you can’t just submit the same posting you would in a newspaper. Those ads are usually full of abbreviations and don’t adequately market the position or your facility adequately. You don’t have to worry about paying for the line or column inch so you have an opportunity to completely present your opportunity to interested candidates. Some career sites have length restrictions but with those sites there is sufficient space to write a fundamentally good job posting.
Use the following as a guide to writing a good job posting:
1. Job Title
Since this is one of the first things your jobseekers will see, it is the most important section in your posting. More than likely, when a job search is performed a list of results includes the company name, location and job title. Does your job title differentiate you from the hundreds of similar job postings? If you are going to attract candidates you will need to grab their attention. Do it by writing creative job titles.
Job titles that stand out will attract a higher response then plain job titles. Try it for yourself. Post the exact same job but choose different job titles then track which ad drives more resumes.
2. Company
Make sure your HR site provides insight on your organization including:
- Brief description of the organization.
- Products and/or services your company provides.
- Define your corporate culture.
- What type of training and career path they can expect.
- Why your company is a good place to work.
- Work Environment (Examples: Casual, formal, team focused, telecommuting, flex hours, etc.)
Even if your company is widely known you should include this section. Providing this information is helpful in “selling” your company to candidates.
3. Job Description
Candidates want to know what they will be “actually” doing in this position. Provide a comprehensive description of the position including:
- Detailed overview of the responsibilities the position entails.
- General scope of work.
- Will they be part of a team, managing a team, or working independently?
- Reason for opening? (Growth, expansion, new opening, etc.)
- Role the position and department has within the organization.
When the job seeker is finished reading this section they will have a mental picture of the type of work they will be doing.
4. Requirements or Qualifications
Outline skills required for this position. Differentiate between the actual required qualifications and the “it would be nice if you had these” skills.
- List requirements and the desired or minimum number years of experience.
- Work experience.
- Education or certifications needed.
- Soft skills (Examples: time management, organization skills, leadership, communications skills, willingness to travel, etc.)
5. Keywords
This section is the most important! Your job ads will never be found if job seekers choose words that are not found in your ad. In the above example, what would happen if an individual searches for “Account Manager” and “California”? Your sales job will not be part of the results. In each of the sections include keywords in your ads and incorporate them in the ad.
It would be more effective to have a separate section for keywords. List the common words individuals might search. This will significantly increase your hit ratio or the likelihood your job ads will be listed.
Example: Your job posting is for an Accounting Manager
Keywords: Accounting, Accountant, CPA, Certified Public Accountant, Finance, CFO, Accounting Manager, Finance Manager, Director of Finance, Accounting Director.
This template should be used for effective Internet job postings. Start with your newspaper ads and expand, expand, and expand. Using these techniques will give you a higher response rate than reposting your newspaper ads online. Job ads that are targeted, descriptive and attention grabbing will help achieve a successful Internet Recruiting Strategy!
posted in: Job Postings
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Johanna Rothman writes an excellent article for Monster’s Hiring Center on employee referral programs. This article discusses how most employers have some type of employee referral program, but few of them are effective. Here are six suggestions to make sure you have an effective employee referral program.
- Identify key people so you can ask them to refer people they worked with before.
- Explain open positions to key people. Ask them, “Who was the best ‘nurse’ you ever worked with?”
- Make referral fees worth an employee’s time. Cash isn’t the only think that will reward an employee. Consider other perks.
- Keep paperwork to a minimum. Make it easy for an employee to submit a candidate.
- Show that hiring is a priority for everyone. If you show, by your actions, that hiring is a priority, then employees will feel urgently about referring others to you.
- Encourage your employees to discover other folks professionally. Do your key employees participate in networking at meetings or education events? Have you considered hosting an event for your employees to invite potential candidates.
An effective employee referral program will bring in the high-quality candidates you are seeing. Your goal is to make it easy for your staff to refer the best people to your organization.
Read the full article or Learn about our Employee Referral Module
posted in: Employee Referrals
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
After interviewing a candidate do you sit in your office crossing your fingers hoping the candidate takes the job? This shouldn’t be a guessing game. You shouldn’t have to worry about “landing them” after you spend time and money getting them through the process.
You don’t have to out bid your competitor on salary or benefits. You just have to do a better job recruiting. Here is an example of a great interview process:
When you are attracting the right talent, candidates from an Employee Referral Program should be your top priority. These candidates feel special by being “recruited”. You should move quickly from resume to telephone interview.
When your candidate enters the building, a great first impression is to have a welcome sign appropriately placed. Don’t have the ability to do that in your lobby? What about on your office door or on the unit you are interviewing them for? Have your staff ready to expect the candidate and make them feel important.
At the interview process don’t treat them as just another body. Personally escort them from place to place. Treat them as a guest in the house. If you believe this is the right person for the job, make the job offer before they get out of your site. Studies show that on the spot job offers are more likely accepted even if the candidates are considering other employers.
A good way to lose a great candidate is having them wait for days or weeks for references and background checks. The longer you wait the easier it will be for your competition to recruit them away from you. Delays create hesitation in their mind about your company. The ultimate insult will be to submit a lowball offer to them after waiting on you to make your decision.
posted in: Recruitment, Interviewing