August 11th, 2008 by pdaurizio
For many of you “going on the road” may be an entirely new experience which for others may seem “old hat”. Registering to exhibit at a conference can be a daunting experience. The purpose for exhibiting at conferences and conventions is to introduce yourself and your organization to the attendees in order to present your organization as a potential employer. What many people fail to realize is that you are planting the seed and building a pipeline of future employees. It is extremely rare that you will come home with a hire from the event you just attended. What is critical is to position yourself so your organization is one that attendees want to consider for themselves as well as sharing your information with their friends and family.
You want to make it easy for them to give you their contact information.
Several things will help you accomplish your goals.
Registering early usually gives you a discounted booth price and also gives you preference in booth selection.
Look at the exhibit hall layout to see traffic flow. Being near entrances, exits, food or restrooms usually has an advantage. If you can select a corner booth do so; this gives you more room and also increases your traffic from exposure to two aisles rather than one.
Invest in the electronic badge scanners if they offer that and see if the attendee registration list is available for exhibitors. You want to maximize obtaining as much contact information as you possibly can, in a manner that frees you up to have good face-to-face time. Some organizations will provide you with an advance registration list as well.
Read the fine print carefully and order only want you really need. If you are exhibiting in a hotel, most of the time the exhibit area is carpeted already, so you do not need to order additional carpet. Convention centers typically do not have carpeted floors. Make sure a table skirt is included. Rent chairs if you feel you need to, but make sure you are accessible to TALK to people, never put yourself between your exhibit table and the attendees.
Make sure your booth is colorful and visually attractive. You want to stand out from all the other exhibitors. Offer a door prize or a unique giveaway to attract traffic to your booth. Position the giveaways so the attendees have to talk to you and can’t just grab a giveaway and run from the booth without making contact with you.
Be pleasant, smile, show an interest in the attendees and their conference.
Do not socialize with your booth neighbors during exhibit time. Network in-between exhibit sessions; this is an excellent opportunity to see what others are doing all over the country or state. Keep your ears open and you can pick up a tremendous amount of helpful information while building your own network.
Follow the instructions for tearing down your booth and shipping it back. Whenever possible take the booth with you or ship it to and from the business center of the hotel. Many major conventions do not allow you to do this (they require you to ship to the decorating company warehouse), so always pack some of your handouts and giveaways with you in the event something happens to your shipments. Do not pack the paperwork associated with the event; keep it in your carry on luggage.
Check hotel and airline prices yourself before you book and join hotel and airline travel programs. With hotels, you can often get a better price from your hotel rewards program or other discount programs you may belong to.
Travel wisely; do not bring or wear flashy jewelry and be aware of your surroundings. Travel in groups whenever possible. Keep your receipts and follow your organizations reimbursement policy.
Remember, the key to all of your exhibiting is making contacts. Make sure you send a follow-up correspondence to all who stopped at your booth. An e-blast or e-card is one option, a personalized letter is another. Just make sure you follow up and in a timely manner so that the attendees still remember the conference and who you are.
Keep notes on the event so when you are doing your budget for the following year you can determine the value of the event and whether to participate or not.
Posted in Tips for New Recruiters | 1 Comment »
August 4th, 2008 by pdaurizio
In order to gauge if our efforts have been successful, we need to measure a number of things. Many organizations will clearly define what they want recruitment to measure. Data that we typically measure will fall into two categories:
Quantitative: Metrics or the numbers
Qualitative: Customer satisfaction surveys, new hire surveys, focus group feedback, exit interviews, employee satisfaction surveys etc.
Quantitative Data
Listed below are some of the more common metrics that organizations collect:
• Vacancy Rate
• Turnover Rate
• Days to Fill
• Days to Start
• Net Loss/Gain
• Cost per Hire
• Labor Cost per Hire
• Applicants by Source
• Hires by Source
• Retention Rate by Source
• Decline Logs
Data to calculate many of these formulas are found in your applicant tracking system, payroll system, HRIS system, position control system and by actual recruiter tracking.
Both the National Association for Health Care Recruitment and the American Society of Health care Human Resource Administration have formulas for calculating the different metrics. Always make sure you are calculating the formulas the same way, so that you are comparing apples to apples. For example, some facilities consider a person who transfers from a benefited category to a per diem position as a termination and include them in the turnover reports. Other facilities do not. Check with your HR department and/or your HRIS department to see if they are collecting metrics and if so what formulas they are using.
Qualitative Data
Should always be trended and the participants’ confidentiality protected at all times. Many times, especially with exit interviews and employee satisfaction surveys, it is worthwhile having a third party conduct the surveys for you. When a third party conducts the survey there is usually a higher return rate as well as more candid responses. No one wants to burn his bridges behind him. When these types of interviews are conducted internally, people tend to be more cautious and concerned about anonymity and end up giving you what they think you want to hear, rather than the truth. Dealing with a third party offers some protection to the employee and they often feel more comfortable, which leads to more candid and honest feedback.
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July 28th, 2008 by pdaurizio
Health Care advertising is a method to convey information to the public about your employment brand, services and positions.
Traditional Advertising Venues
• Newspapers
• Brochures
• Direct Mail
• Journals
• Magazines
• Career Directories
Electronic Media
• Your home/career pages
• Job Boards
• Profession Specific Sites
• College Sites
• Social Networking Sites
• e-blasts
Alternative Venues
• Kiosks (in malls, airports, other transportation venues)
• Cinema
• TV and radio
• Car Wraps
• Bus Signs
• Mobile Billboards
Every ad should have common characteristics regardless of the media or venue used:
• Factual
• Sets your organization apart
• Attractive
• Clever
• Reply and/or contact information
• Web Page information
You should have a method to capture the effectiveness of your advertising. This helps you plan for future use as well as show Return on Investment.
While many facilities have marketing departments that can assist with this, health care facilities should use an agency that specializes in health care recruitment communication. These agencies have experts in the field who can assist you with:
• Research
• Demographic Data
• Negotiating line rates
• Tracking usage and cost
• Branding
• Open Houses
• Employee Referral Programs
• Onboarding
• Measuring effectiveness of your advertising efforts
• Trends in the field
• New media
There are a number of other products and services offered by health care recruitment communication companies.
Check out www.hodes.com for samples of our health care work as well as case studies showcasing a number of the effective recruitment communication solutions we offer.
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July 21st, 2008 by pdaurizio
Successful recruitment does not happen by chance. It requires a well thought out plan, which includes strategic planning, short term planning and ongoing planning.
Strategic Planning:
• Know your product
• Know your culture
• Know your competition
• Conduct forecasting meetings with your internal customers.
All of this will help you develop long term plans and goals. Keep in mind, health care is very fluid and things can change without warning, so you must be flexible and be prepared.
Short Term Planning, also known as ” Crisis Intervention”
• Special incentives
• Special programs
• Accelerated promotion of an area/department
• Accelerated processing of applicants
• Frequent meetings with leaders to keep them informed
Ongoing Planning
Should be part of your daily routine; continually assessing the areas you are responsible for as well as staying attuned to external trends and situations that may have an impact on your recruitment efforts.
Data Sources for Planning:
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov
• Society of Human Resource Management, www.shrm.org
• American Society of Health care Human Resources Administration, www.ashhra.org
• Bureau of Health Professions, www.bhr.hrsa.org
• American Nurses Association, www. ana.org
• Agency for Health care Research and Quality, www.ahrq.gov
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July 14th, 2008 by pdaurizio
Being a successful recruiter is all about relationship management. We are in the business of dealing with people, not products, so learning all about how to manage relationships is critical.
You must also understand who your customers are: for all intents and purposes you have both internal and external customers. Both are critical to your success as a recruiter.
Internal customers are all the employees you deal with, from the CEO to the food service staff. Important internal customers are the hiring managers you work with on a daily basis. And don’t forget your peers.
External customers are all the applicants, students, instructors, vendors, media representatives, professional association officers and anyone else you deal with, whether it is ongoing or a one-time encounter.
Relationships cannot be built from behind a desk. You must have face-to-face interactions with your customers. Get out of your office, walk around, and talk to people in a variety of departments.
In addition, remember the “R’s” of relationships:
• Responsiveness- keep others informed
• Return phone calls and emails in a timely manner-don’t keep people waiting
• Respect the other person’s position- you don’t have to agree with them but you must respect their opinions
• Routine communications –provide written reports that allow others to see and understand what you do as a recruiter
• Reasonable expectations- be clear and realistic when preparing and delivering offers to candidates.
Next week we will look at developing a recruitment plan.
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July 7th, 2008 by pdaurizio
Competencies are defined as a set of skills, knowledge, abilities and behaviors that are necessary in order to be successful in a particular position.
In order to be a successful recruiter you need to possess:
• Excellent communication skills- written and verbal as well as presentation skills.
• Organizational skills- the ability to set priorities and multitask as well as problem-solve.
• Critical Thinking Skills- think globally and be able to look at the impact of existing issues and future consequences.
• Selection Skills- the ability to creatively source candidates.
• Technical Skills- computer and software proficient
• Financial Skills- be able to calculate and communicate Return on Investment.
• Statistical Analysis Skills - collect and analyze metrics and other data to drive decisions.
• Customer Service Skills- Understand and demonstrate excellent internal and external customer service skills.
Next week we will look at Relationship Management
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June 30th, 2008 by pdaurizio
It takes a special kind of person to be an effective recruiter. You must have a variety of characteristics as well as a defined set of competencies to succeed. For starters, you must:
• Like and enjoy interacting with people
• Be persuasive and proactive
• Be an excellent listener
• Be a creative “out of the box” thinker
• Be able to multi-task and switch gears frequently
• Be comfortable with change and changing priorities
• Have the ability to look at and understand the “big picture”
• Understand Return on Investment and how to demonstrate it
• Be able to gather, analyze and report on data
• Be organized
• Have technological expertise (ease with computer, software programs and Internet) or be willing to learn it.
Last but not least, it is key to have a good sense of humor. You must be able to take things seriously but not personally and you must be able to laugh at yourself.What other characteristics do you think are important to be a successful recruiter? I would love to hear from you about your additional thoughts on characteristics that make recruiters successful.
Next week we will look at competencies that are needed to be a successful recruiter.
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June 19th, 2008 by pdaurizio
Welcome to one of the most exciting, fulfilling and important roles you could possibly fill.Something made you look into recruitment as a career; hopefully it was your passion to assist people in finding the right fit within your organization. When you make those matches, you enable your organization to fulfill its mission and purpose. At the end of the day, what matters most is finding the best people to deliver the best care to your patients.Over the next several weeks we will look at some essential components that go into helping you succeed as a recruiter.The first thing one should look at is the role itself. Critical to defining the scope of the role is reporting structure. Whom do you report to and where in the larger picture of the organization do they fall? Are they part of the C-Suite or the executive team of the organization?Do you report to: human resources, nursing, workforce planning, marketing or another core department?Are you clear about the scope of your job? Exactly what positions are you recruiting for- will you screen, interview, determine compensation and make the offer? This process is usually accomplished collaboratively with the hiring managers. Do you have other non-recruiting related responsibilities? Clearly understanding your role is paramount to your success.Next week we will look at characteristics helpful for recruiters.
Posted in Tips for New Recruiters, Uncategorized | To leave a comment, click here »
