New Year, New Strategies for Hiring Healthcare Executives

Looking to hire an A+ healthcare executive or interim leader for your organization in 2018? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.1 percent – about the lowest it’s been in nearly 17 years. Though this is great for the overall economy, it presents challenges for organizations wanting to find top talent, particularly in high-demand fields such as healthcare and cybersecurity.

The low unemployment rate — along with the new legislation going into place in many areas restricting organizations from asking about a candidate’s salary — will impact organizations and HR managers in 2018. Staying abreast of the latest city, county, and state laws on salary history questions and ensuring you’re in compliance with these laws aimed at improving pay equity is critical. These changes make it more important than ever that organizations are offering a competitive salary and objectively setting criteria defining the factors that will drive a higher or lower compensation package. That’s where the help of a healthcare executive search firm will be invaluable.

Strategies for Hiring the Best Healthcare Executive

In our 29 years as executive search experts, we’ve found that the organizations that are consistently able to hire and retain the best healthcare and cybersecurity executives, even in highly competitive markets, tend to do the following:

1. Write a clear and comprehensive job description.
2. Monitor how their employer brand is perceived in the market.
3. Prioritize a positive candidate experience.
4. “Sell” candidates on both the organization and the opportunity.
5. Project manage the hiring process and create a sense of urgency around the hire.
6. Be transparent about their hiring process and timeline.
7. Simplify the application process (given the legislation changes mentioned above, now is a great time to review the questions you’re asking on your job application).
8. Provide timely feedback about candidate’s status.
9. Collect feedback from candidates about their interviewing experience and developing a plan to address issues.
10. Set their new hire up for success with a strong onboarding program.

By following these tips and enlisting an experienced healthcare IT executive search firm, you can ensure your organization is positioned for hiring success in 2018.

This piece was originally published by Judy Kirby, who has served as president of Kirby Partners since 1994. To follow the company on Twitter, click here.