Three Simple Recruitment Tips
By Kelly Smith The strong demand for healthcare professionals
continues at full throttle, leaving some department managers and
their skeletal crews gasping for air. The longer the position
remains open, the shorter the patience of your
staff.
As a staffing expert, with over 15 years experience both as an
in-house and agency recruiter, I've learned there are three simple
things that will strengthen your recruitment efforts.
1. Build a searchable database
Gather up all resumes/applications and enter the information
into a database that allows you to retrieve your data via a keyword
search. For instance, if you want to view all your candidates who
are orthotists, just type in "orthotist" in the keyword search
field and hit "enter" on your keypad. The database will bring up
how many orthotists you have available to contact. You can search
by area code, education level, specialized skills, or any field
that you have designed in your database for searching.
Two very simple and inexpensive methods for implementing and
designing a database are: Access from Microsoft (you may already
have it on your PC!) and ACT, a software package that you can buy
at your local computer store for an average of $250. For additional
information on ACT, go to www.act.com. I encourage you not to pay for
software that needs to be maintained by the vendor, because this
can become a costly and frustrating venture.
I recommend keeping hard copies of your data for up to five
years. I also recommend never deleting information entered into the
database unless a candidate is deceased, and even then, I would
make sure the reference data is transferred and saved. This brings
me to recruitment tip #2.
2. Contact references
When candidates come in to interview, be sure to have them fill
out an application that includes a section to list references.
Encourage applicants to provide references for both whom they
report to and other co-workers that they have worked/are working
with.
Call each industry reference that the candidate approves for you
to contact. Even if you have no interest in the candidate, call the
references anyway. Ask a few pointed reference questions, and at
the end of your conversation ask if they would mind if you add them
to your newsletter list. Get their e-mail address and their home
address and ask by which method they prefer to receive the
newsletter. In your database, create a field where you can indicate
the preferred method the candidate has chosen for receiving the
newsletter (notice how the reference has just turned into a
candidate).
After you have contacted references, be sure to send them an
e-mail or letter thanking them for their time and the reference.
The sentence can be as simple as, "On behalf of candidate's name
and your institution, I would like to thank you for taking the time
to be a reference. Enclosed you will find my business card. Please
feel free to contact me anytime with any questions, concerns, or
issues of interest."
With your searchable database and a list of prospective
candidates, you are now ready for simple recruitment tip #3.
3. Contact the entire database periodically
For those candidates who provided e-mail addresses, create a
group e-mail address. A group e-mail address allows you to reach a
large number of contacts without spending valuable time and money.
For the candidates that do not have e-mail addresses, search them
out via the keyword search and send them a newsletter via US postal
mail.
The newsletter is a professional and logical reason for keeping
in contact with your candidates. Make it easy on yourself and send
out the newsletter just every three months. The newsletter need
only be one page in length and can be put together rather quickly
by including the following data: industry updates, your
departmental accomplishments, and current job openings. You can
personalize the letter with an introduction such as, "From the desk
of your name and title." Always be sure to include your full
contact information.
Employ these three easy recruitment tips, and you'll soon be
hearing sighs of relief as your positions are filled in a timely
manner. Kelly Smith is a human resources recruiter and senior staffing specialist. She can be contacted at: kellystaffingexpert@yahoo.com. 
Table Of Contents - November 2004
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