Become involved (and strategic) with social media.

Fear is a terrible thing. Especially when it causes healthcare systems to back away from using a potentially powerful communications tool. When it comes to using social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, healthcare systems tend to fall into two categories. The first suffers from significant fear regarding negative feedback that may come from using such tools. This group also struggles with how much time it will take to make this a successful venture. The second group is “gung-ho” and jump into the pool before they check to make sure it’s been filled with water.  This group tends to throw every possible press release, article and “approved” message they can find onto their social media channels, only to realize they’ve created a one-way conversation.

There is a better way.Read full post...

Using your differences for better recruiting.

Successful recruitment is more than simply putting together a job description and posting it out to the industry’s dominant job board. In your struggle to find top talent you need to understand two essential truths: 1.) You are different; and 2.) Your differences are what make your organization attractive.

What makes you different is your employees and the culture within your organization. If your employees are happy and say good things about your organization you’ll have an easier time recruiting top talent. If they are willing to provide testimonials, or to speak through social media channels about your organization, even better.

All employees want to work where they feel comfortable. They want to be successful within a culture that feels right to them. Beyond salary, beyond benefits, beyond the traditional, building a sense of belonging serves organizations well in recruitment and retention. When competing on salary, the company willing to pay the most wins. When competing on benefits, the company willing to pay the most wins. When competing on culture, the company that communicates the most wins.

So, if you’re struggling with bringing in top talent, maybe it’s not the salary or benefits that are the problem. Maybe you’re not providing them with the information they are looking for, “What is it really like to work there?”

Welcome to Recruitment 2.0

Physician recruiters have fallen on hard times. Once viewed as heroes who deliver agents of change to organizations in need, they now find themselves constrained by ever-growing demands on their time and budgetary resources. As a result, recruiters are finding it harder to compete — they can only do so much with their list of contacts; they can expect only so much in return on their marketing efforts.

What’s a recruiter to do? Social networking on the web.Read full post...