Rural healthcare is vital as plenty of people still live far from major population centers and they still need to be cared for. However, it is sadly the case that rural healthcare has it tough. Part of this is inevitable – rural anything has it tough – and it is simply the result of thin resources stretched over a large area.
These days however with the current talent market in the state it is, things are tougher than ever before. Health Jobs Nationwide, a healthcare jobs board recruitment service, say that this is the result of a dearth of talent relative to the jobs available.
With fewer candidates to fill more posts, rural healthcare institutions have a challenging time attracting top recruits who, for obvious reasons, usually prefer to live and work in cities where there are more jobs, resources, and patients to take care of. This means that rural healthcare institutions have a few added challenges to overcome. Nevertheless, this can be done, and it can be done without compromising the quality of the healthcare.
Why would healthcare be compromised at rural institutions? Well, to understand this it is important to understand what many healthcare institutions are doing today when they get desperate for talent. This is precisely what you should not do.
What Not to Do
Let us say that a rural healthcare institution has several vacancies to fill, and their resources and personnel stretched pretty thinly as things stand. In order to snap up the candidates that at least show an interest, they might decide to overlook certain qualification inadequacies, or they might decide to offer the world on plate in their postings on the health jobs boards.
The result of such practices is rarely good. All it leads to is candidates who are ultimately disappointed by their new jobs, and who shortly quit. This is known as talent churn, and prevents the solidification of quality healthcare teams, which always requires time to gel and work effectively together as a unit. This compromises the quality of the healthcare and ultimately can lead to a failing rural healthcare institutions. Avoid taking this easy route at all costs as it will not serve your institution well in the long run.
Tips for Rural Recruiting
Stand Out with Your Job Postings
How can you do this? Well, there are a number of ways to stand out with job postings, and they primarily involve doing well what, today, is commonly done badly. On your job posting, you should give the most important information first and make sure it is sufficiently detailed – even if it is not particularly attractive.
If you attract candidates who already have a clear idea about what is required, the salary range, the perks, the hours, and so on, then they are more likely to ultimately be satisfied with the job simply because they are less likely to be in for a nasty surprise because information was not given up front.
Big Up Your Location
One thing certain rural communities have going for them is their beauty and the attractions of the rural way of life. Make no mistake, this is immensely popular among many people and there are probably plenty of candidates out there who are looking for precisely this. If you can effectively target these recruits, then you have a much greater chance of ensuring that they are ultimately satisfied with their new job and will stick with it.
Ultimately, successful rural recruiting means recognizing that rural healthcare can be incredibly attractive and then leaning in to this advantage. It does not mean lowering standards.
