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UK – Disruptive healthcare recruiter to enter US market

29 May 2015

We have a global population that is living longer and growing older, and a global healthcare industry that is struggling to cope.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by 2035 there will be a shortage of 12.9 million healthcare workers worldwide.

On the face of it, the gulf between supply and demand looks impossible to resolve, but one disruptive entrepreneur is giving it his best shot, according to Forbes.

In 2005 Tony Moss launched an ambitious recruitment start-up, Your World Healthcare, (YW) from his bedroom. A decade on it is the largest recruiter of allied healthcare professions in the UK.

Moss was actually working in a sales role in Australia when he turned entrepreneur. There he had met many Aussie healthcare professionals who wanted to work in the UK.

At that time, he recalls, there was a great demand for Australian healthcare workers, who were lured by the salary and experience incentive of the UK.

“I’d worked in healthcare recruitment for around four years before realising that it could be done a lot better, mainly in the way you treat and manage your staff, candidates and clients,” he said.

Six months after the Australian launch, Moss returned to the UK to open a second office, tapping into a market where healthcare workers were fast becoming a global commodity like never before.

The UK competes with other European countries for healthcare staff, including Germany and Ireland, and is now battling increased demand from Scandinavia.

Ireland wants more qualified doctors from UK, while the UK needs more Irish newly trained nurses, of which they have plenty. The Middle East are seeking highly qualified doctors from Europe and America, whose respective domestic demands continue to escalate.

Ironically, many UK healthcare workers today are flocking to Australia in pursuit of its attractive lifestyle and culture.

In such a fiercely competitive healthcare staffing market, Moss has succeeded by expanding YW service offerings within the sector to diversify risk away from a single service offering.

“Healthcare recruitment is seen as a very prosperous segment of the recruitment arena, so many companies see it as an area to break into, and competition is always fierce.”

As well as devising a growth strategy that would enable YW to hold its own in such a tough market, Moss had to overcome the challenges that every first time entrepreneur faces. One of the most difficult, he says, is employing your first member of staff.

“You mistakenly look for someone with the same work ethics, skillsets as yourself rather than someone with the skillset to complement yours,” he explains. “Flexibility is another important factor. A rigid and prescriptive working style can lead to inefficient working practice. The most successful companies have always been flexible in their approach. Being flexible to the market demands during our early years has helped lead us to where we are now.”

YW has grown more than 40% year-on-year for the last four years, and an annual turnover of $180 million is within reach. From its global offices the company places over 1700 temporary healthcare staff on a day-to-day basis.

Further international growth is in the pipeline, with a view to opening more overseas offices. Moss has his eye on the US market, where a shortage of healthcare workers will leave the country increasingly looking abroad to meet their continuing demand.

He says: “Expanding into the US has always been on the cards for us. As it is an established market, I feel the best approach will be to partner up with an existing company and share experience and resources.”

With a worldwide shortage of healthcare professionals and increased human longevity pushing demand, the future of the global healthcare human capital market looks promising.

Over the next few years Moss expects to see the healthcare workforce to become more transient, and countries relaxing the registration and visa processes to attract the candidate flow they need.

“It’s either that or significantly increasing the available training places to meet demand,” he says.

It is a sustainable market, the aging population and an increase in medical advancements will continue to put increasing pressure on limited resources, including staffing, therefore demand for recruitment support can only increase over future years.     

It is also a market that is ripe for entry by entrepreneurs, and as experienced recruitment consultants are tempted to go it alone, start-up activity is set to heighten. The opportunities are huge, but as Moss points out, the pitfalls can be perilous. These range from managing cash flow for a temporary or locum-staffing model, to the increasing adoption of national contracts and the processes and costs associated with this.

He says: “The greatest opportunities exist for entrepreneurs who have a sound understanding of the market. Market knowledge is paramount, and a company that can predict the future shape and needs of the healthcare sector will always be able to plan on how to meet the challenges presented.”