According to a 2017 study published by Health Affairs, baby boomer registered nurses are now retiring and being replaced by millennial nurses, who are entering the nurse workforce at nearly double the rate that boomers entered. This embracing of the nursing profession by millennials has helped counteract the US nurse shortage from worsening. The number of registered nurses aged 33 or younger reached 834,000 in 2015. Millennial nurses are already expected to exceed the number of Generation X nurses in the workforce by 2020. Overall, the entire US nurse workforce is expected to grow 36% to reach 4 million between 2015 and 2030.
This month, Staffing Industry Analysts published the US Healthcare Staffing Recruitment Strategies report based on interviews with seven of the 10 largest healthcare staffing firms. The report found that millennial clinicians consume content differently from previous generations and that the firms have shifted their recruitment strategies to maintain their relevancy.
The report revealed that more than any generation, millennials do a great deal of research across multiple channels to educate themselves before making decisions. Millennials rely heavily on word of mouth from friends, and research multiple social media, community, job board and branded websites to learn which companies have the best reputations. As a result, the greatest marketing shift that has occurred is that the multiple channels must be managed closely for messaging and brand reputation.
Across all healthcare staffing firm respondents, social media was found to be a key strategy to grow brand awareness and engagement with clinicians. Job boards and job aggregators are also used regularly, and community sites are a key factor in brand reputation management. Search engine optimization has become a priority as higher search engine rankings lead to improved quantity and quality of traffic and leads to branded websites from the job boards and job aggregators.
The companies interviewed also indicated increasing adoption of technologies that automate clinician outreach and communication. More than half of the companies are using or investing in just-in-time staffing mobile apps, chat bots and artificial intelligence. Automated video interview adoption is also increasing, particularly in MSP accounts.
Despite the adoption of marketing and technology strategies to acquire clinical talent efficiently and seamlessly, healthcare recruitment continues to be a people-oriented business. With faster-than-average projected job growth and already-low healthcare unemployment rates, clinicians will remain in high demand and the human connection of healthcare recruiters will continue to be a necessary and key element of successful healthcare recruitment strategies.
SIA corporate members can download the complete report online.
