Staffing Industry Analysts’ recent US Healthcare Staffing Recruitment Strategies study reported that more than half of respondents consider just-in-time mobile apps to be a key strategy, with development or pilots underway. The study featured responses from seven of the 10 largest healthcare staffing companies. Development strategies varied and included building technology in-house, partnering with tech providers to modify existing apps for healthcare, and licensing existing healthcare just-in-time mobile apps.

The mobile app technology trend was also a recent topic of discussion in multiple forums at November’s SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit in Denver.

Is it effective for a healthcare staffing company to have a dedicated mobile app?

This question was posed during the “Technology Staffing Firms Can Use” panel session. There was general agreement that mobile apps are coming very soon to healthcare staffing, with robust discussion around the ways in which it will benefit the industry.

According to guest panelist David Searns, CEO of Haley Marketing, “When it’s just a mobile job board, it’s an absolute waste of money. Getting candidates to download a list of your jobs from 20 different staffing companies on an app isn’t going to happen. But when it facilitates the candidate experience, automates the service process, and enables 24/7 self-service for the candidate, it’s very beneficial.”

“As of today, our nurses can request extensions and time-off electronically. The electronic message goes directly to the recruiter, to the sales person and to the client. Our nurses can electronically submit their timesheets, upload compliance documents, and search for their next job. What is about to happen in a very short period of time, from end to end, self-service is headed to our healthcare workers … where 100% of the work is going to be done by the nurse. They are going to be their own recruiter … and they are going to like it. They are going to say ‘I want that job, I want that pay package, I don’t want any travel allowance, and I want to be submitted here,’” added Sheldon Arora, CEO of LiquidAgents Healthcare.

With the adoption of mobile app technology, will recruiters continue to have an important role in healthcare staffing?

This question was posed during the “Key Trends in Travel Nursing” session. There was general consensus that combining the recruiter role and mobile app technology can further improve the candidate experience and efficiency.

Said Buffy Stultz White, Cross Country Healthcare’s president of travel nurse and allied division: “Technology for the candidates should drive a dynamic, engaging experience. It should be easy, mobile and accessible … That being said, when you talk with travel nurses … it’s all about the relationship. But the tools are ultra-important too because you are giving your recruiters ammunition to work differently with the candidates in the ways they want to work, while driving efficiencies for the business.”

Rose Fulton, Travel Nurse Across America’s senior VP of recruitment, added, “The technology should expedite or remove the things that get in the way of the human connection with the nurse … The technology should allow for a deeper level of connection and consultation and help us make better fits that are not based on a gut feel. It doesn’t take much sales ability to get a nurse to Florida or San Diego. Where travel nursing becomes exciting, fulfilling and a discovery is when you can open up incredible opportunities for a clinician that she never thought were possible and change the direction of her career … That’s where we have to get to because those hard-to-sell facilities need help too and they need that human connection and touch to deliver what it’s like to work in those places.”

The US healthcare staffing industry continues to adopt marketing and technology strategies to recruit clinical talent for healthcare organizations more efficiently and seamlessly. However, with faster-than-average projected job growth and a 1.4% healthcare practitioner unemployment rate reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, it appears that human recruiters will integrate with technology and continue to play a critical role within the automated talent acquisition processes of a supply-constrained clinician market.