Healthcare organizations are acutely aware of the significant challenges they face in today’s labor market. They are also bracing for those challenges becoming more difficult in the near future. The baby boomer retirement rate will to continue to increase as we approach 2020, which means that the leadership hires you make today will play a significant role in how prepared your organization is to deal with the challenges on the horizon.
How can healthcare organizations attract the most dynamic leaders? By anticipating what the they’re looking for.
At QLK , our executive search team spends a great deal of time networking with the industry’s best talent. When we ask leadership candidates what they’re looking for in a healthcare organization, here are the things they find most attractive.
Opportunity
Regardless of the status quo of the labor market, compensation is always going to be a significant driver for a candidate to consider making a career change. Next on the list is usually opportunity. Managers will always be interested in hearing about director opportunities, and directors will always listen to pitches about VP and C-suite roles.
The challenge healthcare organizations will face in the current labor market is that the candidates they are recruiting are also being contacted by other organizations. To differentiate yourselves from the others, don’t limit your conversation to the opportunities of today. Include the opportunities of tomorrow.
The best candidates today are driven and forward thinking, which is exactly the traits you want in a dynamic leader. But that drive means that they will be thinking about their future—in the present. During your interview, don’t be afraid to discuss succession planning with candidates. If a candidate knows that if they work hard for your organization over the next 3-5 years, they could be in line for an internal promotion, they’ll be more likely to make a move.
Growth Investment
Directly related to growth opportunity, the dynamic leaders that your healthcare organization is competing for are looking to join systems that will invest in their growth. What does growth investment entail? The candidates we talk to discuss compensation, commitment to training and development, career guidance and mentorship, autonomy to identify personal growth as indicators that an organization is invested in their growth.
To position themselves for success, healthcare organizations need to do their best to get to know as much as they can about the candidates they are recruiting. What makes them tick? What type of leader are they today? And what type of leader do they want to be in two years, five years, and seven years? The answers to these questions will allow you to create a custom-built program to invest in helping them reach their goals while delivering value to your organization.
Culture
Dynamic leaders want to join organizations that have a demonstrated culture that is conducive to the type of work environment they thrive in. In healthcare, this can be a challenging trait to nail down as the workplace environment and work/life balance of a healthcare system can fluctuate based on volume, which of course is highly unpredictable. However, the candidates you are recruiting to join your team understand that.
You don’t have to work in healthcare very long to understand that there’s going to be hectic and busy times. How your organization handles those times, and how you handle the more moderately-paced times, is how many candidates will define your culture.
When selling your organization’s culture to prospective candidates, be honest. If you over-promise on work life balance and a calm-and-steady culture, your candidates will either end up being disappointed, or will know that you’re promising something you can’t deliver on the front end.
QLK Executive Search
We’d love to help find you the perfect dynamic leader for your current vacancy. Take a look at some of our recent placements to get an idea of the type of searches we conduct and contact us to let us know about the role you’re hiring for.
