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Recruiting Strategies: Fighting the War for Talent

A scarcity of skilled healthcare workers, combined with a fast-growing economy and a huge amount of media hype, compels many agencies to offer anything and everything to potential candidates just to get qualified bodies in the door. No question, the power resides with the employee, not the employer in this labor-shortage frenzy.

The solution? Create a strong leadership core, and rely on a large, fluid and flexible talent pool to get the work done. It will be beneficial to focus on hiring fast learners and doers rather than individuals who are unable to apply their gifts to the responsibilities and tasks at hand. Encourage your management team to engage in a dialogue about the strengths of individuals holding specific positions, what their professional desires and interests are, and which prospects in the pipeline are being developed to replace them. Regularly scheduled meetings to discuss this topic will be time well spent - to maintain the importance of thinking about the key positions under each manager's supervision and to take ownership in the recruitment responsibility.

Both process and knowledge have evolved significantly in recent years, enabling companies to review their staffing needs in a much more sophisticated way. For example, software that tracks performance has made it possible to monitor employees' results against objectives. Management can more easily assess headcount needed to perform necessary tasks. One of the benefits of this analysis is that it has forced employers to focus more on essential skills and attitudes; more on actual productivity rather than on their promise.

These are excellent tools to have in your arsenal. However, take care not to allow an elaborate analytical system to become a roadblock in identifying high-potential employees. In your overall recruitment strategy, remember to be talent-minded instead of strictly position-minded.

Source: The Results-Driven Manager by The Harvard Business School Press