2022 Academy Summary

Guiding Your Recruitment for Retention Process - Practical Tools to Position Yourself as an Employer of Choice in Today's Workforce Environment

This year’s Academy followed the 3RNET’s four-part Recruiting for Retention Guidebooks which incorporate our guiding principles and best practices, curated by years of collective expertise in the field, particularly for rural and underserved communities nationwide. 

Key Take-Aways for Sessions 1 and 2: Planning and Preparation

• Strategic recruitment for retention begins with a good plan and a good team. The first step is assessing your needs by analyzing your workforce supply and demand and identifying your priority gaps so you can apply strategies to best meet your needs. Review your plan regularly, evaluate the process and modify as needed. 
• No matter the size of your organization, your recruitment team needs to be thought out and roles assigned across the organization as well as with community partners beyond your facility. 
• Brainstorm unique selling points you have to offer to candidates and employees to use in your recruitment process and retention strategies, including advertising and opportunity promotions, when interviewing candidates, making an offer, and showing how you value your existing employees. 
• Understand what motivates a candidate to make a decision and know how competitive your compensation is with the current market. Create a realistic budget to support your recruitment and retention efforts. Part One Recruiting for Retention Guide has several resources to help you develop your plan, form your team, and create a budget. 

Key Take-Aways for Session 3: Marketing to and Finding Candidates – The New Normal

• The new virtual normal brought on by Covid has changed how we recruit and how we make a lasting first impression. It has also heightened a candidate’s job perspective, with more demand than ever for better work/life balance, flexibility, and a good working culture. 
• You need to think like a marketer and consider how your position meets a candidate’s needs to create an effective job advertisement that attracts job seekers. Get input from your staff and know your competitive advantages and how they relate to what’s important to candidates from different generations and diverse backgrounds. Posting a standard job description will not entice candidates to respond! 
• Leverage social media to help get the word out and make connections outside of your circle. Work smarter, not harder and stretch your marketing dollars using the tools, tips and free and low-cost resources shared in Session 3. 
• Where you source matters, and it’s best to use a multi-pronged approach to find what works for you. This session covers a variety of sourcing strategies to consider and be sure to check out the Sourcing Matters supplemental piece with tips on developing a strategic sourcing plan that was included with Session 3 Materials on the Academy website. 
• Make sure you are also using your website as a recruitment tool to attract candidates, one that is mobile-friendly and has an easy call to action to apply for jobs. Your mission and your culture can set you apart so share your stories in your messaging! 

In Session 4, we invited special guest Carrie Galbraith to share her expert insights from the field as we covered tips, resources, rural strategies, DEI, and generational considerations during the interviewing and hiring process. 

Key Take-Aways for Session 4: Matching & Committing – Interviewing, Site Visits, & Closing the Deal

• Streamline the candidate intake process by asking thorough questions during your initial screening and with follow up virtual interviews that will help you identify the candidate’s motivators, vet the candidate, and determine the best fit before you bring them on for a site visit. Additional resources and sample interview questions are provided with Session 4 materials. 
• Prepare your interview team and create a well-rounded, personalized site visit that promotes your unique selling points, highlights your community, and really shows off your culture to help set your opportunity apart and show how it meets the candidate’s needs. 
• Be prepared to present an offer in a timely manner and keep the lines of communication open and move quickly to reach a decision! A sample letter of intent is available under the session materials.

Key Take-Aways for Session 5: Retaining for the Lifecycle of the Employee - Flexibility and Re-Recruiting

• Retention starts with recruitment and should be an ongoing strategy for the entire lifecycle of the employee. Good leaders, communication, flexibility, and stress management are critical! 
• Employee engagement is about building a culture of trust and support – Utilize the variety of tools covered to understand your staff’s needs and give employees the opportunity to voice ideas and be involved in decision-making. Identify and invest in your challenges. 
• Provide a culture that offers respect, recognition, appreciation, and development. Be your mission and let it drive your culture. Your culture is what will carry your team through these challenging times. 
• Sample engagement questions and action plans for developing career ladders and succession planning from the Part Four Recruiting for Retention Guide are included with the Academy session materials. We also posted follow-up resources that addressed the audience questions brought up in the chat during Session 5.  

Key Take-Aways for Session 6: Wrap Up on Trends Discussion and Q&A with Industry Experts

• Mark shared how the Recruiting for Retention Hierarchy applies to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and gave an overview of key resources for culture, regeneration, strategic marketing, candidate motivations and the recruitment process. He also provided a preview of the new 3RNET + Tools that will be coming available in 2023. 
• Guest speaker, Carey Goryl, Executive Director for AAPPR shared key findings from the AAPPR Annual Recruitment Benchmarking Report, including the most common physician searches, days to fill, hardest searches to fill, and provider turnover trends. 
• 3RNET shared our candidate registration trends from 2014-2022, as well as vacancy trends since the start of the pandemic. We tipped the scale in Nov with over 8,000 active jobs, of which we’ve seen an increase in postings for other health professionals, with 41% of the openings being physician searches. 
• Our panel of experts shared the common challenges we’ve all been facing since the pandemic with staffing shortages, limited candidate pool and a competitive market. And we answered questions from the audience on important recruitment metrics to track, addressing the increased candidate focus on loan repayment options, advice on behavioral-based interview questions, and accommodating promotion opportunities when you have a small staff and limited leadership positions. 

2022 Academy Session Audience Poll Results 

What is your primary role within the organization? 
33% I do it all! 
30% Recruiting 
21% HR 
16% Leadership 
 

Which of the following do you include in your job posting? 
100% Brief highlights about the opportunity 
67% What’s in it for the candidate 
49% Descriptive statements about your culture 
47% Information about your community 
36% Links to videos/websites 
18% Photos 
 

Which resources do you use to source candidates? 
87% Job Boards 
74% Networking/Referrals 
59% Print/Digital Advertisements 
46% Search Firms 
39% Candidate Databases 
32% Email Campaigns 
10% Direct Mail Campaigns 

How tech-heavy is your facility? 
93% Virtual Meetings 
82% Electronic Health Records 
76% Online Applicant Forms 
71% Telehealth visits 
68% Electronic Forms 
63% Applicant Tracking System 
53% Text Messaging 
43% Scheduling Apps 
41% Tablet/Laptop for patient visits 
1% None - Broadband access is a challenge 

What type of health professionals do you recruit? 
75% Nursing Staff 
75% Support Staff 
68% Physicians 
64% Advanced Practitioners 
61% Behavioral Health Professionals 
31% Dentists 
27% Other: lab techs, education, community health workers, med techs, hygienists, case workers, pharmacy, admin, CEO
 

How are you conducting interviews? 
10% Virtually 
16% In-person 
75% Combination of both 

How robust is your Onboarding Program? 
30% Onboarding plan up to first 3 months 
26% We don’t have a structured program beyond orientation
25% First-week orientation 
14% Onboarding plan beyond 3 months 
4% New hire Buddy system 
 

How do you learn what challenges your employees are facing? 
68% Annual evaluation with manager 
66% Satisfaction/Engagement surveys 
65% Exit interviews/surveys 
32% Stay interviews/Manager check-ins 
20% Anonymous Feedback/Suggestion Box 
9% Pulse Poll surveys 
7% We don’t ask 

What tools do you utilize to recruit and retain from within? 
45% Professional development 
43% Leadership development 
​39% We don’t currently have a formal plan 
28% Cross-training 
13% Career ladders 
13% Succession plan 
12% Mentor program 
9% Pipeline development 
5% Career pathway programs 



The Academy powerpoint slides, recorded webinars, and session materials are made available to registered participants on the 3RNET Academy website.
The 3RNET Recruiting for Retention Guidebooks and tools are available on the dashboard for registered employers under the R4R Resource Center at www.3RNET.org. 

Thank you for participating in the 2022 Academy! We hope this webinar series has provided many beneficial tips, tools and resources to support your recruitment and retention processes. 
We look forward to seeing you again for the 2023 Academy!