3RNET's Recruiting for Retention Guides
Recruitment is both a science and an art: while there is no one formula to successfully recruit a professional every single time (i.e. science), there are best practices which you can follow to greatly increase your chances toward successful recruitment and retention.
Planning with your recruitment team is perhaps the most important aspect of the recruitment process. Spend time and put thought into the planning step, and you’re on your way toward successful recruitment -- using perhaps the “best” best practice available!
Introduction
The four Recruiting for Retention guides take you step-by-step through the key elements of the recruitment and retention process. From assessing need to integrating the health care professional and family into the community, 3RNET's Guides to Recruiting for Retention explain the most important steps in finding and retaining the ideal candidate for your community.
3RNET’s Recruiting for Retention Core Beliefs
- Process & Teamwork are Key
- Recruitment is Both a Science and an Art
- Competition is fierce. Therefore, communication must be candidate-oriented.
- People & tools exist to help you recruit more effectively
Recruiting for Retention Guide: Part One – Planning and Preparation
One of the most neglected parts of recruitment and retention efforts is planning and preparation.
The first step generally taken when an opening occurs is to place a job ad. Employers who jump into recruitment typically spend more money and time on recruitment and experience less retention success than those who prepare and systematically search for the right candidate.
What’s Covered in Planning & Preparation
- Assess the Need
- Form a Recruitment Team
- Define Your Opportunity
- Develop a Budget
- Free and Low-Cost Tools
- Rural-Focused Strategies
- Generations in the Workplace
Supplemental Resources for this Guide
Recruitment Team Action Plan
This fillable document is a ready-to-use implementation plan complete with objectives and action steps for recruiting and retaining health professionals.
Board Talking Points
Successful recruitment takes a team. An important asset for any rural or underserved facility is your board of directors. Reach out to your board members and other board members of local charities and use them as recruiting sources. Individuals vested in your community to the level of sitting on a board can be some of your best advocates and really showcase your community strengths.
How much detail should you impress upon your board members? While your board members likely know your community well, they may have a different knowledge set than what a potential hire may be interested in knowing.
This resource gives ideas of what you should include in your Board Talking Points document.
Total Compensation Statements
Total Compensation Statements (TCS) are a great way to show your employees how much
your value them. A TCS can allow you to share all the direct and indirect costs you have for
employees. Direct cost items are those the employee most likely knows about such as pay,
taxes, bonuses, etc. However, indirect costs or “hidden” costs can also be shown through a TCS to give an employee the full picture of their compensation.
This resource lists common items to include in a Total Compensation Statement and gives an example.
Recruitment Budget
Knowing the cost of recruitment can help you make sound, strategic decisions and help you identify the true cost of replacing personnel. Think through not just recruitment activities, but your retention activities.
We put together an example of what your recruitment budget could look like.
Recruiting for Retention Guide: Part Two – Marketing to and Finding Candidates
In today’s marketing climate it is important to have a great virtual presence, and that communication be candidate-focused.
Recruiting health professionals can be competitive. So, it is important to put your best foot forward. And, since many job seekers browse for jobs online, we have compiled some strategies to consider as you work to create your best digital footprint.
What’s Included in Marketing to and Finding Candidates
- Conduct a Virtual Assessment
- Write Effective Job Postings
- Use Social Media to Source
- Where You Source Matters, Find What Works For You
- Free and Low-Cost Tools
- Rural Focused Strategies
- Generations in the Workplace
Supplemental Resources for this Guide
Job Postings
We’ve gathered three great job posting examples as a way for you to think through your own postings and understand how you can incorporate the strategies listed within Part Two – Marketing to and Finding Candidates.
All three examples are candidate-focused and each address the four questions of belonging, fulfillment, esteem and prosperity.
Free & Low-Cost Marketing Resources
Our theme with this resource is working smarter, not harder to maximize your precious resources. We understand that many employers we work with are on small teams, like the staff at 3RNET. We are also a non-profit organization, we also understand the importance of good resource stewardship and getting the most impact possible with time and dollars.
With these ideas in mind, we’ve put together our best practices and what we’ve found to work well for 3RNET. Inclusion does not equal endorsement. We simply want to share resources that have worked well for us in hopes they can for you and your team, too.
Included in this resource are practical, easy-to-incorporate takeaways. Some are free, and most others are low cost. All are easy!
Recruiting for Retention Guide: Part Three – Matching and Committing
You’ve done the hard work and found a candidate you think may be a great fit for your position. Now comes the next step in recruiting them in order to retain them!
Interviewing in person or virtual, “interviewing” the candidate’s spouse or partner, and even preparing a site visit allow for you to further determine if the candidate is a good fit for the role and your organization. And, these are all great opportunities for you to continue marketing your facility and community!
What’s Included in Matching and Committing
- Interviewing
- Virtual Interviewing
- Interviewing a Spouse/Partner
- On-Site Visits
- Negotiations
- Free and Low-Cost Tools
- Rural Focused Strategies
- Generations in the Workplace
Supplemental Resources for this Guide
Sample Interview Questions
We’ve gathered question examples you can use to learn if your candidate will be able to accomplish the work you need them to. These are just examples of questions, feel free to change them up to suit your needs.
Interview Question Dos and Don’ts
This document provides guidelines on appropriate interview questions and practices, emphasizing compliance with federal and state equal employment opportunity laws.
Sample Letter of Intent
Have a standard letter of intent ready to go that you can customize in a breeze. When you’re ready to make an offer, you can quickly make a few changes and send off to your candidate. You’ve worked hard to get to this point! Don’t let a qualified candidate get away because of a simple delay like not sending a letter of intent or offer right away.
We’ve put together this sample letter which can serve as a great starting point if you need to put together your standard letter of intent. Simply copy and paste and customize to your organization. Pro tip: anywhere you’ll need to “plug in” information – use a different color font or the “highlight” feature to make these words stand out, making your work even easier.
Virtual Interviewing Tips
Virtual interviewing is different, but it doesn’t degrade the interviewing experience. Don’t view it as an obstacle. Remote work is not a passing phase and virtual recruiting solutions are critical for future work.
To help you put your best virtual foot forward, we’ve gathered helpful best practices we’ve seen to make your virtual interviewing process simple, and more importantly: successful.
Recruiting for Retention Guide: Part Four – Retaining for the Lifecycle of the Employee
Retention is the goal of all your recruiting efforts. Within your retention efforts, you can incorporate the workforce strategies that align with your business goals. In order for the business goals of the organization to be met, retention efforts should be a part of every stakeholders’ goals and focus.
Two key concepts that will aid you the most in your retention efforts are: flexibility and re-recruiting.
What’s Included in Retaining for the Lifecycle of the Employee
- Retaining for the Lifecycle of the Employee
- Onboarding
- Employee Engagement Surveys
- Stay Interviews
- Succession Planning
- Staffing Needs
- Work/Life Balance
- Compensation
- Total Compensation Statements
- Unique Benefits
- Free and Low-Cost Tools
- Rural Focused Strategies
Supplemental Resources for this Guide
Employee Engagement Survey Questions
We’ve compiled a list of questions which you can use to create an engagement survey. You may use them in any combination.
Surveys should include questions about: culture, goals, clinic, leadership, engagement, development. Learn more about employee engagement surveys in 3RNET’s Recruiting for Retention Guide: Part Four.
Career Ladders
Career ladders are great retention tools in that they can allow you to place employees in the proper banding for their experience and position. It also allows you to show the career path for any given position and show opportunity for growth.
Succession Planning
Succession planning is a process that ensures that your company is prepared for the future. That way, when a key employee leaves, you already have someone in mind to fill their position. Such plans serve as an excellent tool for retaining your strongest performers, who often tend to be the type of employees who need to know where their career is headed.