How to Hire the Best of December’s New Grads

January 24th, 2017

The new year brings a fresh supply of recent graduates; usually earning degrees from nursing or medical school in December. The success of any healthcare organization depends on employing the best talent. Finding – and hiring – these candidates needs to be part of your company’s staffing plans. Other medical firms feel the same way, so expect the competition to be fierce.

With the best possible medical team in mind, here are a few ideas on how to hire the most talented candidates out of December’s graduation class. These insights are sure to help your organization’s chances of success in 2017 and beyond.

Search for Candidates Already With Medical Industry Experience

Finding recent graduates who already boast some professional experience at a hospital or medical office makes it easier to integrate them into your team. Maybe they served as an LPN before heading back to school to become an RN? A sometimes difficult onboarding process becomes easier when someone has previously worked in the field.

Leverage Technology as Part of Your Hiring Process

New medical candidates from the millennial generation are well versed in technology and social media. Make it a point to use social media networks as a source for talent. Additionally, ensure your website is mobile friendly, so potential new employees are able to research your firm using their smartphone.

Find out What Millennials Truly Want From Their Employers

Millennials have a different set of hopes and dreams when compared to earlier generations. Sure, they want a competitive salary and good benefits, but more importantly, younger workers need a chance for advancement and to grow as medical professionals. Ensure your organization provides these opportunities – especially a meaningful training program and tuition reimbursement policy.

Emphasize a Welcoming Company Culture

The office culture of your medical organization also plays a role in convincing new graduates to come onboard. The best healthcare workers are empathic by nature, but they still want their employer to go beyond a typical medical company. A community focus – including charitable activities – helps to attract these kinds of workers.

Offering a generous time-off policy along with other perks geared for a quality work-life balance also factors in to a new candidate’s decision to accept a job offer.


When you need further assistance on building a great team at your medical organization, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top healthcare staffing agencies in the country, we provide the great candidates able to make a difference for you. Connect with us soon!

Want to Retain Top Millenials? Here’s What They Want

January 10th, 2017

There’s no denying the growing influence the millennial generation is exerting on the world of business. The healthcare industry is no exception to this trend. Their sheer numbers mean your medical organization probably employs these younger workers right now, and keeping their talents in-house plays a big role in your success.

Let’s take a closer look at a few strategies aimed at retaining millennial healthcare workers. Understanding what this generation needs is the key to satisfying their professional hopes and dreams. Hopefully, these insights ensure your medical office maintains its optimal staffing level.

Timely Performance Feedback is Important

Millennials increasingly feel the venerable annual review simply wastes their time. Any criticism – even if it’s constructive – isn’t helpful when received months after the fact. Regular and ongoing feedback is a large factor in employees steadily improving their performance over time.

Many companies now provide commercial real-time employee management applications to help leaders give the feedback that millennials desire. Fortune 500 companies, like GE and Accenture, leverage these tools instead of annual reviews. Consider researching and implementing a similar system at your medical office instead of a formal review process.

A Chance for Professional Growth Is More Important than Salary

Traditional perks like a high salary and robust benefits package aren’t as important to this younger generation compared to earlier times. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can low-ball them when making an offer – a competitive salary is a must. Millennials are more interested in professional growth, and will look elsewhere for other opportunities if they feel a chance at promotion isn’t available with their current employer.

Spending money on a training program and offering tuition reimbursement helps to maintain the loyalty of your younger workers. Consider requiring anyone receiving assistance to sign a contract agreeing to stay with your organization for a period upon graduation. This helps give your staff professional growth while ensuring your company maintains a high rate of retention.

Transparent Channels of Communication

Millennials grew up in an age where technology and transparency are commonplace. They want an employer who’s open about communication and where opinions are shared freely and honestly. Fostering an environment of mutual trust is a great way to retain your younger talent.


When you need additional insights on building – and retaining – a great medical team, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top staffing agencies in the healthcare industry, we provide the best candidates for your organization. Schedule some time with us at your earliest convenience.

How to Turn Your New Hire Into a Successful Employee

December 18th, 2016

Congratulations on a successful hiring process which resulted in a qualified candidate joining your medical establishment. Now, the real work begins as you transition your new hire into a valuable and productive employee. A well-considered onboarding process – among other things – remains a key factor in making sure new employees are properly integrated into your team.

What follows are a few ideas on turning a new hire into a successful employee. These insights can help your medical organization become more efficient, with better patient care as the result.

A Well-Defined Onboarding Process is Vital

Your healthcare company needs to implement a well-defined and repeatable onboarding process to ensure new hires come up to speed quickly. This process needs to include a variety of action items ensuring the new employee has everything they need on their first day – insurance forms, payroll information, organizational chart, computing equipment, and other medical technology.

The training program of your medical office needs a section on ensuring new hires get the equipment and procedure training they need soon after they begin work. It is important a brand new employee gets to see how organized their new employer is on the first day at the office. This helps them feel confident they made the right choice in accepting your job offer, while also illustrating the organization they’ll need every day for success on your team.

Involve Your Entire Staff in Onboarding New Hires

An onboarding process also needs to include time spent with you and other senior-level members of your team on their first day. Make sure they are introduced to everyone in the organization – co-workers and managers. An introductory lunch serves nicely as an icebreaker.

Encourage your team members to help any new hires by making sure the right procedures are followed and they are comfortable with the medical technology and equipment used at your establishment. Pairing them up with an experienced co-worker is another good way to boost their comfort level and subsequent productivity as quickly as possible.

Hopefully, these insights turn your new hires into contributing assets faster than ever before. Good luck in your onboarding efforts!


If your healthcare organization needs additional advice on managing your staff, talk to the knowledgeable team at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top medical staffing agencies in the industry, we offer a robust supply of previously vetted candidates able to contribute to your office. Schedule some time with us at your earliest convenience.

How to Screen Candidates for Ethics and Honesty

December 11th, 2016

Hiring honest and ethical employees is important no matter the industry, but it is especially vital in the world of healthcare. With quality patient care as the primary goal of your organization, your staff needs to be trustworthy and empathetic in nature. Trying to determine whether a candidate possesses these attributes from a résumé or during an interview takes a measure of effort.

With a medical office team known for its honor and morals as your goal, here are a few tips on how to screen candidates for ethics and honesty.

Consider an Integrity Test Before Interviewing Candidates

When combined with a thorough vetting of their résumé, this early screening allows your HR team to focus on interviewing a smaller set of applicants. Most integrity tests feature a collection of ethics-based scenarios with questions asking how someone would react in a certain situation.

Since a dishonest person can simply answer falsely on their test, the interview process plays a more important role in truly screening candidates.

Verifying Honesty During the Interview

The interview offers the best chance to gauge a candidate’s ethical standards. Behavior-based questions – including hypothetical scenarios similar to an integrity test – offer a great chance to analyze their honesty in real-world situations. It is important to observe their body language when answering these pointed questions.

Ask about any ethical training or coursework in their career. Was it a requirement or it this an area of interest to them?

Additionally, pay attention to how they answer when asked about their work history. Are they embellishing their accomplishments? Do they seem less than forthright? Body language along with their manner of speaking offers insights.

Reference Checking is Vital

Don’t skimp on checking a candidate’s references before any job offer is extended. Verify the accuracy of their educational and professional history – any discrepancies are a red flag. Consider performing this task after the initial integrity test and before interviews begin to further narrow down your candidate list before interviews start.

Implementing these ideas helps you employ an honest and trustworthy medical team.


When you need additional tips on building a great medical staff, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the country’s top healthcare staffing agencies, we also provide great candidates able to make a difference for your organization. Connect with us at your earliest convenience.

Deciding Between Two Stellar Medical Candidates

November 28th, 2016

Well, your healthcare establishment’s hiring process was long and arduous, and now a difficult final decision is imminent. You have to choose between two excellent candidates, both with the medical industry experience and skill set to benefit your organization. In fact, you’d easily hire both if the budget allowed it.

A choice between the two is required, however, so you need some insights on how to pick between two top-tier medical candidates. What follows are a few tips on ensuring you choose correctly when faced with this dilemma. Good luck!

The Best Fit for the Open Position

Perform a detailed analysis of the skill set required for your open position and compare those requirements against each candidate’s experience and capabilities. It’s likely they will be essentially equal, but there may be a differentiator deep within the data. When in doubt, add extra weight to the candidate with the more relevant and tangible experience.

Additionally, take into account any office culture considerations. Sometimes a new hire becomes more productive if they fit in better with your current staff.

Compare Each Candidate’s Enthusiasm Level

Remember, the hiring process is a two-way street, and your chosen candidate might not accept a job offer. Try to determine which candidate seemed more enthusiastic about working with your medical firm; you may need to ask for additional insights from your interviewing team. Also, consider the candidates’ long-term goals and whether or not they mesh with your organization’s future outlook – you don’t want to rehire for the same position in a few months or a year.

Reference Checks Can Help Separate Two Equal Candidates

Checking each candidate’s references – including a detailed conversation with each – offers a great chance to separate two otherwise equal candidates. Pay close attention to how well they functioned under pressure earlier in their career. Any insights into their interaction with others are especially relevant to a medical office.

Use this opportunity to verify the accuracy of the contents of their résumé – especially their work history. Any discrepancies or exaggerations by one of the candidates might help you make that important final decision. This extra effort ensures your choice contributes to your organization’s success for years to come.

If you need any additional ideas on the hiring process in the medical industry, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the nation’s leading healthcare staffing agencies, we offer great candidates able to make a positive impact on your team. Connect with us at your earliest convenience.

What Is the True Cost of Hiring a New Employee?

November 15th, 2016

The process of onboarding a new employee at your medical establishment comes with a variety of costs. You also need to take into account all the other tasks related to finding and hiring a talented candidate. All told, it is a significant undertaking which places the onus on making the right hiring decision, lest you have to repeat the entire exercise.

Understanding what’s involved with hiring a new employee helps you define a methodology to ensure a proper choice between candidates in addition to keeping your expenses down. Let’s analyze the true cost of the medical employee hiring process.

The Three Steps of Hiring a Medical Employee

The entire hiring effort essentially includes three different steps. First off, recruiting a new hire requires placing a job ad, perusing résumés, interviewing the best candidates, reference checking, and – finally – the hiring decision. Once a candidate is hired, onboarding that person comes with its own set of costs.

It is important not to forget training the new employee, which is especially vital in the healthcare industry. Entrepreneur.com estimates the average cost of hiring a new employee to be around $4,000; you can expect that number to be higher in the medical industry considering the cost of training. In short, your company’s outlay is much more than the new worker’s salary and benefits package.

The High Cost of Recruiting in the Healthcare Industry

When your company decides to hire a new employee, the recruiting process is surprisingly expensive. There is time spent determining the job requirements and writing an advertisement, in addition to placing that ad online and in print. Going through potentially hundreds of resumes takes the valuable time of you and your managerial team.

Finally, there are the significant resources spent interviewing the top candidates and calling their references. Background checks are another expensive, but necessary, part of the process.

What if there was a way to recruit healthcare talent more efficiently?

Leveraging the Help of a Medical Staffing Agency

Working with an experienced medical staffing agency is a great way to streamline your organization’s recruiting process. The best healthcare employment firms offer a robust supply of quality candidates – already vetted. Your team can focus on interviewing and hiring the best choice.

When searching for a top-ranked medical staffing agency to partner with, look no further than Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the nation’s leading healthcare employment companies, we offer the great candidates able to make a positive impact at your medical establishment. Schedule some time with us as soon as possible.

Incorporating Ethics into a Medical Employee Manual

October 17th, 2016

There’s no denying the importance of ethics for any healthcare professional. Empathy and an ethical nature rank as two of the most necessary traits for those working in the medical industry. Even when boasting a staff made up of moral and right-minded people, ethics-related policies still need to be formally defined in any healthcare establishment’s employee manual — for both legal and patient care considerations.

With creating a living document covering all relevant topics in mind, here are some ideas on how to best incorporate a code of ethics in your medical organization’s employee manual.

The Nursing Code of Ethics is a Good Start

The American Nursing Association publishes its own Nursing Code of Ethics, which serves nicely as a starting point for any medical employee manual’s ethics section. All nurses are expected to follow the ANA code in their daily work routine. Encouraging the other medical professionals at your office to do the same by including the Code in your organization’s employee manual emphasizes the importance of ethical behavior.

Consider incorporating some of the Code’s content into your job descriptions as well. Other nursing organizations publish their own ethical codes which may offer additional insights relevant to your employees.

Your Employees are Accountable for their Own Ethical Behavior

Stress the accountability each employee holds for their own behavior — both actions and words. This needs to be clearly stated in the manual, either at the front of the manual itself or in the ethics section. Additionally, any discipline policies need to be explicitly defined, so everyone knows the consequences for unethical conduct.

Formalized Definitions are a Must

Make sure your manual offers a section that formally defines any terms referenced throughout the text, including the ethics section. This helps lessen any confusion when an ethical — or legal — issue arises. Place the section in the manual’s appendix for easy access.

Leverage Ongoing Education on Ethics

Simply putting an ethics section in your employee manual isn’t enough to ensure ethical behavior in your medical office — a point echoed by Martha Turner, assistant director of ANA’s Center for Ethics and Human Rights. “Ethics, like most other disciplines, must be learned. Ethics is not intuitive or just ‘being good,” said Turner. As such, providing an ethics training program nicely compliments the contents of any employee manual.

When you need further insights on managing your medical office, talk to the knowledgeable team at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the country’s top healthcare staffing agencies, we offer great candidates able to contribute to your team. Schedule some time with us soon!

Five Useless Hiring Practices to Get Rid Of

October 5th, 2016

As the medical industry continues to evolve, so do the hiring processes used to connect healthcare establishments with new employees. In fact, this changing routine of finding new workers isn’t limited to the medical world — all industries are revising their out of date HR methodologies. Because of this continued transformation, certain older practices are now considered obsolete.

With an eye towards making your medical office’s hiring efforts state of the art, here is a list of five useless hiring practices worth placing in the dustbin of history. Hopefully, this lets you streamline the entire process, ultimately making your workplace run more efficiently.

Not Prescreening Candidates

In a previous paper-laden era, HR personnel had to deal with a host of time-consuming tasks when parsing through a collection of candidates. In many cases, they would forego a detailed prescreening of applicants before deciding on whom to interview. Today’s social media-driven world allows a streamlining of this process; there is no longer any excuse for not vetting an applicant’s social networking accounts and conducting a phone screening.

Obsolete Interview Questions

Concerning the interview itself, certain time-honored questions just don’t apply in the modern era. This includes overly vague and broad queries like: “Tell me about yourself.” That kind of question isn’t specific enough to be useful and only ends up wasting valuable time.

Making an Interviewee fill out an Application Onsite

Speaking of a time-waster, making an interviewee fill out an application — paper or online — when they arrive for an interview reeks of obsolescence. Your medical office needs an application tracking system with all the candidate data stored for easy reference. Interview time needs to be focused on the interview itself.

The Gauntlet of Interviews

Subjecting a candidate to any more than two or three interviews only serves to clog up the entire process. The efficiency of your medical office suffers, as more of your team spends time conducting interviews instead of caring for patients. Lessening the number of interviews when hiring a new employee is vital!

Not Following up when the Hiring Decision is Made

A social media connected society means news travels fast. In the past, companies would sometimes fail to notify candidates who didn’t get the job. With your medical establishment’s reputation at stake, take the time to inform everyone who interviewed for a position when you make a final hiring decision.

If your medical organization needs additional insights on the hiring process, talk to the knowledgeable team at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the country’s leading healthcare industry staffing agencies, we offer great candidates able to succeed in your office or hospital. Meet with us as soon as possible.

What to look for in Entry-Level Medical Candidates

September 26th, 2016

Finding talented new medical employees remains the lifeblood for most companies in the healthcare industry. The hiring process can be difficult, however, especially considering the costs incurred and the time spent. Making the wrong decision on a candidate requires your firm to repeat the entire process — expenses included!

In short, an informed choice is a necessity when considering entry-level medical candidates. Here are a few ideas on what to look for in potential employees new to the healthcare industry. Good luck during your hiring process!

Internships to go along with a Medical Degree

Sure, a great performance at school hints at the possibility of a talented medical professional in the future, but check a candidate’s résumé to see if they held an internship in additional to their schoolwork. Spending time as an intern gives a recent graduate the exposure to real world situations in a hospital or medical office that could prove invaluable when on the job.

Sharon Roth Maguire MS, RN, GNP-BC, the Chief Clinical Quality Officer at Brightstar Care commented on the importance of an internship for recent nursing graduates. “Internships of significance — more than just a ‘clinical rotation’ — during their education experience can help demonstrate that they have had practical experience. Working as a nursing/personal care assistant during summer or semester breaks is also helpful,” said Roth Maguire.

In-Demand Skills in the Medical Industry

The best medical candidates offer potential employers a myriad of skills to go along with the healthcare knowledge they learned in school. Empathy goes without saying, especially concerning nursing candidates. The ability to use specialized medical technology also helps, which is another good reason to look for candidates with internship experience.

Bilingualism can be important, depending on the region of your medical establishment. Critical thinking, computer skills, and leadership potential are all attributes to look for in new medical candidates.

Professionalism in Emerging Medical Candidates

Candidates displaying professionalism as their career is starting out are definitely worthy of your notice. Look for a polished résumé, a well-written cover letter, as well as an exemplary interview performance. A sense that they are team-player is also important, considering the collaborative nature of most hospitals and medical offices.

Hopefully, these few ideas offer some insights when you are in the market for an entry-level medical professional.

When searching for the best new talent in the medical industry, look no further than Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top healthcare staffing agencies in the country, we offer great candidates able to make a positive difference at your organization. Schedule some time with us at your earliest convenience.

The Importance of Diversity in a Medical Staff

September 19th, 2016

Workplace diversity is vital in many business sectors, but it remains especially so in the medical industry. Considering the importance of providing quality healthcare to the public — including racial and ethnic minorities — employing a diverse medical staff helps to ensure everyone gets equal access to medical services. Medical colleges also need to step up their efforts at fostering a diverse student population to ensure healthcare providers enjoy a robust supply of quality workers.

Let’s look more closely at some of the reasons a diverse medical staff is a must at your healthcare organization.

The Healthcare Industry must keep up with Changing Demographics

A 2004 study by the Sullivan Commission commented on the importance of the healthcare industry matching the demographic makeup of the public they serve. The overall health of the nation simply depends on it. “The fact that the nation’s health professions have not kept pace with changing demographics may be an even greater cause of disparities in health access and outcomes than the persistent lack of health insurance for tens of millions of Americans,” reported the Commission.

One of the entities hoping to change things when it comes to a diverse medical workforce, the Healthcare Professionals for Diversity (HPD) Coalition is made up of over 50 different organizations hoping to foster the growth of minorities in both medical educational institutions and the profession itself. The Coalition’s main goal is to promote diversity across the entire medical community.

Why Diversity matters in the Healthcare Industry

The Chief Diversity Officer of the American Association of Medical Colleges, one of the leading organizations in the HPD, Dr. Marc Divet commented on the importance of a diverse workforce in the American medical world. Obviously, this diversity begins at the nation’s medical colleges. “This is a defining moment for health and wellness in America. The combined forces of health reform, demographic shifts, continued economic woes and the projected worsening of physician shortages portend major upheaval for the health care enterprise in the near future,” said Dr. Divet.

Expanding healthcare access to the underserved, including better treatment services in these regions of great need, is only one of the main reasons to increase diversity across the medical landscape. Ultimately, providing equitable medical care to everyone, irrespective of race or ethnicity, remains an achievable goal. Promoting diversity at both the educational and professional levels will help it be reached.

When you need further insights on the medical industry, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce, as one of the top healthcare staffing agencies in the country, we provide great candidates able to make a positive difference in your medical office or hospital. Contact us at your earliest convenience.

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