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!

Whenever you are looking for a new position in the medical industry, you need to treat the job search as your full-time job. This involves everything from to creating a résumé, a cover letter template and interview practice, to finding interesting opportunities with a variety of healthcare organizations. Patience, fortitude and a positive attitude all help you achieve a successful outcome.

With an eye towards finding the medical job of your dreams, here are a few tips on how to stay productive throughout a job search. Becoming lazy is simply not an option. Good luck in your efforts!

Start off With a Plan – and Stick to It!

Make a schedule detailing the time you need to spend looking for opportunities, personalizing cover letters, practicing interview techniques and researching companies where you are to interview. Creating a plan and following it closely puts you on the right track to success.

Use a Spreadsheet to Track Your Progress

A spreadsheet is perfect for detailing your plan as well as tracking its progress. Consider using either Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. The latter application is freely available online – cheap and convenient!

Use the spreadsheet to detail the medical companies where you’ve applied, interviewed or are merely interested in. This helps make sure you don’t repeat any tasks, keeping you efficient and productive.

Leverage Alerts to Be Notified About Open Positions

Some healthcare organizations allow you to sign up to be notified when a position becomes available. Subscribing to these alerts may give you a leg up on the competition, allowing you to quickly apply and submit your résumé. Track the companies you’ve subscribed to in your spreadsheet.

A Job Search Buddy Keeps You on Track

If one of your friends is also looking for a job at the same time as you, pair up your efforts to keep each other focused and productive. This “buddy” concept serves people well when it comes to physical exercise, and it also works for a job search. You can proofread each other’s résumés and cover letters and serve as each other’s hiring manager when practicing your interview techniques.

When you need any additional tips and tricks of the medical job search, talk to the knowledgeable recruiters at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the nation’s top healthcare staffing agencies, we can help take your career to a higher level. Connect with us soon!

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.

So, you felt your performance during a recent nursing interview was less than impressive? This is never a good reason to lose hope and give up looking for a new position. Staying positive throughout the entire job search process is vital to ensure it finishes with a happy ending.

Here are a few ideas on how to handle a poor interview. Remember – all is not lost, simply brush yourself off and get back into the game. Good luck in finding the nursing position of your dreams!

Don’t Give up – Keep Focused on Your Success

The important thing at this point is to not give up. Send a thank-you note to the interviewer and mention you are still interested in the position. Restate an answer you feel you flubbed during the interview, and mention you are still interested in the position. Ultimately, your performance might not have been as bad as you originally thought.

If they decide to choose another candidate, express a desire to be considered for their next opening, provided you are still looking for a new job. Once again, keep a positive attitude until you receive your first job offer. Don’t fret – you’ll ultimately succeed!

Review Your Résumé – Educational Background and Medical Work History

Perhaps you didn’t spend enough time reviewing the work history on your résumé? When asked about this information during the interview, you fumbled your words trying to remember the details.

The night before your next interview, spend some time going over your educational background and the details of your professional experience, as this helps you feel less nervous when faced with those questions while in front of the interviewer.

Practice for the Next Interview

Maybe you didn’t practice enough for the previous interview? A dress rehearsal is important so you feel more comfortable with your body language, eye contact and speaking in a direct, clear voice. Try to get a friend to serve as the interviewer, and treat it as the real thing – dress professionally, etc.

Use these tips to ensure you keep your eyes on the prize, while staying focused for the next opportunity. A little research and interview practice helps ensure you end up with a job offer the next time.

If you need additional advice on navigating a job search in the medical industry, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top medical staffing agencies in the country, we also know the top companies looking for nursing talent. Connect with us soon!

Whether you are new to the healthcare industry, or if you are an experienced medical professional, having a mentor is a great way to ensure your career stays on an upwards trajectory. A mentor offers the right advice when you need it, or they can suggest a training course or certification to improve your resume and future job prospects. If you only knew how to find someone willing and able to help!

What follows are a few ideas for how to find a mentor in the medical industry. Good luck in your search. Ultimately, it’s not a difficult process.

Leverage Your Professional Network

Your professional network and your LinkedIn account are great sources for finding a mentor. Look among your connections to see if there is someone currently working in a medical specialty of interest to you. It also helps to define your professional goals ahead of time when searching for a mentor, so they are better able to help you reach them. Another option would be one of your teachers from school, especially if you’ve maintained a good relationship.

What About Your Current Medical Workplace?

While it is possible to find a mentor among your supervisors or the more experienced co-workers at your current place of employment, it is better to look outside the office. If you ever have a problem at work, it helps to get a different perspective from an outsider. The same advantage also applies if you want to look for another position in the medical industry.

How to Approach a Potential Mentor

Send your potential mentor an email message describing what your goals are and inquiring whether they are able to work with you to achieve them. Find about their availability for a face-to-face meeting and schedule a time for a get together. If they are located in a different region, a video conference works as a valid alternative.

If they are open to a regular meeting schedule after your first get together, work with them on a time convenient for both of you. Be sure to do most of the agenda planning yourself; remember that your mentor is freely giving their time. Whether you choose a long-distance mentor or someone closer, they definitely provide the insight to help develop your medical career.

When you need additional advice on career growth in the healthcare industry, don’t forget the knowledgeable recruiters at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top medical staffing agencies in the country, we also know what companies are looking for talented professionals. Connect with us at your earliest convenience.

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.

Developing a professional network is vital for your career prospects. This rings true in nearly all industries, and the world of healthcare is no exception. Maintaining this list of professional contacts is one of the many reasons to stay connected with your old bosses and other managers.

You never know when it comes time to look for a new position, and being able to call on a robust professional network definitely helps during a job search. Here are some additional ideas for keeping in contact with a former manager.

Ways to keep Connected with a Former Superior

Thankfully, social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook make staying in contact with former bosses and coworkers a breeze. Try to focus your online professional networking efforts on LinkedIn, as it is the website’s main purpose. Remember, Facebook makes it too easy to share content better kept between personal friends instead of professional contacts.

Make it a point to stay up to date with your former bosses’ current online contact information — most importantly their email address. If you are announcing your availability for work, send personal emails to your contact list instead of a group email. Any extra effort spent in this fashion will probably result in more people willing to help you out.

If you keep home addresses for your old managers, consider sending Holiday and birthday cards for a nice personal touch. You can also send these cards to your former medical office or hospital provided they still work there. Once again, concentrate on the professional side of networking, but staying in touch outside of your work life can also help your future job prospects.

Getting a Great Reference might make all the Difference

In addition to finding out about a new job opening, former bosses are arguably the most important references you can use when applying for a medical position. They’ve worked with you closely and understand your strengths as well as the positive differences you can make for an employer. Be sure to contact the former boss in question before using them as a reference to ensure they are okay with it.

Whenever you need advice on any part of the job search process in the healthcare industry, talk to the experts at Pinnacle Workforce. As one of the top medical staffing agencies in the country, we can help take your career to the next level. Connect with us at your earliest convenience.

Say the word “boss” to a group of people and their minds will conjure up an image of someone they worked for in the past or maybe their present boss. Now say the word “leader” and more often than not, a different image will pop up in their heads; perhaps a world leader or someone who fought for change and progress but not someone who simply barked out orders and punched a clock. These two words will bring up different things for each person but there is usually a distinction and it is usually associated with a positive or negative feeling. If you are a manager, how do you lead your team in a positive way instead of just bossing around your medical staff?

Leaders Lead by Example

A boss is someone who is in charge of a situation or a group of people and they are placed in that position because they are the most qualified or they were at the right place at the right time. The boss is usually perceived as someone who won’t get their hands dirty, that’s why they have employees under them to do all the work. There are exceptions to every situation but bosses are rarely seen as motivating factors in a workplace or even inspirational factors in a person’s life but a leader will make a lasting impression in the lives of those around them.  Bosses can become great leaders and take their organization to the next level by understanding these 3 factors:

1. Leaders aren’t afraid of hard work. They will work tirelessly until the job is done and they are unconcerned with receiving any credit for their work. They are working towards the good of the whole, not just their own well-being.
2. Leaders will build up their team rather than tear them down. Even when a team member is headed in the wrong direction, a good leader can help to redirect them in a more positive way without the other person feeling inferior or singled out. Leaders know how to work with people to bring out their best and strive on a daily basis to edify rather than discourage.
3. Leaders know when to push forward and when to stop. Some projects and some situations will warrant a push, in spite of obvious struggles, while others will require the team to move on to something more productive. This can happen in the healthcare field frequently as laws change and regulations require new adherence and facilities may need to shift their focus or specialty.

Leaders are those who inspire from within their team, not out of fear but because of the respect they have earned from those around them. While a boss can be trained to do their job, a leader has innate qualities that can be developed but rarely taught. Most leaders will have their own source of inspiration that has brought them to their current career path.

Now that the days are longer and the heat of summer can be felt, finding the work-life balance can be even more difficult. After all, there are so many fun activities during the summer and it’s usually the time of year when families can travel to see one another, but if you’re not careful, managing it all can leave you feeling worn out. There are several things you should remember as you punch the clock on a daily basis to avoid that feeling of burn out.

1. There are still only 24 hours in a day. Just because it stays light outside longer, doesn’t mean you have to find more work to do. It’s a common problem among people who are prone to overworking to see the light outside their windows and feel the urge to keep up the fast pace. The time could be late in the evening but because the sun is still shining, they will feel the need to continue working.
2. Take a vacation. It is a great time of year for travel deals and even local attractions offer package deals for residents, so take advantage of your accumulated days off and get-away. Planning ahead for a fun trip can be just the right tool for staying motivated but also being able to scale back while you’re away.
3. Stay away from distractions. It is important to stay focused, even in the summer. You may find yourself more easily distracted as there is usually more going on during these months. Recharge with people you truly care about, not just acquaintances who want to benefit from your relationship. They will suck the life out of you and can be a drain on every aspect of your life.
4. Don’t give up on your routine. Things may happen in the summer that are out of the ordinary; you may have family visiting from out of town or the kids may be home from school during the days but do your best to stay in a routine. This means not neglecting your work-outs, meditation time or other quiet time, or getting into an unhealthy eating pattern. The routine you establish throughout the year carries you on a daily basis and it is helpful during the summer months as well. You may need to modify it slightly but tossing it to the wind will not be helpful to you in the long run.

As summer comes and goes, it is important to stick with your goals and resolutions that you’ve set for the year. It is an easy time to get distracted and either work or play too much and both can be detrimental to your overall success.

Looking to Hire Additional Staff in 2014?
Contact the experienced recruiters at Pinnacle Workforce Corporation for additional information on how a partnership with our team can positively impact yours!

It is not uncommon for potential new hires to undergo a thorough background check and drug screening for any number of jobs from an entry level position to the director of a nationwide company. This ensures the person who is hired is of the highest character and their resume matches their actual qualifications. A thorough background check can cost the company money but in the long run, it will save money and even a possible tarnished reputation, which can be impossible to recover. All of this can be mitigated with the proper vetting of a candidate and should be part of the hiring process for every staff member at your medical facility.

Are Background Checks really Necessary?
In a world where it’s easy to find information on just about anyone for free, is it really necessary to go through the hassle and cost of a formal background check? After all, you had a good feeling about them in the interviews and probably even did a little snooping online and found no major issues. The answer is yes; it is absolutely necessary to perform a formal background check on medical staff. This information can be put in their personnel file and reviewed if necessary. If you hire someone for your team and they are not as proficient as they claim, your facility has just opened itself up to a malpractice suit in the event of a mistake. While mistakes can be made by even the most seasoned medical professionals, it is less likely to have a lasting negative impact if the “mistake-maker” has the proper training and actual credentials, which would make it a human error.

What does a Background Check Accomplish?
In a down economy, candidates may be tempted to exaggerate their abilities in hopes of landing a job and sadly this happens in all job fields. When it happens in the medical world, lives are put at risk. You employ medical staff that you trust have the skills and qualifications they claim to have to complete the team. These team members must be able to pull their weight and perform the tasks they are hired to do so your patients can receive the quality care they deserve. If there is a member of your staff who cannot do the job, it’s not just your facility that is put at risk but also the lives of your patients.  What happens when your team is short-staffed and the new hires are required to work alone or pick up extra shifts and they cannot do the job? By completing a background check, you can know that your team is competent and you can continue to provide top-notch services to your patients. 

Looking to hire in 2014?
Contact the expert healthcare recruiters at Pinnacle Workforce. Let our team of experienced employment specialists assist you in your hiring needs!