When outsourcing recruitment, closely adhere to project time frames and goals to ensure staffing needs are met according to deadlines. Use a statement of work as the map to the recruitment project.
Nurses are the lifeblood of nationally recognized Shands Jacksonville, a member of the Shands Health System, headquartered at the University of Florida in Gainesville. It is imperative that the organization successfully hires and retains the most experienced and competent specialty nursing workforce in the area.
Shands Jacksonville offers a complete range of healthcare services, from a state-of-the-art cardiovascular center to a renowned neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital records more than 100,000 emergency room visits a year and has a full complement of ambulatory
services as well.
One of two system trauma centers in the Shands System, Jacksonville had been experiencing significant difficulty in sourcing qualified candidates for critical-care nursing positions as a result of shortages locally and nationally. An expansion of its trauma service and dramatic increases in the number of emergency cases required higher staffing level. The hospital was also experiencing minimal candidate flow for specialty nursing positions beyond critical care, including telemetry and surgical nursing positions.
As a result, the small recruitment staff of this hospital was not able to function optimally both to source qualified candidates and manage the relationships with the hiring managers. Hospital administration made the decision to augment its current recruitment efforts and partnered with TalentTrack to achieve immediate hiring goals and maximize the relationships between recruiters and hiring managers.
TalentTrack provides recruitment process outsourcing services for healthcare, financial, retail, consumer products, and other industries. Within the healthcare industry, the firm focuses on difficult-to-fill clinical positions such as nursing and therapy and filled more than 5,000 such positions last year. The RPO provider partners with acute-care hospitals and health systems and long-term care, home health, and ambulatory-care companies for project-based and ongoing, end-to-end engagements and currently delivers RPO services in 48 states.
THE STRATEGY AND SOLUTION
Shand’s HR administration engaged the RPO provider to work with the recruitment staff and hiring managers to implement a statement of work that outlined each party’s responsibility for achieving the hiring goals for a significant number of critical care and other specialty nurses over a specified period of time. This statement of work served as a resource and guide to which the stakeholders continually referred during the project to ensure successful completion.
The vice president of HR, the chief nursing officer, the director of labor relations and recruitment and his staff, hiring managers, and TalentTrack’s project team participated in the project launch at the facility. The process provided the outsourced provider team with a good understanding of the unique needs and culture of the facility. The launch also provided the recruitment team and the client representatives with an opportunity to develop a positive rapport with those implementing the recruitment strategy on their behalf.
To maintain the project’s momentum, a coordinated effort between the vendor and Shands was maintained, with specific target metrics being accomplished on both sides. After developing candidate benchmark profiles in conjunction with the internal team, TalentTrack implemented a strategic plan of proprietary sourcing and screening processes that generated dramatically improved, qualified candidate flow to our facility. Strategies were developed and customized for the hospital based on research data indicating geographic, economic, and acuity level preferences of likely candidates.
Shands continued to maintain much of its internal recruiting activity to best accommodate and process the increased numbers of qualified candidates. As potential candidates were identified, both from TalentTrack’s proprietary strategies and by Shands’ own efforts, the RPO provider implemented a thorough prescreening process.
This intricate process identified the best- and most-qualified candidates based on a variety of specific criteria tailored for each position. The management process followed the candidate through the screening, interview, hiring, and on-boarding processes. By working closely with the administration, the hiring managers, and the recruitment staff, a very effective and successful partnership was established and maintained.
In partnership with TalentTrack, Shands exceeded its original project goal of 20 critical care and other medical surgical nurses within the identified time frame of four months. Key performance indicators were met within the specified project time frame, with significant cost savings.
Sourcing strategies maximized candidate flow and generated nursing hires in areas beyond critical care. Given the success of this project, along with plans for service expansion, Shands has re-engaged with TalentTrack for a project to hire 100 nurses in 100 days. At press time, 75 nurses have already been hired for this engagement, which began in early June.
