Health care is in the midst of another labor shortage. Vacancies are on the rise and demand for health care talent will continue to increase over the next decade.

To win talent in today's competitive labor market, organizations must revamp their recruiting playbook to be candidate-centric—rather than employer-centric. Follow the 12 best practices detailed in this study to win a greater share of talent.

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Health care entering a labor shortage

All signs point to an emerging national labor shortage. Our benchmarks show that the trend for median health care vacancy rates has been steadily increasing over the past six years, reaching a high of 6.2% in 2015. While health care organizations are struggling to fill today’s open positions, future projections confirm that the market will only become more competitive. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that one in four new jobs in the next decade will be in health care.

Recruiting playbook from the last shortage no longer sufficient

Health care leaders are investing more in recruitment just to keep up—paying more for sign-on bonuses, search firms, and premium labor. Unfortunately, these reactive tactics aren’t paying off. Time-to-fill and first year turnover are trending in the wrong direction. Since 2013, time-to-fill increased by four days and the proportion of turnover due to first-year departures increased by 28%.

Most recruiting playbooks don’t account for two major trends reshaping health care recruiting:

• The competition is stiff. Not only are new competitors like retail clinics competing for the same talent, but new care models are also shifting demand for certain roles like medical assistants.
• Technology has disrupted the recruiting process. Online applications make applying faster but less personal, and social media sites like Glassdoor and Facebook allow two-way assessment: candidates can judge us before we evaluate them.

These shifts require a new recruiting playbook based on two key principles. First, you must shift from an employer-centric to a candidate-centric recruiting experience.

Two strikingly different candidate experiences

Second, you need to broaden your focus to passive candidates who are currently employed elsewhere. Data suggests they are open to exploring opportunities, but winning them over requires a different approach than winning active job seekers.

The strategies below offer a framework to help you find and win talent amid a labor shortage.

Four strategies to win talent in a competitive labor market

Make applying a no-brainer

In theory, online applications make applying to your organization easier than ever. In reality, the typical lengthy, impersonal application process creates more barriers for qualified candidates and ultimately pushes them away. Learn how to design an application process that is easy, personalized, and responsive.

• Practice 1: Personalized Job Postings
• Practice 2: On-Demand Recruiter

Download Virtua's Visual Job Posting

Distinguish top prospects for hiring managers

• Practice 3: Candidate Profile Negotiation
• Practice 4: Recruiter Role Immersion
• Practice 5: Pre-hire Screens
• Practice 6: Runner-Up Hiring

Download related tools like the Recruiter's Role Immersion Toolkit

Prepare hiring managers to close the deal fast

The final interview is your last chance to sell a great candidate on your organization. Hiring managers play a key role in shaping the candidate’s last impression, but they don’t always have the time to prepare extensively or the training to close the deal. Ensure hand-offs from recruiters to hiring managers go smoothly, and that hiring managers are prepared to win candidates before they receive a competitor's offer.

• Practice 7: Fast-Track Interviews
• Practice 8: Interviewer's Cheat Sheet
• Practice 9: Same-Day Offers

Download related tools like the Manager Cheat Sheet

Court passive talent for future employment

As the labor market becomes more competitive, recruitment teams will have to pursue candidates who are already employed. While these candidates may be open to opportunities, they will rarely reach out proactively to speak to a recruiter. These best practices will help you plant the seed with passive talent so that they'll think of you as a future employer.

• Practice 10: No-Strings Professional Development
• Practice 11: Employee Referral Program
• Practice 12: Under-Tapped Candidate Pools

Download related tools like Scripps' email scripting to new hires about referrals