By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
A senior nursing student excitedly told me about a position she had just been offered in critical care. I asked her if she had met or talked to the nurse manager – she said no – just the recruiter. My heart sank.
Nurse leaders tell me that they are spending far more time on recruitment than in recent years with the turnover today. It is not unusual to interview six or seven nursing candidates to fill one vacancy successfully. Some of this is happening remotely in ZOOM calls.
Cutting corners and delegating the responsibility to a recruiter is not surprising. Yet, we know from AACN data that the nurse’s relationship with the manager is critical. Over 40% cite poor leadership as a reason to leave a position. This leadership starts with the recruitment process. Hiring a nurse you have not met is like buying a house from a distance in a bidding war (which many are doing in this real estate market) without seeing it and the neighborhood yourself. It is risky for the nurse manager and probably risker for the nurse. From their research, Gallup has identified five key candidate traits that are predictive for success. They include:
- Motivation
- Ability to Organize and Prioritize Work
- Self-Starter Behaviors
- Collaboration with Others
- Critical Thinking
How do you assess these traits and cultural fit without meeting or talking with the candidate? I am not sure that you can. I always tell new graduates that the most important thing in choosing that first job is to work for the right person. I loved my first head nurse (what we called them then). She was so supportive and gave me the confidence I needed to feel successful. The unit would not have been my first choice, but the leader was.
Early in my career, I worked as a nurse recruiter at two large urban VA medical centers. The relationship between nurse manager support and staff retention was clear to me as I worked with candidates. Some leaders were barely interested in great candidates I recruited for them – others took the time to get to know their candidates and fully answered all their questions. You can guess which managers filled their positions quickly.
As tempting as it might be to delegate recruitment because it is time-consuming, keep in mind that retention begins with recruitment. They are inseparable. Some best practices for nurse managers include the following:
Recruiting Best Practices
- Meet every candidate personally.
- Use a standardized interviewing process
- Tour the candidate on the unit and introduce them to staff members.
- Look for informed candidates (have done due diligence, ask good questions, seem knowledgeable about the organization).
- Be transparent about unit challenges and what you are doing about them.
- Close the loop quickly in making job offers to high-quality candidates.
Nurse leaders should think of themselves as organizational ambassadors. Even if a candidate does not take a position or is not selected, they will remember how you made them feel. Strive to always leave a good impression even when the candidate is not a good fit for the position. Remember today, nurses are likely to share their experiences on social media so make it a good one.
© emergingrnleader.com 2021
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