Digital Healthcare Recruitment Marketing Tips to Attract Top Talent

An interesting opportunity fell in our lap during the great resignation of 2021.  Our healthcare clients, pleased with the qualified leads that we were generating for their clinics and hospitals, found themselves with more prospective patients than they had staff available. 

Current Healthcare Recruitment Marketing Challenges

Traditional healthcare recruiting, particularly executive recruiting, can be very costly and out of reach for small and medium healthcare facilities, while more affordable sites like Indeed.com, resume, and job boards, can only resolve certain bottlenecks.

U.S. healthcare recruitment challenges are manifold – from an aging population (i.e. 55% of RNs are over the age of 50), a 30% turnover rate after the first year in most hospitals, a work environment that is requiring heavy tech and automation adoption and a competitive landscape.  Yet by 2026, 14% of all U.S. jobs will be in the healthcare and social assistance industry and healthcare alone will be adding 4 million jobs.  According to BLS, healthcare occupations account for 14 of the 30 fastest-growing occupations. So how do we overcome these obstacles?

A more cost-effective, targeted and controlled approach can be sought through a digital marketing based recruitment campaign if you know how and which platforms to use. 

Healthcare Recruitment Marketing Strategy is Dependent on Professional Hierarchy 

A successful digital marketing campaign is always about connecting with the right audiences on the right platforms with the right messaging.  In healthcare recruitment, depending upon the level of seniority in the recruitment hierarchy, the strategy can be wildly different. Let’s define the three main hierarchical levels:

Staff Level Recruitment: Staff level professionals usually earn certification within a minimum of one year and may include staffing coordinators, clerks, licensed practical nurses, nursing assistants, and beyond.

Mid-Level Recruitment: Mid-level professionals (MLPs) are certified health care professionals trained in a college/university setting for a minimum of 3 years. Examples include healthcare management, technologists, registered nurses, therapists, and beyond.

Executive Recruitment:  Senior professionals in a healthcare organization who often have earned a Ph.D. and have had 4 to 6 years of university. Positions mays include directors / C-level positions. senior physicians and advanced practice professionals.  

Other Audience Segmentation Characteristics

Aside from position, seniority and experience, ensure you target the following characteristics in your campaigns:

• Location
• Skillbase
• Current workplace
• School
• Specialization

Best Ad Channels Based on Healthcare Recruitment Hierarchy 

 Depending upon the seniority level and years of experience and skill, there are specific channels and ad types your marketing team will want to evaluate for best performance:

Staff Level Recruitment: 

• Google Search 
• Bing Search
• Facebook / Instagram

Mid-Level Recruitment: 

• Google Search
• Bing Search
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Executive Level Recruitment: 

• LinkedIn
• Microsoft Search
• Google Search 

Targeting Healthcare Recruitment Audiences in Search Ads

High Intent Keyword Targeting in Search Ads

To ensure that you are reaching the most qualified candidates and spending your ad dollars wisely, take a deep dive into your keyword research and look for long-tailed keywords that best describe the position you are trying to fill. High intent keyword targeting, combined with industry-specific ad copy and landing pages will drive more candidates to take action by filling out your online application. Candidates who take the time to write such specific search queries are much more likely to be a warm, bottom-of-the-funnel lead.

Microsoft Ads

Microsoft ads’ most compelling functionality is its B2B ad targeting capabilities. Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 and by 2018 profile targeting was being beta tested in ads across the U.S. Since 2020 it’s been available internationally. LinkedIn profile targeting can be leveraged at the ad group or campaign level to Traditional Search and Dynamic Search audiences. B2B targeting options include job function, industry or company, helping you reach a much more targeted prospective job seeker.

There are two main reasons to use Microsoft’s targeting over LinkedIn itself where all of the data is pulled from: Microsoft users have search intent and will thus close at a higher rate and the cost per lead is much lower in Microsoft.

Resources: Microsoft  Profile Targeting

Google Ads

While Google has always been the kingpin of search ads, based on high intent keywords (i.e. nursing jobs, speech pathologist jobs, etc.) and advertising goals (i.e lead generation, brand awareness, etc.) there were limited professional targeting capabilities until 2022.  Google now allows advertisers to target by company size and industry making it even easier to ensure exact talent acquisition.

To access these targeting options in Google Search ads:

>> Go to Audience Segments >> Browse >> Who they are (detailed demographics)

Ad Extensions in Search

For both Google and Microsoft ads test the use of site links and ad extensions which allow you to expand your ability to share the benefits of the position you are advertising for. For recruitment campaigns this can include:

• Location extensions: Showcase your location and phone number
• Lead form extensions: allow users to submit their information in a form directly in your ad.
• Call out extensions: allow you to add more text to your ad)
• Call extensions: allow you to add a phone number or call button to your ads
• Structured snippet extensions: which allow you to showcase information potential customers will find most valuable by selecting a predefined header 

Facebook / Instagram Ads for Recruitment

According to Statista, Facebook had approximately 2.93 billion monthly active users in the first quarter of 2022.  So what it lacks in search intent it gains in its sheer volume of users. Furthermore Facebook, which owns Instagram and an expanded network beyond these social platforms, also has excellent targeting capabilities, specifically for staff and mid-level recruitment opportunities. Facebook allows for a number of targeting options that can help you drill down to the right audience.

Demographic Targeting

Facebook’s targeting allows you to target as granularly as zip code, age group, language,  the field of study, degree, and schools.

Industry Targeting

Specifically, when the job title of the positionyou are trying to fill are generic (i.e. manager, coordinator, or administrative) it’s necessary to target the industry as job titles used in the healthcare space are also used in other verticals as well. Facebooks make this easy with its industry targeting options.

Job Title Targeting

Facebook allows you to target by job title targeting and provides an estimated audience size.

LinkedIn Healthcare Recruitment Marketing Ad Options

LinkedIn Recruiter

At its very core, LinkedIn is a recruitment tool and has its own hiring platform, appropriately named LinkedIn Recruiter. The benefit of “Recruiter” is that it allows you to benefit from their own data and analytics, and utilize their advanced filters (i.e. filtering for skills and not just job experience) for highly targeted candidates in your specific healthcare space,  letting you tap into over 7.1 Million healthcare professionals. Furthermore, they provide recommended matches and the ability to communicate with candidates through InMail directly on LinkedIn and other project management features so that you can track the progress of your search.  

Talent Insights

Talent Insights, is LinkedIn’s talent intelligence platform that helps organizations to make smart hiring decisions and hire more effectively.  For example you can determine where high and low-demand centers exist by region by examining supply and demand data (LinkedIn calls it’s “data pool”). You can measure your current compensation and benefits package compared to the marketplace, by getting a 360-degree view of not only how your brand is perceived but how your competitors are viewed as well. 

Engaging with Your Audiences

In 2022 candidates want to understand the values behind the organizations they seek to work for to ensure their worldviews match.  To make your brand as appealing as possible to candidates, you need to engage with them on the social media channels they hang out on.  LinkedIn is possibly the most popular of these channels. From testimonial videos of happy employees to behind-the-scenes videos of your staff and their stories to informative InMail messages on LinkedIn,  make sure your content is visually appealing, adds value for your target audiences and is mobile-friendly.  Keeping your healthcare facility brand front and center to potential candidates for future hiring efforts helps increase successful healthcare recruitment dramatically. Encourage your staff to share this content.

Final Takeaways

• Ensure candidates can easily find and apply for positions on your website or landing page on desktop and mobile and provide other options to send a CV including email.
• Share the excitement with a rich job description and a precise Job Title that draws the candidate in while staying focused on the core responsibilities, activities, qualifications, and skills as well as salary, perks, and benefits.
• Note that candidates, and specifically Millennials, are looking for career ladders, work life balance, a strong company culture, along with strong compensation and benefits packages.
• Include a company backgrounder. Share your organization’s mission and culture.
• Respond to candidates quickly, showing them that you care about the people you work with.  Explain the hiring process within your company and when they can expect to hear back from you.
• Provide a structured interview process to ensure that the candidates have the skills, experience, and capacity to fulfill the position you are recruiting for.
• Ensure your compensation and benefits match the demand in the marketplace. 

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