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People drive a healthcare business, but finding the best talent is a defining challenge for today’s healthcare executives and leaders. Here’s how to refine your approach to accessing talent.
As a leader, you need to be acutely aware not just of the best talent, but why that talent would want to work for you.
According to consultancy Protiviti, people, talent and the future of work are a defining business challenge for healthcare companies in the next decade.
For the executives and leaders of these companies, this means letting go of the more linear methods of accessing talent from the past, and, instead, taking a more comprehensive approach. Accessing the best talent is not longer just about advertising a role; it involves HR, the hiring manager and the candidate working together to design a hiring strategy and tell the company story.
Here are some important steps you can follow to get started.
1. Curate connectivity
Once-upon a time, accessing talent was seen as very much the domain of HR. However, these days, it’s important for the hiring manager and HR manager to work in conjunction.
Not only can the hiring manager provide meaningful insight around the subtleties of hiring the right person to fit into the role and the wider matrix organisation, but they can help with connectivity – which a crucial element in attracting talent in today’s market.
Accessing the right people involves networking. We often don’t associate networking with hiring, but in fact, this type of networking should take up about 10% of your time.
Firstly, connectivity allows you to understand what the best looks like in the area of expertise for which you’re trying to hire. It also helps to build a strong set of people on which you can rely for referrals and recommendations.
To nurture this connectivity, make your voice heard in multiple channels, including online but also at industry conferences and sector-specific networking events.
Remember also that it’s no longer necessary to be bound geographically. Sometimes, tapping into a network of interstate or international talent will help find the absolute best.
2. Build a company narrative
As a leader, you need to be acutely aware not just of the best talent, but why that talent would want to work for you.
There’s a lot of research to say that employees are increasingly wanting to work for a company whose beliefs and values match their own. Not only that but individuals have access to a vast array of information, and are well informed about their industry and the companies that operate within it.
It’s for this reason that it’s critical for you to build up a narrative to make it clear to someone what they will get out of the role, then work out how to communicate this value to your network and prospective employees. When building a narrative to access talent, be aware it needs to cover different elements including:
- The narrative of the organisation at a global and local level, so the prospective employee understands the company vision. Many organisations have this already, so often it’s about communicating it in a way that the prospective hire can see how it aligns with their values and vision.
- The narrative of the job opportunity. How will this role help the person make a difference and be a key part of achieving the company’s goals?
- The narrative of the leader. It’s crucial to be aware that the talent you’re hiring are looking to be inspired and to learn from their leaders. So, difficult as it may be, it’s your personal responsibility to let others see who is behind the title.
When building a narrative for attracting talent, remember that’s it’s never a final product. Be aware of what’s important to the audience you’re attracting and refine and adapt the narrative as you go along.
3. Develop a knowledge centre
In this market, the very best talent wants to know what’s in it for them. They want to be inspired, challenged and valued.
Therefore, building a knowledge centre is an important step in talent acquisition, and allows you to leverage understanding and information across the business.
It begins with understanding what ‘the best’ means for you and for the business. Then, it extends to a variety of areas including:
- The right processes to attract and assess talent – in particular, how to pick great people from the good.
- How to identify what problem needs solving and how to pick the best expertise to fix the problem and grow the business.
- The unmet need within the business and how to address that in order to run a sustainable operation.
- What you need to pay to get the best. Pay is a hygiene factor, and you have to be willing to pay to get the best.
Remember, accessing the best talent doesn’t happen by accident. It needs a dedicated strategy and careful curation. So, start early and do it often – you will reap the benefits.
Hunton Executive provides not only executive search but organisational consulting in order set organisations up to access, hire and retain the best talent. Contact us to find out more.
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