Everything you Need to Know About Healthcare Hiring

What is Healthcare?

The American Medical Association (AMA) defines a healthcare professional as a person who has the education, training, and licenses required to provide medical services.

There are many types of healthcare professionals. They each focus on a specific area of the healthcare industry. The healthcare industry has been working nonstop to serve the public ever since the pandemic began.

But this industry is so big that most people don’t really understand who these professionals are and how to hire them. We will discuss who these people really are, what roles they play in our lives and how to hire them.

What do Healthcare Jobs Entail?

Around 59 million people work in the healthcare industry globally. These health professionals are categorized by their education, training, and licensure to provide medical services, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). They are prepared to offer fundamental healthcare services that support the primary health care paradigm and help people stay healthy, avoid disease, and promote wellness.

Based on research and current knowledge, these medical professionals provide patients with treatment through their expertise and practice. They conduct examinations, offer diagnosis, and provide medical care for wounds and ailments.

Apart from the doctors, nurses and technicians, there is another category of healthcare professionals called healthcare support which tackles the management side of the industry. 

According to BLS, overall employment in healthcare occupations is projected to grow 13 percent from 2021 to 2031, much faster than the average for all occupations; this increase is expected to result in about 2 million new jobs over the decade.

kills of Healthcare Professionals

Soft Skills

1 Communication Skills

Communication is at the heart of all organizations, but it is especially crucial for those who work in healthcare. In addition to routinely speaking with coworkers, healthcare workers often need to communicate with patients and their families.

2. Stress Management

The most effective healthcare professionals are not only able to tolerate pressure, but they also benefit from it. Health care professionals must also know effective stress management techniques and how to take time apart from their demanding occupations if they are to avoid burnout.

3. Empathy

In health care, it’s important that you can empathize with patients and the difficult situations that others are facing.

4. Teamwork

A willingness to operate as a team is an essential quality in healthcare professionals. With numerous people contributing to patient care, many health care professions resemble teams in team sports. It's crucial that your applicants understand how to work cooperatively with their colleagues for the benefit of the patient.

5. Positive Attitude

All employees can benefit from having a positive outlook, but this soft skill is especially helpful in the healthcare industry. Health care professionals must have a positive outlook due to the demands of the job, the strain of teamwork, and the frequent interactions with patients. Someone might easily become exhausted by the harsh reality of health care, which can result in stress and other unfavorable effects.

6. Flexibility

Flexibility is essential for teamwork because many occupations in the healthcare industry don't follow the conventional 9 to 5 schedule. Your coworkers can require you to take a shift or remain late. A difficult patient could consume more of your day than you anticipated.

Your candidate must be adaptive in order to handle new, diverse, or changing circumstances in addition to managing your schedule. Every day, fresh issues are dealt with in the healthcare industry. They can have trouble in your work if they can't readily break out of a pattern.

Hard Skills

7. Pharmaceutical Skills

Many skills fall into the category of pharmacy. Common examples include pharmaceutical sales and pharmacy technicians. Pharmacy-related skills are widely sought out throughout the healthcare industry.

8. Data Entry

Each healthcare facility has a unique system for collecting health information. The ability to gather and input data, keep track of records, and run reports are essential data entry abilities for healthcare professionals.

9. HIPAA Knowledge

The Health Insurance Portability Act of 1996 is referred to as HIPAA. This federal regulation, which impacts practically all of the daily activities of healthcare workers, was put in place to protect patient information. Make sure your candidate is up to date with the act. 

10. Business Administration

There is a ton of important work that goes on in the business side of healthcare. Understanding the basics of business administration and how to work with the relevant technologies is key.

11. First Aid

If you are a medical practitioner, CPR and First Aid will be foundational requirements for you. However, if you are a healthcare administrator or other professional on the business side, knowing these skills can still be beneficial – especially in emergencies.

Different Healthcare Roles

Healthcare professionals belong to different categories and perform different tasks. Let us look at them one by one.

Primary Care Professionals

1. Doctors

Doctors deal in different sectors such as child specialists, cardiologists, dentists, general physicians or surgeons.

2. Nurse Practitioners

Nurses are trained healthcare professionals that take care of the ill and diseased people. You can use ER Nurse Test or ICU Nurse Assessment to evaluate your candidate. 

Therapy Professionals

3. Recreation Therapist

Recreational therapists work with people with injuries, illnesses and disabilities. They plan and carry out treatment programs for their patients. Check out the Recreation Therapist Test.

 4. ABA Therapist

They work with individuals to help them develop communication ability, social skills and language skills, improve focus, memory and attention and limit the prevalence of negative behaviors. Check out the ABA Therapist Test.

5. Mental Health Therapist

A mental health therapist helps and promotes optimum mental health conditions among patients. Check out the Mental Health Therapist Test.

Management Professionals

6. Care Manager

The primary role of a Care Manager is to facilitate communication between different caregivers in the advocacy of the patient. Check out the Care Manager Test.

7. Hospital Social Worker

Hospital social workers have a variety of responsibilities including admitting and discharging patients and keeping various patient records. Check out the Hospital Social Worker Test.

 8. Care Coordinator

Care Coordinators facilitate conversations between interdisciplinary Care Teams (including Patient Navigators, Care Coordinators, primary care physicians, and additional health care providers) and expedite client services referrals. Check out the Care Coordinator Test .

What is the Effect on your Pocket?

According to a report by BLS, the median annual wage for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations (such as registered nurses, physicians and surgeons, and dental hygienists) was $75,040 in May 2021.

On the other hand, healthcare support occupations (such as home health and personal care aides, occupational therapy assistants, and medical transcriptionists) had a median annual wage of $29,880 in May 2021. 

The estimated total pay for a Healthcare Professional is $59,854 per year in the United States area, with an average salary of $44,900 per year, according to Glassdoor.

How to Assess & Hire Healthcare Professionals?

As the need for healthcare workers increases, healthcare recruiting businesses struggle to fill positions, and these recruitment gurus have not yet come up with a concrete solution. 

High-skilled medical occupations like nurses, doctors, and specialists are tough to fill on a full-time basis, as per 46% of HR professionals, according to SHRM Finding applicants to fill those positions was "quite challenging," according to another 35% of respondents.

1. Use Pre-employment Assessments

Pre-employment skill assessments have created a buzz in the market and are being used by the majority of recruiters to vet their candidates. A skill assessment fairly and accurately tests your candidate and gives you a ready-made report to analyze if the applicant can fulfill your job position.

At HireQuotient, we provide many types of project management assessments based on methodologies. Check them out!

- Medical Coder Test

- Dermatologist Test

- Sonographer Test

- Behaviour Analyst Test

- Exercise Physiologist Test

2. Ask the Right Questions

- How do you see the future of healthcare?

- How do you stay informed with current healthcare advancements?

- Tell me about yourself and how you realized you wanted to be a healthcare provider.

- Why did you choose to work in the healthcare sector?

- Talk about a time when you disagreed with a coworker.

- What’s your biggest career mistake or failure?

3. Assign a Task

Another super-dependable method to assess a project management candidate is to assign them a task. Ask them to analyze a certain project and make a plan to execute it. This way you can check both the technical skills and soft skills and give you an upper hand to judge your candidate accordingly. 

To Conclude

Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing industries. As countries continue to enjoy greater life expectancies than ever before, there is a constantly increasing need for experts in operations management, to come in and find ways to deliver more efficient and affordable care to a greater number of patients.

Book a healthcare assessment with us today!