Employee Engagement Starts with the Job Posting

Everything you write about your facility, from the shortest ad to the longest communiqué, is an opportunity to engage employees. In healthcare recruitment, your image is key to acquiring engaged talent that works to their optimum and stays long-term. People want to take pride in their work and workplace, a major component of employee engagement. Engagement starts with a great Job Posting.

Presentation is Everything

A job posting is not a job description. When you post every responsibility listed on the job description, applicants are falling asleep reading the ad - or moving on to the next. Posting every single duty positions your company as rule/procedure-oriented. When candidates read the post, they envision a workday with lists of drudgery to perform rather than an environment that’s challenging and dynamic.

There are critical details that must be included: experience required, hours, certifications or licensure. You may even post salary ranges, if that’s your policy. For most positions, however, less is more. A NICU nurse’s responsibilities are generally the same across the country. Include some of the basics, but assume that anyone who meets your listed qualifications knows the day-to-day responsibilities.

Craft a posting that generates interest in moving to your facility, not a list of duties that applicants probably perform every day. If you’re trying to attract experienced candidates, give them a reason to make the move by positioning yourself as a better environment for their talent.

Boost Your Image

Healthcare workers are uniquely dedicated to their field. The work they perform is personally meaningful; they begin their career path engaged and enthusiastic. Capitalizing on that level of enthusiasm and translating it to work for you require talking up your selling points:

• Achievements in the field
• Patient care ratios
• Technology
• Shift coverage
• Positive results from internal surveys
• Opportunities for growth and development

Post to Boast

Do you post accomplishments to social media? If you don’t you should – especially if you want to attract the millennial generation – now 1/3 of the workforce. This demographic (and everyone, really) loves to take pride in their work, and loves to share that pride in cyberspace. If you do post (or plan to), link those pages to your ad; everyone wants to work for a company that can’t stop bragging about its staff.

An image-boosting Job Posting will have candidates clamoring to your door whenever you have a vacancy (and even when you don’t).

Excitement into Engagement

New hires start a job with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Allay the fear of starting a new position with the positive attitude you bring throughout the hiring process. It’s easy to translate enthusiasm into engagement when they know they’ve landed the best job at the best facility.

Employee engagement is more than getting the work done; it’s a sense of ownership and pride in the work you do (already built-in with healthcare workers) and the values and mission of the workplace. If you’ve positioned your facility in a positive light before Day 1, new hires demonstrate that pride every day. That translates into employee engagement. Great attitudes are infectious; they can evolve into long-term engagement for the new hire, as well as their peers.

The more buzz you create about the workplace, the more excitement (read engagement) you create about the work. To write a great job posting and a path to engagement, ask “Would I want to work here?” If you’re not excited to apply, start over.