How Healthcare Organizations Can Improve their Remote Hiring Process
March 29, 2021
Updated on November 1, 2022
Healthcare has been hit by the pandemic more than any other sector, causing healthcare workers to feel overworked and healthcare facilities to be understaffed at the worst possible time. The pandemic also posed a big challenge for hiring managers and recruiters who were used to traditional hiring and felt somewhat intimidated about switching to a remote hiring process, and even for those who migrated successfully to it but to this day are not yet seeing the best results.
In this article, we will explore most aspects of remote hiring and provide some insight into how can healthcare organizations improve their remote hiring process. Keep reading to find out.
What Is Remote Hiring?
Remote hiring is the process of selecting, interviewing, and sometimes even onboarding candidates for a job posting without meeting face to face. Recruiters often use email, phone calls, video calls, employment platforms (like Caring Support!), and other channels to contact workers and have them submit any verification documents necessary. This process can apply both for jobs that will be performed remotely and for in-person jobs.
After the hiring process has concluded, some employers may even use the same channels to have new employees sign employment contracts, receive training, meet their new team, and more, even if they are expected to report to work in person sometime down the line.
What Companies Are Hiring Remote Healthcare Workers?
In some cases, remote hiring processes are applied to hire remote healthcare workers. Due to the nature of the sector, where in-person services are essential, this is not often the case. However, after the pandemic hit, remote healthcare jobs have become more and more popular.
Some of the companies that hire remote healthcare workers include mental health facilities, wellness centres, long-term care facilities, and community centres. These workplaces often hire therapists, social workers and care coordinators, and other specialists who work remotely.
What Healthcare Jobs Can Work Remotely?
There are more remote healthcare jobs out there than people might think as healthcare has taken a shift towards telehealth and some clerical healthcare jobs can be performed remotely just like other jobs of the same category.
These are some of the most common remote healthcare jobs available in Canada:
Health information technician. These workers manage medical records containing sensitive information such as patient diagnoses, treatments, insurance, and more. They also analyze patient data to come up with new care strategies and reductions in treatment costs.
Nurse managers. They manage medical staff and patient cases, and can also do some nursing budgeting, recruitment, training, and record-keeping.
Therapist. They treat patients who suffer from trauma, personality disorders, and conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Speech Pathologist. These specialists treat people who have speech, language, voice, and cognitive communication impairments.
Medical assistants. They support hospital staff by performing clinical and administrative tasks, including filing medical records, handling insurance claims, scheduling appointments, etc.
Top Recommendations To Improve Remote Hiring Process
At Caring Support, we are committed to contributing to the healthcare sector, not only with our job-matching services but also with relevant and valuable information. Having said this, these are our recommendations for healthcare organizations to improve their remote hiring process:
Best recommendations for healthcare organizations to improve their remote hiring process
Share relevant information about your organization In these times of social distancing and working from home, there are important details about your organization you should consider adding when writing job descriptions to appeal to the right candidates. For instance, mention your efforts to maintain a safe environment and any flexible work-from-home options you may have available. You can also mention some of the perks and benefits you offer, including vacation time, sick days, etc.
Talk about your organizational values Healthcare organizations should Consider that a remote hiring process is performed completely online, candidates won’t have the opportunity to visit your facilities and have a glimpse of your organizational culture. Therefore, it is up to you to show them what your organization does, its purpose, values, and more. To achieve this, provide links to informational videos, share your social media accounts and even help them connect with current employees from the same department they are applying for. All these resources will provide candidates with the information they need upfront, even though you know they will conduct their own research.
Encourage video resumes Video resumes are a great tool to get to know candidates beyond the paper, as it shows their personality and originality, and gives you an idea of their caregiving skills. To get the most out of video resumes, add some guidelines in the job description, like asking them to focus on their most relevant experience and qualifications or to talk about themselves in general. Video resumes are one of the tools included in all caregiver profiles at our Caring Support platform, so you can browse candidates and match them with the ones that better fit what you are looking for.
Prepare for video interviews To make the most of video interviews, prepare a comprehensive list of questions that will make for an efficient and productive conversation. Another alternative, if you have many positions to fill and little time, is to opt for one-way interviews. With this format, you provide candidates with a list of questions, and they have to record video responses for each, allowing you to quickly evaluate, select and move on to the next stages of the hiring process.
Consider personality and aptitude Since you will not be sitting in a room with your candidates during an interview, there are many aspects of their personalities that will be very difficult for you to appraise through a screen. To get around this limitation, include assessments in your hiring process. In addition to personality, these tools will let you evaluate a candidate’s job knowledge, cognitive ability, technical ability, work ethic, and any other aspect that is relevant to your organization and the position.
Don’t forget to request criminal record checks Criminal record checks are more important than ever before, and they can be conducted easily through one of the many platforms that offer this service. At Caring Support we have partnered with Screening Canada to include this feature in our candidate's profiles for a very competitive fee. This means when you browse through candidates you will be able to access their criminal background checks along with the rest of their information at once, saving time and simplifying your hiring process.
Keep the communication flowing Make sure you have open communication channels with your top candidates throughout the hiring process to answer their questions and concerns and request any additional information you may need. You can do this by email, like usual, but you can also do it through your job-matching platform. At Caring Support, for instance, we offer a built-in messaging tool that will help you communicate more efficiently with your candidates by keeping you from losing emails amongst other messages in your inbox.
Involve other members of the team in the hiring process Collaborating with other members of the team during a remote hiring process is a great strategy to make sure the selected candidate possesses the right skills and experience and will be a good fit for the role and the organization. It is a good idea to involve people who will be working directly with the new hire, as they will be able to determine who will work best within their team and who won't.
Hiring Remote Workers in Canada
Looking for healthcare organizations hiring remote workers in Canada? Then Caring Support is your best bet. We have multiple employers across Ontario looking for skilled healthcare workers for in-person and remote jobs. Sign up for the platform to discover all the opportunities available to you today. A Ten-Step Guide To Help With Your Search From Start To Finish
Caring Support is also a great alternative if you are an employer and need help with your remote hiring process. Join us toexperience how simpler and more efficient recruitment can be. Our platform is here to help you find the best candidates for your healthcare organization. Click here for more information on our services and benefits.
And if you have any questions about this topic, please contact us or leave us a message below.