Resources: Guide
Toolkit for NHS Trusts: How to Inspire, Attract and Recruit.
The ultimate toolkit for NHS trusts
Download Guide
Modernising NHS Recruitment
The war for talent in the UK is showing no signs of slowing down – and the NHS certainly isn’t immune to it. As NHS trusts continue to battle it out for the top talent, the constant threat posed by private sector employers means the NHS needs to do more to have a competitive edge.
But how can you make your NHS trust stand out against private sector competitors in the fight to secure the best talent?
That is exactly what we’re going to explore in this guide. With NHS recruitment and staffing still being impacted by the after-effects of the pandemic and Brexit, and the demand for healthcare
services only increasing, now more than ever, the recruitment process needs to be right.
Getting certain areas of it right will do more than simply help you recruit. There are aspects that will even lead to an overall culture change that can assist with retention levels. While getting recruitment right matters, staff retention will always be more cost-effective.
Oleeo is an experienced NHS recruitment tech provider. We understand what makes NHS recruitment different to private employers and know what is needed to get your message across to the very best talent in order to fill your vacancies.
Why NHS recruitment matters
The NHS is the world’s fifth-largest employer. With over 1.7 million staff, yours is an organisation that has undertaken a huge amount of recruitment activity. However, the time has come for that to be ramped up even further. It’s no secret that the NHS is facing staff shortages. You only need to read the news to see stories relating to A&E waiting times, GP appointment waiting lists, and practically every other measure increasing.
Of course, there were strains placed upon the organisation before, but coming out of the pandemic (though some would argue we’re not there yet), demands have become ever greater.
To focus on the priority of offering great patient care, there’s a need for a great recruitment process. One that attracts the very best in talent and inspires a desire to be part of your organisation.
Other job roles aside, the government committed to there being 50,000 more nurses within the NHS by 2024/2025. Whilst this tagret was met, vacancies have barely reduced, and some specialities have even seen staff numbers decrease. So there is still a need to secure talent, nurture it, and create loyal employees who are with you for the long term. How can you do that? Oleeo’s toolkit is here to show you.
Telling your story your way
One of the biggest steps that you can take to boost NHS recruitment drives is to develop your individual NHS trust’s brand. Private sector companies are hot on this and so, to compete, you need to be too.
What do we mean by branding? Well, we’re talking about how you’re perceived as a place to work. Branding is about taking control of the narrative and portraying your NHS trust as you want to. Here’s a look at some of the ways you can do that:
1. What is the NHS’ unique value proposition?
When people are looking at making career moves, it is great to hear from people who are already there. People are seeking to get a sense of what it’s really like to be part of an organisation. As part of boosting your trust’s recruitment, and developing a brand, you should look at testimonials and employee case studies from your existing staff.
2. Get your ear to the ground
When you’re trying to build a brand, you need to know what people are already saying about your organisation as a place to work. You can get an insight by using surveys for current staff members. You could also search online for any comments – people tend to be most vocal when they’re dissatisfied! If you come across any negativity, you at least know what you’re working against.
3. Employer value proposition
It’s easy to put together job descriptions that list the requirements of the role and the pay. Unfortunately, such a description says nothing about what it’s like to work for your NHS trust. Your value proposition should be about inspiring potential candidates and motivating them to want to join you. It should focus on making people know that the job they do or will be potentially doing, is worthwhile.
4. Tap into current employees
When people are looking at making career moves, it is great to hear from people who are already there. People are seeking to get a sense of what it’s really like to be part of an organisation. As part of boosting your trust’s recruitment, and developing a brand, you should look at testimonials and employee case studies from your existing staff.
5. A focus on learning and development
To create an effective recruiter, you need to be vocal about the learning and development opportunities that are on offer. Regardless of the level of entry, employees want to know what’s ahead. How can they progress? What new skills can they gain? Sell a story that shows just what is on offer.
6. Get visual
If you want potential candidates to view your organisation differently, consider just how you’re trying to get your message across. Rather than just written posts, why not explore the likes of videos, slideshows, and photos. Often a visual representation will have more impact than words alone.
Nurture your talent pool with Oleeo Embedded within Oleeo's NHS recruitment software is a suite of tools to help nurture relationships with candidates and your talent pool. You'll be able to use our candidate relationship manager (CRM) to automate workflows, create bespoke communications, and build unique landing pages.
Know your audience
Something great about NHS recruitment is that there are so many different roles that can apply to a wide range of applicants. When it comes to working on your message, it’s important to stop and think about who the message is aimed at. You could be aiming your recruitment message at:
- School children
- University students
- Those in other industries
- Ex-armed forces
- The unemployed
- Those looking to return to practice
- Members of the local community
- International recruitment
When looking at such a list, it’s perhaps obvious that each requires a different message. With the help of Oleeo’s NHS recruitment
software, you can create specific talent pools to automate targeted recruitment communications. Let’s look at some of these in more detail and then consider how you could approach them.
1. School children and university students
When considering younger generations, the focus needs to be on educating them about the exciting opportunities that exist.
Many will be able to tell you that the NHS employs doctors and nurses, but few will be able to tell you more about the other exciting roles that the organisation has. If you take the time to open their eyes, you can attract talent that may have never even considered the NHS as a career choice.
2. Ex-armed forces
Figures show that the UK is home to some 900,000 veterans who are of working age. There are around 14,000 that leave the arena services each year. The reality is that many of those that leave the forces are highly trained, disciplined, and have a wealth of experience. This can all be used to the advantage of the NHS all while offering someone a second career path.
3. Return to practice
When it comes to NHS recruitment, return to practice holds numerous appeals. You are securing staff who have already been there and have the experience. You are also taking on those who will not need to go through the same training process. This can lead to cost savings and also see people up and running, working where they’re needed, much quicker.
4. Local community
A great benefit of recruiting from your local community is that you make your workforce representative of the area that it serves. This can have a positive impact in terms of building relationships, and trust, with your community.
5. International recruitment
The NHS has long benefited from those who come from overseas to work. To attract more overseas candidates, there is a need to simplify the recruitment process and to offer assistance in terms of meeting entry requirements and settling into the UK.
Streamline your overseas hiring with Oleeo! Oleeo's NHS recruitment software has built-in preemployment and right to work check functionality. At the click of a button, it automatically obtains the right checks based on the individual’s circumstances with real-time status updates!
How to communicate with your audience
Knowing your audience is only one half of the jigsaw. Once you know who they are, you need to understand how to reach them. What are the ‘ins’ to each of these audiences? Does it require an approach via an organisation, or is it about targeted advertising? The reality is that both probably apply.
You’ll need to consider:
- Being represented at school and university career fairs
- Looking into representation at military resettlement talks
- Liaising with job centres
- Holding public events in local communities
- The unemployed
- Those looking to return to practice
- Members of the local community
- International recruitment
You’ll then need to consider how you can capture a bigger audience. Knowing where to place ads is essential. Some of these areas could include:
- Traditional print newspapers
- Online job boards
- Social media
- Local radio stations
You’re far more likely to find your school and university students on social media than you are to catch their attention with a newspaper ad. The approach may be common sense, but you can also delve deeper into statistics that will tell you where your audience is.
Improve the candidate experience
Let’s be honest, most NHS trusts are probably guilty of the same thing when it comes to recruitment. The focus is on the trust and it getting what it needs. Of course, you need to ensure you find, and secure, the best candidate, but you also need to give some consideration to how you get there. A horrendous recruitment experience will do little to boost your NHS trust’s brand.
When you think about what candidates want from the recruitment process, these wants are usually fairly simple:
- They want a fair and transparent process
- They want to be kept updated
- If there are delays, they’d appreciate being told
- If they’re unsuccessful, they want the courtesy of being told so.
In reality, none of this is difficult to achieve. The problem is that organisations focus on their end goal, and forget about the people and the journey that they are on. When there are numerous applicants for a single post, the workload is huge and, regardless of how organised you may be, sometimes the odd update is forgotten.
Automate candidate comms with Oleeo Oleeo's NHS recruitment software provides the solution to ensure that all of your candidates are kept in the loop, making sure no candidate is left in the dark. By automating communications, every candidate knows where they are and what stage is coming next.
Create a talent pool
How much easier do you think NHS recruitment would be if you had a talent pool that you could tap into whenever you advertise a vacancy? Of course, you’re still going to advertise your vacancies far and wide, but what if you knew that you already had the names and contact details of people who would be an ideal fit for the role?
We’ve just looked at creating a great candidate experience, but this can be taken a step further. It could be that you have applicants who don’t quite make the grade for one job role. Perhaps, with a little nurturing, they’d be ideal – or maybe they’re already the perfect fit for another opportunity that you have.
Engage your talent bank with Oleeo Oleeo's NHS recruitment software allows you to zone in on who is the perfect fit for your vacancies. Using our CRM (candidate relationship management tool), you'll be able to automate workflows and nurture relationships with those in your talent pool.
Be sure you’re not turning off potential candidates
The most visible thing that any organisation does to boost recruitment is to post a job description. These job descriptions are likely to have been proofread numerous times before they finally go live. However, there may be something quite significant that you’re not checking for: unintentional bias.
With reports that the NHS is failing in its drive for diversity, could the issue be at the very beginning of the recruitment process?
The solution? De-bias your job posts. Here are some examples of how you can remove gender basis from them:
Recruitment with diversity front of mind Oleeo's NHS recruitment software was built to complement the NHS inclusion framework from end-to-end. Our tech will help you create gender neutral job posts, remove bias from the screening process and seamlessly implement panel interviews.
1. Pronouns matter
Many job posts refer to an ideal candidate and the qualities and skills that they will possess. How are you referring to this candidate? The ideal is to use words such as ’s/he’, ‘you’, or ‘they’. There should be no reference to any particular gender.
2. Gender-charged words
Did you even know they existed? While it may be easy to avoid referring to a gender, what’s more difficult is identifying words that may be gender-charged. Research shows that words such as ‘analyse’ and ‘determine’ are more likely to appeal to men. Using words such as ‘collaborate’ and ‘support’ is more
likely to attract female applicants.
3. Have you gone overboard with requirements?
It’s common for job posts to have lists of requirements. Some of these will be classed as ‘must haves’ while others will be ‘nice to haves’. In order to ensure that you attract both male and female candidates, you should ditch the latter. You should only focus on what you really need. Why? Well, females are unlikely to apply for a vacancy unless they hit 100% of the requirements. Men will apply as long as they meet at least 60%.
4. Be clear when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion
Every single candidate, regardless of who they are, wants to be sure that they are going to be made welcome at their place of work. Any NHS trust’s recruitment efforts need to ensure that there’s a focus on this area so that you are attracting the very best talent that’s out there.
Eliminate bias with Oleeo Intelligent Writing An add-on to Oleeo's NHS recruitment software, Intelligent Writing flags gender-biassed terms in your job descriptions and suggests gender-neutral alternatives.
Review your approach to social media
If you’re not already using social media as part of your recruitment drive, then the chances are that you’re missing out on significant numbers of those who are ideally suited to your vacancies. With so many platforms now in existence, it’s not always easy to know which ones are best to target.
Here’s an idea of the age ranges that you may be able to target:
- LinkedIn has 61% of members aged 30 -64
- The majority of Facebook users are aged 25 - 34
- Instagram follows suit with the majority falling between 25 - 34
- Snapchat has over 50% of users aged under 25
- Its growth in popularity showing no signs of slowing down, TikTok has an age range of 15 - 25
Why do the age ranges matter? This links back to knowing your audience. How are you going to phrase your ads? How do you need them to look to gain the most attention?
An ad on TikTok is likely to look significantly different to one that you place on Facebook.
Improve your time to hire
So far we have focused on how to attract the talent that you are looking for. Once you have it in front of you, it’s vital to get the next step right to ensure the right person is hired.
While one of the biggest frustrations faced by candidates is a lack of updates, another is the time that it takes to actually land a role. Candidates grow impatient when the recruitment process drags on. If it drags on too long, the chances are that you are going to wave goodbye to talent that just isn’t prepared to wait.
When it comes to zeroing in on who should be interviewed, it can be a labour intensive process to screen each individual CV or application.
Often, when looking at NHS recruitment, delays are caused by administrative tasks. The administrative burden of the process shouldn’t be underestimated. There are right to work checks, references, and other background checks to consider. While some of these may take place earlier, it could be that by the time you’ve found your perfect candidate, you’re still awaiting certain information.
What can speed up these processes is tapping into what Oleeo's NHS recruitment software offers. It can help you to move things along with:
1. Anonymous screening
Remove unconscious recruiter bias with anonymous screening. At the relevant screening stages, Oleeo automatically removes names and other candidate information from job applications making sure each applicant is judged completely impartially! Once a candidate passes the screening stage, their personal details will be revealed.
2. Simplify the interview process
Candidates can self-schedule their Microsoft Teams video interviews with ease – saving your hiring managers time trying to coordinate calendars. Oleeo even supports the guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) to ensure candidates can share if they need additional support.
3. Automated comms every step of the way
Candidates are kept up-to-date with the status of their application or preemployment checks with Oleeo’s NHS recruitment software
4. Offer creation
When you have your ideal candidate, and you’re ready to offer the job, Oleeo’s tech will take care of that for you too. It automates electronic offer letters and contracts to simplify the approval process.
5. Background-check workflow
Rather than constantly wondering where checks are up to, and if there is a need to chase, Oleeo can handle this for you. Our system has built-in pre-employment and right to work check functionality which tracks progress and gives you status updates in real-time.
The onboarding process
Having landed the best candidate for the job, you need to be sure that you can keep them. If you want to keep attracting new talent, you need to develop a reputation for how you treat your new recruits. The onboarding process is a major part of this.
Yes, your new recruit is likely to be excited about their new role, but there’s a good chance that they’re also feeling a little nervous and stressed. Getting onboarding, and induction, processes right from the start can help to put them at ease.
The first six months of employment are key deciders in whether a new recruit is with you for the long term or gone in a flash. For your NHS trust’s recruitment process to be a success, there needs to be an equal focus on retaining the talent that has been attracted as there is on attracting that talent in the first place.
Day one readiness! Oleeo's NHS recruitment software seamlessly integrates with the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and NHS Jobs, meaning your candidate data will be sent straight from Oleeo into your HR system!
About Oleeo
Oleeo helps enterprise businesses improve their recruitment strategy. Unlike other applicant tracking systems, companies don’t need to change their processes to fit the software, Oleeo’s recruitment software is completely customisable.
The system uses Al to help recruitment managers quickly sift through thousands of applications and automation nurtures candidates through the recruitment process. Oleeo’s software enables companies to attract a more diverse workforce by de- biasing job postings and offering blind application screening. You can even benchmark your data to ensure you’re moving diverse candidates through every step of the hiring process.
With clients such as Universtiy Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Amazon Stores and Morgan Stanley, Oleeo guarantees to halve your time to hire. Recruit the best talent, your way with Oleeo.
