Attracting the best Leaders in the Health and Social Care Market

In our post pandemic, cost of living crisis world, it is no secret that the health and social care sector faces pressure. Speaking to senior professionals every day at Pioneer Talent, gives us the privilege of being witness to the consistent and relentless hard work of our colleagues and an insight into how to attract the best leaders to help drive the sector.

More than ever, employer branding needs to be high on the strategic agenda for care providers to attract frontline care staff but what do our current challenges mean for attracting leaders in Health and Social Care. We live in a ‘reputation economy’ where roles are abundant and skills are short. Via social media and word of mouth, senior candidates will do their homework on prospective employers, so how does this impact the search for the best leaders for your provider?

Our experience in Search and Selection for the health and Social Care market has shown us that providers need to be able to showcase what makes them unique as an employer. This evidently starts with having competitive benefits but flexible working arrangements are becoming increasingly important to senior candidates. Our most successful placements are those where there is inspirational leadership from the very top and a strong culture with authentic values and that promotes creativity, collaboration, and innovation.

Before going to market for your next senior leaders, we advise our clients to ensure the below has been considered.

  1. Have a full awareness of your company’s values: Before you even think about recruiting for your senior leadership roles, know and understand your company’s culture, values, key processes, and gaps for improvement. This helps you to define exactly what improvements need to be made, what your business needs, as well as managing your own and colleague expectations about who to bring on board.
  2. Understanding what your organisation needs: Where do you want your company to be in the coming years? What are going to be the likely difficulties? What skills do you currently have in your team and what is missing? These are important questions to reflect on so you can source the right person to meet your crucial needs related to your business today and in the future.
  3. Think about your Employer Branding: In 2022 Linkedin published their research on Employer Branding. Absence of work-life balance, compensation and company culture are the top reasons people are leaving their jobs so ensuring this is all considered in the perception of your organisation in the marketplace will be a big win in recruiting the best talent. In the Health and Social Care sector, leadership candidates are, rightly, protective of their hard earnt reputation. Consider, would the best talent in the market be attracted to you as a quality and career enhancing provider?
  4. Consider the passive market: The best candidates are not always the ones actively job hunting. At a senior level, people are open to understand the market and understand whether this could help their next career move. Mapping the market for all potential and really understanding who is out there and who could add the best value to your business brings a more focussed target to your search than merely posting an advert and hoping it will reach the best candidates. More than 95% of management candidates placed by Pioneer Talent have been from the passive market, our clients would not have accessed or attracted these people without a thorough search process being undertaken.
  5. Momentum and Quality of onboarding: Once you have found your ideal leadership or management candidate, you should provide an efficient hiring process, showing your candidate that you are keen to maintain momentum and onboard them smoothly. It has been known for senior candidates to be lost to a competitor if they feel recruitment processes are not of a high standard.