Your hospital’s recruitment efforts should be an extension of the hospital’s brand. It reflects the brand and should be consistent with the brand message and personality.
HR handles recruitment efforts. The marketing department handles external and internal branding. And far too often the two are totally disconnected. In many, if not most hospitals, the recruitment efforts and marketing efforts are managed in separate silos with little or no interaction. Marketing works hard to establish a strong brand and invests lots of money building brand equity. HR invests lots of money developing collateral materials and advertising trying to attract needed talent. And in most cases, looking at the two efforts, it appears as if they are coming from two totally different organizations.
Recruitment advertising for healthcare organizations generally looks and feels the same. There’s not a lot different from one hospital to another. In times when there are an abundance of qualified people looking for healthcare jobs, that was fine. It was easy to attract numerous applicants for the jobs available. But that’s not currently the case. For many healthcare job categories there are shortages. And there is extreme competition between healthcare organizations for a limited number of qualified personnel.
Thus, recruitment efforts should stand out, be noticeable and communicate a bigger message than just job openings signing bonuses. The recruitment efforts should reflect the hospital’s brand. These efforts should be consistent with the marketing efforts to create and strengthen its brand. Recruitment advertising should mirror the brand message, tone and manner. A synergy should be created between marketing and HR.
The consistency of the two will certainly enhance the hospital’s brand. It will reinforce the brand and drill the brand effort deeper. It will also allow the hospital’s recruitment efforts to stand out, reflect a personality and differentiate itself from the competition. And it will also set the tone for new employees because communication with them will be establishing the brand essence and personality even prior to employment.
The days of marketing doing their own thing building the brand and HR doing their thing entirely unaffected and separate should come to an end. The two should work together, consistently building an even stronger brand and thereby enhancing the efforts of both functions. It’s important to communicate the brand essence to all audiences and constituencies including those being recruited for future employment.
