Speed to Market
By Shari Dalton; CEO of Moxie Mentoring
In today’s healthcare staffing market, speed to market is key. The other key component…options!
It’s no secret that our market is being overrun with VMSs and MSPs. In fact, most agencies operate 80% or more of their business through a VMS or MSP. The ones who don’t own a VMS or MSP. Fun Facts-VMSs practices have been around for over 20 years in staffing. The first true VMS was introduced by Ford Motor Company in 1995!
In healthcare staffing, we didn’t see much of VMSs or MSPs until about 2003 when Shiftwise and Medefis were introduced. For many of us in the market at the time, we never thought it would last! Silly us!
Let’s talk about speed to market. As recruiters, you’ve got to have an arsenal of qualified travel healthcare professionals in your pipeline who are ready to submit and commit to taking an assignment. In fact, recent statistics show that at least 20% of submittals made in the first 12 hours of a job opening made it to the interview phase. Less than 13% made it to an interview if they were submitted after 36 hours. An even harder pill to swallow-of those travelers submitted in the first 12 hours, only 3.7% were placed. Only a 1.1% chance of placement any time after that 12-hour mark. Let that sink in.
As travelers, this means being prepared. It means having a good relationship with a couple of great recruiters who you trust with your career path and goals. It means having your paperwork done and ready to go with those recruiters. It means having very open and honest conversations about what you’re looking for and what you’re willing to take in an assignment. It also means constant communication. When the time comes for submitting to positions, you’ve got to be ready to interview at a moment’s notice or it’s on to the next qualified candidate.
What can be difficult, particularly for our market, is the reputation of the agency partnerships with the VMSs and MSPs. A recruiter cannot risk sending over a traveler without their permission and without closing them on location and pay. Vendors track success and failure rates with their agencies and are quick to cut ties with those who underperform.
Travelers should never agree to be submitted to a position without the willingness to accept, pending a poor interview of course. Or pending additional information is shared during the interview that was not disclosed in advance.
What have we learned from this? If recruiters are not submitting travelers immediately to positions as they open, the traveler doesn’t have a very good chance at getting the job. Qualified travelers MUST be ready to be submitted to positions immediately. Recruiters MUST have profiles (cover page, resume, skills checklist, and references) ready to go. Recruiters must be honest and upfront about market conditions and it’s imperative that both recruiters and travelers keep the lines of communication open during this process.
What else have we learned? Options! The travelers who stand the best chance at securing a position are those who are open to multiple options. An old statistic that recruiters used was 5:1. For every 5 submittals to jobs, you’d get one offer. In today’s market that statistic is more like 8/10:1 meaning that for every 8-10 submittals, you’re likely to get one offer.
This information is key when it comes to finding the right travelers. Know the odds. If a traveler is hell-bent on location or pay expectations, and it’ll be difficult to get them to open up, there’s a chance it’ll be difficult to get them working. However, those travelers that are more flexible geographically and have realistic pay expectations will be much easier to find work for.
Sites like Wanderly can be a great place to meet and talk with travelers who are actively looking for work. What’s even better-the travelers that you meet, have their profiles packaged with a pretty bow (or pineapple) ready to go for submittals when they are interested in specific jobs! They do all the leg work-phew!
It’s time to start thinking outside the box when it comes to job searches and finding the right travelers. If you’re not competing, both as a recruiter or traveler, you won’t survive the current conditions!