More and more millenials are entering the nursing workforce, but that doesn't make recruiting them any easier! Here are our four best tips to help you attract and maintain the millenial nursing talent you need.
1. Offer real benefits.Millennials have a reputation as fickle employees and job-hoppers. But to understand why that is, it helps to take a look at the economic circumstances they’ve grown up in. They came of age during one of America’s worst recessions, where employees (ie, their parents) who thought they were set for life were let go, and employers began cutting as many corners as possible to save on costs. (Have you known anyone who was hired to work 39 hours a week so their employer wouldn’t have to offer them health insurance? Yeah. Like that).
Rental costs, particularly in urban areas, is increasing, and most millennials are significantly burdened with student debt. If you were a millennial, you would probably have high housing costs, significant debt, and a serious skepticism that any of your employers actually care about providing you with real benefits. No wonder millennials job-hop!
Therefore, if you want to really convince millennial nurses that your hospital is the place to be, you can’t just tell them you have great benefits and expect them to believe you - you have to really show it to them. Offer detailed breakdowns on your careers website about what kind of benefits a millennial employee can expect - what kind of health insurance do you offer? What’s the nitty-gritty of your tuition assistance program? Can you help with childcare costs? Do you offer student debt forgiveness? If you have great benefits, prove it. Write blog articles and posts on your specific social media career pages to really show your potential recruits that valuing your employees isn’t just a nice catch phrase. (Don't have career specific social media pages yet? Check out our guide on it!)
3. Offer a serious salary.
Now, everybody knows a good salary is attractive. But seriously - consider what we talked about in the last point. Millennials are largely cash-strapped. Many of them think they will never be able to even achieve the level of financial stability their parents had; they think they may never own a house or a new car, let alone put their own children through college someday. If you truly have a competitive salary to offer, make that a clear message across your social media platforms and website. Nothing will tell a millennial that you truly value their career like a serious financial offer.
Let’s say your salary range is fine, but not outstanding. Think about what other financial incentives you do offer. Do your nurses regularly get raises? What percentage of them stick around long enough to get raises? If they earn more degrees while working for you, how will their pay go up? Answer all these questions for them and your millennial recruits will quickly realize that you’re serious about paying them a fair wage for their work.
4. Show a thriving employee social culture.
Obviously a great employee culture is a big draw for any potential recruit, but it’s even more important for millennials. Why? Many of the millennial nurses you’re looking to hire are coming straight out of college or a training program. Let’s take a minute to consider what their social life has looked like so far. Colleges now offer tremendous social programming as well as academic offerings. Since your nurses are only recently out of college, they’re probably wondering what their new social life is going to look like and how they will make new friends.
Now, if you’re able to mimic to some extent the kind of social programming that a college provides, you’re going to be able to prove to them that not only is your hospital the right place for their next career, but it’ll also become a much-needed social community. Now, don’t fret - you don’t have to be throwing gigantic concerts or huge parties! But this is definitely the time to show off your weekly employee luncheon, or maybe your employee running club. How about an employee softball team? Or monthly happy hour? Employee social opportunities don’t have to be expensive - they just have to be there. Take the opportunity to show off your hospital as a social community, and millennials will be lining up to work for you.
5. Offer opportunities for them to improve their skills.
Remember, millennials think that employers don’t value them and will be happy to see them out the door if they’re not pulling a profit. If you can show your potential recruits that you’re willing to invest time and effort into training them and improving their skills, they’ll believe that you’re hoping to keep them on as valuable employees. Also, don’t forget that many of the nurses you are hoping to recruit are fresh out of school or still early in their careers. If you have a formal mentoring program and regular opportunities for your nurses to improve their skills, advertise that fact! If you don’t have any of those programs in place, consider adding them. It’ll make your millennial nurses feel welcome and at home, and show you’re serious about investing in them as an employee.
At Harger Howe Advertising, we are experts in recruiting nurses - it's one of our specialties. Like what you're reading? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Or click below to subscribe to our blog - we write regularly about recruitment marketing, healthcare recruitment, and recruiting on social media!
