In today’s increasingly competitive job marketplace, it can be difficult separating yourself from the massive volume of candidates that inundate employers and healthcare recruiters on a daily basis. This means that job seekers need to find new ways to stand out amongst other job seekers and truly stand out as the most qualified candidate for the available position.
The good news, is that even though the job marketplace is increasingly becoming more competitive, there are tips that can help you improve your healthcare job search.
If you implement these simple tricks and tips, you can improve your healthcare job search with ease.
1. Do Extensive Research
This might be one of the most overlooked aspects of any job search or job hunting process. When individuals begin seeking a new job opportunity, typically the first thing they review is the job application.
Job seekers read through the job posting quickly and determine whether or not they can do the job and whether or not they meet the qualifications required to apply.
With today’s large job boards applicants can quickly apply through one-click methods. The problem with this, is that job seekers aren’t doing enough research on the job posting or the company itself.
This means that a lot of job seekers are submitting applications without truly knowing whether or not they meet the qualifications, can perform the job to the best of their ability, and if the job is something they might truly be interested in.
One great way of separating yourself from other job candidates is to make sure that you do your research. Before applying for any healthcare job, make sure that you read the job description thoroughly to ensure that you meet the qualifications, and can fulfill all the job requirements and responsibilities.
Once you review all of the requirements and qualifications on the job posting, the next thing you need to do is conduct some research on the hospital or healthcare facility itself. Even though the job might be something you’re interested in, you still have to do a bit of research on whether or not you truly want to work in the healthcare organization that has posted the job.
You want to conduct some research on what kind of benefits they offer for the position, what recent advancements the facility has made, and what kind of commitments they have made to both their patients and employees moving forward.
If you do extensive research before applying to each job, then you don’t waste time or effort worrying about whether or not this job opportunity is something you want to pursue.
Vice versa, you also don’t want to waste the employer or hiring managers time by going through the process and realizing that you don’t want the job opportunity if they offer it to you.
2. Review Your Resume
Another way to improve your healthcare job search is to review your resume. Common thought for most job seekers is that they should have one generic resume for every single application they fill out.
The problem with this, is that job seekers are missing key opportunities to market themselves to healthcare recruiters and hiring managers.
One essential way of standing out to hospitals and healthcare recruiters is to make sure that everything on your resume accurately reflects your skills and experience for specific healthcare jobs or roles.
For instance this means that you should cater your resume to accurately reflect your nursing experience if you are applying to a nursing role.
You want to detail any professional, personal, or volunteer experience that highlights your passion for caring for others and experience you have in helping others get better through active care.
You wouldn’t want to put that you are skilled in Adobe Photoshop as a “Skill” if you are applying for a nursing role. When employers and healthcare recruiters reveal generic resumes that have unrelated skills or experience - they think to themselves that this candidate isn’t completely qualified for the job and quickly forget about them.
In contrast, if you tailor your resume for each individual job category or specific job posting - you are going to stand out amongst the crowd as one of the most qualified candidates that applied to the job posting.
3. Tailor Your Cover Letter
Similar to tailoring your resume, the next thing that you want to do is to tailor your cover letter for each job you apply to. Cover letters offer a unique opportunity for you to explain your credentials, experience, and passion for the individual role in a more personal letter.
While your cover letter should still remain completely professional in nature, it doesn’t have to be as rigid and formatted as a resume typically is. This means you have some room to detail and elaborate on why you should be considered further in the hiring process for the position you are applying for.
Take advantage of the opportunity and explain in greater detail about how you fit all the desired qualifications that the job posting has, and detail how your education and experience separates you from other applicants who are applying to the job.
4. Use Healthcare Niche Sites
As hospital and healthcare recruitment budgets continually seek new ways to decrease their recruiting budgets and increase efficiency in hiring new individuals, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for new ways to find qualified candidates.
Increasingly, hospital and healthcare recruiters are turning to healthcare niche sites due to the fact that large job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Monster are sending spam applications due to the one-click functionality to apply.
These large job boards allow people to quickly apply without actually reviewing the job postings or qualifications required. This means that healthcare recruiters and hospitals are spending large amounts of time trying to sift through applications, and qualified candidates can easily get passed over.
One such healthcare niche site that plenty of hospitals and healthcare recruiters are turning to is HospitalCareeres. HospitalCareers is the leading recruitment platform for healthcare job seekers with over 25,000 hospital jobs, career advice, and career insights.
On healthcare niche sites, healthcare recruiters can find qualified healthcare candidates directly and reduce their worry about having to sift through candidates who aren’t remotely complicated for the job posting.
This means that you can separate yourself from those other candidates who are getting buried on other platforms, and truly stand out as one of the most qualified healthcare professionals and connect directly with healthcare and hospital job openings as they become available.
5. Take Advantage of LinkedIn
There are plenty of great platforms out there that help improve your professional connections and make your job search a little bit easier. One of those platforms is LinkedIn, and as a healthcare job seeker you can make your job search a little bit easier by using it.
LinkedIn is a great way for you to connect with hospital and healthcare professionals. Through LinkedIn you can find and connect with both healthcare recruiters and healthcare professionals.
If you are curious about any potential job openings at a hospital or healthcare facility you might want to work in, you can connect directly with them and let them know about some of your experience and education background.
In addition, LinkedIn allows you to get a unique referral from other healthcare professionals who might be working in the hospital or healthcare facility that you want to work in.
For instance if you ask a healthcare recruiter on LinkedIn about a potential job opening, you can always name drop that healthcare professional you connected with and say something along the lines of, “Hey [recruiter], I was curious about the Registered Nurse job opening available with [healthcare facility]. I was recommended to apply to the position from [healthcare professional already working at the facility].”
This helps you to secure another foot in the door for the healthcare position, and will help you get considered more than those individuals who don’t go the extra mile.
All it takes is a few simple steps on LinkedIn to help separate yourself from those other candidates who don’t attempt to connect directly with those individuals who could decide whether to move forward with your application or not.
Conclusion
In an increasingly competitive job marketplace, job seekers need to take the extra step in ensuring they stand out amongst the crowd for each job application. A few simple tips and tricks is all it takes to make sure that you make your job search process a little bit easier, and find that dream job you’ve been looking for.
About The Author
Ryan Bucci is a Content Strategist with HospitalCareers. HospitalCareers is the leading recruitment platform for hospital job seekers with over 25,000 hospital jobs, career advice, and career insights.
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