Staffing Robot - Web design and marketing services for companies in the staffing industry

Infographic: Highest Paid Nursing Specialties of 2012

Great infographic on the highest paid nursing professions from Scrubsmag.com.

The Healthcare Staffing Report Headline News (09.10.12 - 9.14.12)

 This weeks headline news stories from The Healthcare Staffing Report.

 

Here is a list of this weeks top Headline News:

Monday: Hospitals Face Lawsuits for Needless Procedures 

Tuesday: Rise of the New Contract Worker

Wednesday: MSN Acquires Pathway Medical Staffing

Thursday: Staffing Revenue To Beat Pre Recession High

Friday: Mapping The Next Three Decades of Health Technology

 

Please follow The Healthcare Staffing Report on Twitter.   

 

 

 

Instagram is A Great Way to Promote Your Staffing Company Socially

When it comes to social media, staffing companies have a lot of options these days for recruiting top talent and earning new customers. The big questions we get from most staffing companies are 'which social networks should I use' and 'What kind of content should I post?'

As far as determining which social networking platforms are the best to use, it really depends on what works for you and where your audience is. Try experimenting with different sites from Facebook, to Twitter, to LinkedIn. However, we also encourage companies to branch out and experiment with new platforms. One new social networking app that can produce great results for your staffing company is Instagram.

If you haven't heard of Instagram you soon will. Instagram is a mobile app that works on iPhones and Android based smart phones. It lets you take photos, apply custom filters that make your photos look awesome and share them with your friends on Instagram and other social sites. It's simple to use, fun and a bit addicting.

So why should your staffing company use Instagram? It's about answering the content question.

This infographic below from M Booth shows one thing is clear - when it comes to social media, images are THE winning content strategy and a great way to promote your brand. The infographic reveals the following:

• Videos are shared 12x more than links and text posts combined 
• Photos are liked twice as much as text posts
• Photos on Pinterest refer more traffic than Twitter, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn and Google +

The infographic also shares something even more interesting. Facebook is known as the social network with the largest user base. It earned over 100M users in just four years. However, Instgram is currently on pace to beat that! This recent study by social analytics firm Distimo found that Instagram is now the second most popular social app behind Facebook. This would also make sense as to why Facebook recently acquired Instagram.

So what's this all mean? It means that people love photos and Instagram has a growing user base you can't ignore. Get your staffing company signed up for Instagram and start connecting in a new way with your audience.

Need help getting started? We'll post tips on that topic next. In the meantime, contact Staffing Robot if your looking for social media tips for your staffing company.

SmartRecruiters Infographic: Hiring is Broken

Great infographic by SmartRecruiters on why jobs remain unfilled, despite high unemployment.

The infographic shows complicated and broken hiring processes as being a major issue for companies and a huge drain on resources. For candidates, the infographic suggests long wait times for applications to is a major issue.

The infographic does suggest some potential solutions to these issues through mobile and social recruiting and on boarding. For instance, 57% of respondents said they would prefer applying via mobile device.

 

The Healthcare Staffing Report Headline News (09.03.12 - 9.07.12)

 This weeks headline news stories from The Healthcare Staffing Report.

 

Here is a list of this weeks top Headline News:

Monday: Patients Trying to Sue Staffing Agencies

Tuesday: New Data Sharing Tech Makes EHR Use Obsolete

Wednesday: Healthcare Analytics - The Next Big Thing

Thursday: Seventeen States Now Prohibit Mandatory Overtime for Nurses

Friday: Finding Occupational Therapists Not Getting Easier

 

Please follow The Healthcare Staffing Report on Twitter.   

 

 

 

The Next Person Your Staffing Company Hires Should Be Your Website

How does your staffing firm see its website? Have you ever really put much thought into it?

Each business looks at their website differently. Some see their website like an online brochure. These sites are typically not very interesting and lack any interactive value. Other businesses see their website as a place to show off their development and design chops, often times going overboard on cool features that produce very little value. And sadly, some businesses see their website as a dumping ground for every piece of information they have about their business (and on the home page above the fold no less). The sites simply cause confusion and turn users away.

I'd like to make a suggestion on how your staffing company should view its website. I suggest you look at your website as if it were a person. A very important person you've hired to do a job. Start by asking yourself, what job do you want your website to do?

• Bring in more leads? 
• Attract more candidates? 
• Address customer service issues? 
• Educate your clients? 

You might have a few jobs you want the website to perform. That's fine, just don't give these jobs equal weight. Prioritize each jobs and focus on the single most important job first. This will help you start to see your website as a functioning member of your team that is expected to produce results.

Keep in mind that no matter what job you hire your website to do it will always have one very important role it cannot escape - the role of being the most customer facing representation of your business and your brand there is. YIKES! Sounds like an important job right? That's because it is.

In most cases, when a potential customer or candidate sees your website for the first time they will summarize their overall impression with your company and services in less than 8 seconds. When customers sum you up, what do you want their initial summary of your company to be?

• That you're creative?
• Innovative? 
• Educational?
• Fun? 
• Professional? 

The key here is to first identify the job you've hired your website to do and how you want it to best represent your brand, and the services you deliver. Once you know how your website should represent your company, it's time to develop your new site.

Here are three tips for creating a website that will do the job you hired it for.

Keep it simple. Simple isn't boring. Simple is beautiful and simple is useful. Avoid adding things to your website simply because you think they should be there or because you like them, and don't over design features just because you have the skill to make something snazzy. The most important thing to do is make something simple that is clear to your customers and drives results. First be clear, then be clever.

A good way to keep things simple to limit the number of pages on your website. No staffing company in business today needs a website that is more than 5 - 10 pages, yet most have at least 10x that number of pages. The truth is you're building these additional pages for you, not your customers. Why? Because your customers are not reading these pages. People are busy and they simply don't have the time it would require of them to wade through the 1000's of words you have written across numerous pages. Customers want to understand what you do, get a sense of trust that you will do what you say you will do, and then know how to get a hold of you. That's it. Everything else is filler.

If you do need additional pages then design to have those pages be discovered through a secondary means. This means through a blog, separate landing pages or secondary site menus. But keep them out of the way from distracting new, fist time potential customers.

It has to be useful. Everything you add to your website should be useful or else it doesn't belong. One way to ensure your website is useful is to not overwhelm your visitors with options and information. You know that feeling you get when you head to the cereal isle to find Cheerios but when you get there you can't find the Cheerios because you're so overwhelmed with other options? Avoid that.

For example, I recently signed up for a blogging service website that was so full of 'helpful features' that I couldn't figure out how to get started. After several attempts I eventually gave up and cancelled the service. Upon doing so I received an email from them that said "Sometimes people tell us they don't know where to start with our website. That's because it has so many unique features!" Perhaps, but all their 'unique features' lost me. Further, if they're sending out an email with this message I'm guessing I'm not the only one having this experience.

Make it creative. Start with simple and useful. However, if you really want to stand out from your competition and really WOW your customers then you have to get creative. What's it mean to be creative? Well, that's a bit more of a subjective answer. Creativity takes time and iteration to develop. But it's well worth the effort and investment.

Creative websites come in many forms. For example, come up with a completely original layout. Or, take what you're building for your next social media campaign and make it your website instead. The point is to break away from safe, break away from tradition and really try something new.

In summary, don't set your website up for failure. Just like any employee, make sure your website understands the job it's supposed to do and is given the tools it needs to succeed. If you do this, your website just might earn a well deserved raise or promotion!

 

The Healthcare Staffing Report Headline News (08.20.12 - 08.24.12)

 This weeks headline news stories from The Healthcare Staffing Report.

 

Here is a list of this weeks top Headline News:

Monday: Staffing Firm Acquisitions Rise

Tuesday: Hospital CFOs Adopting New Tech Post Medicare Cuts

Wednesday: 2012 Nurse Salary Survey Results

Thursday: States Receiving Funds to Expand Nursing Education

Friday: Top 20 Features of Future Hospitals

 

Please follow The Healthcare Staffing Report on Twitter.   

 

 

 

Scrubs Infographic by Medical Solutions

Great infographic from Medical Solutions ecently polled their nurses on fun statistics about their scrubs and created a great infographic on the results! Check it out:

Designed by Medical Solutions

Evaluating Healthcare Staffing Software –First Things First

Guest blog post by Mike Wejrowski, VP of Agency Sales for API Healthcare, Inc.

Selecting the right software solution(s) for your healthcare staffing agency can be a daunting task. After all, this is not a decision that should be taken lightly. Your purchasing decision could ultimately determine the successful, or unsuccessful, outcome for your business. Your decision should be made with careful thought, evaluation and consideration.

Purchasing software is a process. Regardless of whether your agency is a startup or a successful enterprise agency, it is important to understand the daily tasks, activities and core business functions your organization will need to address with the new system. Prior to investigating a software solution, your evaluation team should itemize any business process issues that need to be addressed, the daily functions that need to be automated, the budget available for software, and the target implementation timeframe.

Fortunately, I have the pleasure of speaking with many agency owners and officers throughout the business day. Agencies of all sizes agree that the following business areas should be addressed when considering a new or updated solution for their healthcare staffing business:

• Recruiting and on-boarding of new healthcare professionals – Your agency should be constantly seeking new talent to join your agency team. This will involve capturing the healthcare professionals’ demographics, skills assessments, clinical competencies, and numerous employment documents. In today’s competitive environment, capturing these data points and securing an electronic signature will dramatically increase your recruiting percentages.
• Capture Availability – When will your healthcare professionals be available to work (which shifts, what hours, which days, for which hospitals, for which departments?)
• Placement Options – Which professionals are listed as DNR (do not return) or DNW (do not work). Do they prefer per diem or long term assignments? Are there compliance restrictions?
• Scheduling – Match the right healthcare professionals to the right job based on credentials and availability. Track call-offs, turned down shifts and manage confirmations.
• Compliance – Are your healthcare professionals compliant with state, agency, Joint Commission and client requirements? We live in a litigious society – having a compliance management strategy for your agency is an essential and crucial part of your business.
• Payroll & Invoicing – Your healthcare staffing software should provide your finance team with the ability to process accurate payroll & invoicing (hourly rates, weekend rates, holiday rates, OT, split shifts, lunch, etc.). You should have flexibility with invoice layouts and the ability to integrate with your back office solutions (QuickBooks, Peachtree, MAS 90, MAS 500, Great Plains, JD Edwards, etc.) or payroll processing services (ADP, Paychex, or local payroll services).
• Reporting – Your organization will need the ability to review results and respond accordingly. Understand the business metrics you will need to measure in your business, review results daily and weekly, and take action to ensure optimal performance. Do not settle for excuses when it comes to the accuracy of your data – “if it isn’t entered into the system, then it does not exist.” The reports within your system should be in real-time and will replace whiteboards, paper schedules and staffing specialist’s notes that are stored only in their head.

About the Author
Mike Wejrowski is VP of Agency Sales for API Healthcare, Inc. To learn how API Healthcare’s Staffing Agency Solutions can help your organization simplify recruiting, staffing and payroll processes, please contact us today at (262) 670-2828 or use our contact form.

 

 

The Healthcare Staffing Report Headline News (08.13.12 - 08.17.12)

 This weeks headline news stories from The Healthcare Staffing Report.

 

Here is a list of this weeks top Headline News:

Monday: Shortage: Hospitals Desperate for Specialty Nurses

Tuesday: 6 Things Patients Want From Social Media

Wednesday: TeamHealth Acquires Delphi Healthcare Partners 

Thursday: 2013 Nurse Job Forecast

Friday: IT Healthcare Professional Surge

 

Please follow The Healthcare Staffing Report on Twitter.