healthcare jobs Archives - InSync Healthcare Recruiters

How Growing Your Network of Colleagues Can Help Your Career

It’s generally understood that the act of networking among medical professionals can be ground-breaking for your career. Meeting new people and having someone in your network who can put you in touch directly with hiring managers is the best way to improve your candidacy for the role. But there are other benefits of growing your network, too, with other implications for your career growth and trajectory. Making friends and collaborating with colleagues, regardless of their positions in relation to yours, can be significant assets for your career.

The Best Place to Secure Referrals

Just two years ago, 31% of job seekers found available openings using their professional networks and connections. The most significant benefit to growing your network is opening doors and putting your resume ahead of the pack with great referrals. And it’s the colleague network and professional relationships you build now that can lead to those much-needed referrals later.

Puts You in Touch with New Opportunities

Finding a new job opportunity means hitting the job boards and reaching out to hiring managers. However, when you have a network of colleagues with whom you routinely connect and collaborate, you’ll have an inside track to new openings you might not find otherwise. Word-of-mouth is still a powerful resource for career growth and opportunity. And it’s your network of professional coworkers, colleagues, and specialists who can share those announcements and upcoming openings.

Casting Your Net Wider

When it comes to connecting and getting in touch with hiring managers, spotting new openings, or securing referrals, you can always rely on your own network of colleagues and contacts. But when you grow your network and groom those relationships ongoing, you essentially are casting your net even wider to include their connections. Much like the method behind sharing a post on social media, you can cast your career development net even wider when you can share your network with the networks of others.

Have Insights from Others Who Share Your Vision

Networking with other medical professionals across a variety of niches can put you in touch with others who share your vision for innovation and patient care. Together, the collaborative effort can result in great improvements within organizations and industries alike. Team up with those who are just as passionate about the job as you are and help each other grow in similar directions, bettering healthcare along the way.

Increase Your Ability to Help Others

The more people you keep in your colleague circle, the more opportunities you have to help others with their connections and goals. While you might be focused on improving your career trajectory, it’s also important to remember that helping others achieve their career objectives can have lasting effects on your journey. Be open to assisting others with their connections and finding career opportunities. And they’ll be more apt to reciprocate when you need the help.

Discover New Passions

When you grow and cultivate a network of colleagues, you put yourself in a position to grow and learn in new directions. And it might be the journey of a fellow medical professional that inspires you to take steps in a new direction. Discover a new passion or just reconnect with a dormant one when you can share and learn from others.

Your Social Well-Being Matters

If you’re currently in a role that requires you to work alone or, on occasion, feels isolating, it’s the act of networking that will provide the social well-being you need to feel and stay connected to your industry. It’s hard to find opportunities and meet new people if you’re not actively seeking and growing your network. Make time for luncheons and meet new hires in your department. You might not make an immediate headway with new jobs. But your overall well-being will benefit and keep you on the right side of growth and career advancement.

Boosting Your Healthcare Professional Confidence

In addition to the social and career benefits, there are professional confidence advantages to routine networking. If you believe or consider yourself to be an introvert or a bit shy, professional mingling among colleagues can be just the exercise in confidence you need. Share your ideas and talk about common challenges. You’ll find your confidence snowballs, making you a stronger candidate when it comes time for a referral or career change.

What initiatives are you taking to grow your network and improve your professional colleague relationships? Even when you connect with those across various healthcare niches and positions, you can tap into the many advantages of expanding your access to career opportunities. For more suggestions and tips related to career growth in the healthcare professions, follow our ongoing blog series. And when you’re ready to make a change, the InSync Healthcare Recruiters team can help put you in touch with some of the leading roles available right now.

How Today’s Healthcare Professionals Are Finding Their Work-Life Balance

Talk about a rough couple of years on the job. Many of today’s healthcare professionals are feeling stressed, frustrated, overworked, and in need of a change. If you fall into the same camp, it’s important to remember one key thing. Your job will always be taxing if you don’t find a healthy work-life balance.

Regardless of what role you work in, you know to expect work-related challenges in every environment. Since you can’t control what curve balls will come your way, you should be focusing on what you can control. A healthy work-life balance is achieved when individuals can maintain boundaries and feel productive at work and at home. You don’t bring your personal problems to your patients. Don’t bring your patient problems to your family. But there’s far more to finding a healthy balance than that, especially in today’s healthcare landscape. Here are a few ways others are finding their perfect work-life balance in a healthy and rewarding way.

Re-Evaluate Your Career and Personal Goals

If you’ve been neglecting a work-life balance for yourself, the first step is to sit down and critically take stock of your current position. Where are you now, both in your career and your personal life? Re-evaluate and identify what your goals are in both respects. Awareness of your current situation will help inspire your change in behavior needed. Outlining your goals will realign your priorities to keep you motivated in that change.

Live by a Personal and Professional Schedule

Those who are the most successful at maintaining personal and professional balance will all tell you it’s about scheduling. In your healthcare role, you live by the schedule, whether it’s your hours for the week, seeing patients, or attending meetings. Bring that same level of dedicated organization to your personal life and keep a schedule there, too. It will keep you from over-scheduling yourself with work when you have blocks of time set aside for family time, personal time, or off-work hobbies.

Make and Keep Appointments with Yourself

Piggybacking on the scheduling comes a commitment to yourself. Make and keep appointments with yourself, especially those appointments related to health and wellness. Make sure you’re getting your routine doctor visits in as recommended. Carve out times for workouts or afternoon walks. Block off chunks of your day for mediation or to take breaks. Pencil in those important bullets on your calendar, and then do your best to keep those appointments.

Get Familiar with the Word ‘No’

Are you overworking yourself because you can’t say no? You’re not alone. And given the “all hands on deck” nature of the healthcare industry these days, there is always a demand for employees to work more. But beware. If you haven’t reached the point of burnout, you soon will. And that’s why it’s important to learn that it’s absolutely ok to say no. Sure, it’s acceptable to take on an extra shift here or there or help out a colleague. However, don’t make those instances the norm. Familiarize yourself with “no” and give yourself permission to use it.

Unplug from the Devices

It’s easy to fall back into work issues when you’re away simply because you’re electronically connected to work no matter where you are. For a healthy work-life balance to exist, you will have to learn to unplug from your devices and mark yourself unavailable when you’re at home. Don’t check your emails until you’re ready to plug back into work. If there are emergencies, they know how to reach you. But all other work-related engagements can wait until you’re back on-site or ready to devote time to work. They have no place during your family time, at dinner, or when you’re enjoying recreational time.

Take Your Vacation Time

When you took your current healthcare job, you likely also outlined what kind of paid time off and vacation time would be allocated for you. Don’t let those valuable days go to waste. If you have time to take, make plans now to do so. Even scheduling your annual vacations can provide relief in itself, giving you something enjoyable to look forward to on the calendar. And you don’t have to plan extravagant trips, either. A camping trip with friends, a weekend with family, or a spontaneous road trip and hotel stay can do wonders to reset your mind and body.

What’s at Stake If You Don’t Preserve Work-Life Balance?

Healthcare workers at every level, from entry-level care facilitators to director or specialist-level providers, can all seek improvements in a work-life balance reality. And there’s a lot at stake to consider if you don’t prioritize yourself. If healthcare professionals neglect this balance, they’ll soon become exhausted and distracted, which could lead to clinical mistakes. It can also lead to burnout that has already inspired so many to leave their professions indefinitely. These conditions will only compound healthcare worker shortages and eventually impact patient healthcare costs, too.

Consider these tips for re-evaluating your work-life balance today and inspire healthy changes. And if you come to the conclusion your current stress and frustration require a change in role or career altogether, let the InSync Healthcare Recruiters help you find your path to success!

9 Interview Questions to Ask that Will Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Company Culture

For anyone considering a career change in healthcare right now, the landscape is your oyster. Candidates are exploring all kinds of opportunities with new hospitals, healthcare organizations, and private practices. But it’s still critically important to be diligent and thorough in your approach, including with your interview questions. Company culture matters, and you don’t want to trade one growth-stifling environment for another.

As you embark on new healthcare job opportunities and schedule interviews, be prepared to ask certain interview questions that can help you get a better understanding of the working environment and company culture. Here’s the checklist to help you get your interview questions ready for your next big interview.

1. Can You Describe Your Company Culture in Five Words or Less?

Don’t be afraid to be direct or to come right out and ask. How the hiring manager responds will be telling in confirming either way. If there is hesitation or the response seems rehearsed, keep digging. However, if the response is favorable or even enthusiastic with examples, it’s a good sign the company culture and workplace environment are positive.

2. Does the Organization Recognize Individual Achievements?

Asking an interview question like this, even if it doesn’t apply to the particular role you’re applying for, will tell you how the organization prioritizes individual growth. If there aren’t initiatives in place that support great achievements or acknowledge performance, it might not be the supportive environment you have in mind.

3. Does Your Healthcare Organization Contribute to Any Philanthropy Efforts?

This is the question that should initiate a response about corporate responsibility. Any healthcare organization that engages in charitable good works, local community involvement, and philanthropy, does make an effort to preserve a positive brand image and company positioning. Smaller practices won’t have the big budgets for huge initiatives. But even the small healthcare organizations can support local efforts in small ways and will if it’s a priority.

4. Are There Opportunities for Advanced Education and Training?

Even if you’re at the top of your game, with every required certification, distinction, and specialty training, this is a must-ask question. A health company culture will usually have ongoing training efforts and advanced education opportunities for staff across a variety of roles. The company that promotes individual betterment will also be staff-focused.

5. What Would Others in This Role Say their Work-Life Balance Is Like?

This is another interview question that seems fairly straightforward. But many healthcare professionals are hesitant to ask about it openly. Gauge the response, much like you did for the original question about company culture. Answers for a positive environment might include employee support efforts, like gym memberships, mental health days, or an on-site psychologist, depending on the field of expertise in the organization.

6. How Frequent Are Companywide Meetings Held?

Staff meetings always get a bad reputation, especially when they’re too frequent and unproductive. But a sign of a well-connected corporate body to the healthcare professionals on the front lines are regular meetings. Companywide meetings are necessary for efficient communication. But they’re also great arenas to raise concerns and challenges that the front line might need help solving.

7. What Is the Best Part of Working Here?

This line of interview questions will prompt a more personal response, hopefully. Get the hiring manager to open up with you about what they enjoy most about working for the organization. If the response is “great vending machines,” you know there’s likely a problem with the overall workplace environment.

8. Are You Proud to Be Affiliated with this Organization?

Use that last question to pivot and transition into this one. It’s skewed, again, for a more personal response from the hiring manager or team. But it will help you distinguish between canned responses about culture from authentic sentiments. You can also use this topic to springboard into your requirement of working with a healthcare organization you can be proud to represent, solidifying your candidacy.

9. If You Could Change Something, What Would It Be?

Get specific when you ask this question regarding the role for which you’re applying, the department, and the healthcare organization as a whole. If the responses are about improving schedules, more time off, or restrictive policies, it might be a red flag that the company culture isn’t as conducive as you’d prefer it to be. Additionally, if the hiring manager doesn’t have anything to offer, it could also mean there’s hesitancy to be transparent about the topic.

Remember, as you interview, keep the conversation flowing naturally and don’t feel obligated to force these or any questions. But do your best to incorporate inquiries that will help you better gauge the overall work-life balance and company culture. Those criteria won’t always show up in a job posting, and most hiring managers won’t volunteer information if it’s not good. And when you need help exploring your healthcare career opportunities, let InSync Healthcare Recruiters be your guide to navigating this dynamic healthcare hiring landscape!

The Importance of Post-Interview Follow-Up

Whether you’re a recent healthcare grad out hunting for the first big career role, or a seasoned healthcare professional making a change, there are some reminders that warrant repeating. You know that landing the interview is only half the battle. Great candidates can improve their chances of hire by executing proper post-interview follow-up efforts. Today, we’ll share some of those gentle reminders, including the overall importance of the post-interview follow-ups, along with tips for making your best impression when you do.

What a Proper Post-Interview Follow-Up Can Do for You

There are some obvious benefits of executing a post-interview follow-up message, especially for candidates within the healthcare job space. You’re in a care-based industry. Follow-up demonstrates you care about the process, in turn demonstrating you have the outlook likely needed to perform the job. If done correctly, your post-interview follow-up message reminds the hiring manager that you’re a strong consideration for the role. Here are other important benefits of making the extra effort to reach out post-interview.

Appreciation and Soft Skills

Reaching out to connect after the interview also provides you an opportunity to thank the interviewer for their time and consideration. It shows you have manners, professionalism, and people skills. Your resume might be jam-packed with education, qualifications, and credentials. But if you lack the soft skills needed for some roles, your resume might be put in the do-not-hire pile. Following up allows you another chance to prove you have those must-have soft skills.

Enthusiasm for the Role

How you follow up after the interview can demonstrate to the hiring manager just how enthusiastic you are about the opportunity. Be lively but not overly excited. Be inquisitive without prying. And look for ways to express your anticipation in learning more or taking the next steps in the hiring process.

A reminder of Your Candidacy

Some healthcare hiring managers are bogged down with more than just filling the role you have in mind. A well-placed follow-up initiative can be a great reminder. Bring your name back up to the top of their minds with a brief check-in and offer to connect for another interview. It’s that top-of-mind awareness that can make the difference between you getting the callback first or tenth in the line.

Various Methods of Post-Interview Follow-Up Initiatives

How you follow up after your interview can also help set you apart from other candidates in the running. A generic email, for example, will certainly check the box. But it won’t likely make a huge impact in terms of great impressions. Here are some ways to execute the post-interview follow-up with unique differentiating byproducts in mind.

The Old-Fashioned Card

Don’t be afraid to polish up your handwriting skills to draft a brief thank you card to put in the mail. While considered to be an outdated form of communication, there is something more personal about getting a piece of mail, specifically addressed to you with a signature. And it’s that personalization that will set you apart from others applying for the healthcare job.

An Email That Stands Apart from the Rest

Email is probably the best way to connect with a healthcare hiring manager. But don’t end up in the spam folder, and don’t copy and paste a canned message read about online. Instead, think customization with simple and easy-to-consume statements. Make your subject line noticeable with short, concise statements, including the title of the position for which you’re applying. Avoid casual tones. This is the place for personality-infused professionalism. Read it aloud and verify it would make sense to say to the hiring manager directly before you hit send.

A Follow Up Phone Call

If you’re in healthcare, you’re in the people business. Conversation is king. So, it’s no surprise that a phone call post-interview is a pretty solid move. Where some healthcare job candidates slip up is with what happens next. Be prepared to have the conversation before you call. And know ahead of time what you plan to say should you get voicemail.

What Every Post-Interview Follow-Up Conversation Should Have

Regardless of which method you prefer to use when following up after your interview, make sure the message, written or verbal, contains the same few key points.

Emphasize your qualifications.
Promote yourself as the ideal candidate.
Fix anything that went wrong during the interview.
Say anything you forgot to mention in your interview.
Say thank you.
Restate your contact information.

After you’ve had the interview, don’t presume you’re done. Now it’s time to schedule your prompt post-interview follow-up initiatives. Every scenario is different. And the healthcare hiring manager may be able to outline a timeframe to which you should adhere. But be sure to include those follow-up efforts, especially if you’re keenly intent on landing the role.

As always, for more interviewing best practices, or if you need help with finding your dream healthcare role, let InSync Healthcare Recruiters be your guide!

6 Signs You’re Ready to Partner with a Healthcare Recruiter

You’ve realized in your role as a healthcare hiring professional, there comes a time when you need a little help. And while your efforts to fill critical openings with your practice or healthcare facility have been diligent, you’re just not getting the results you once did. It may be time to partner with a healthcare recruiter.

To really know if you’ve reached that point, there are a few signs and red flags to look out for as you go. The healthcare applicant landscape has changed, and so has the industry as a whole. Navigating these changes might require the help of a healthcare recruiter who knows precisely how to adapt and bridge those gaps between open roles and top-notch candidate professionals.

1. Not Enough Time to Follow-Through on All Healthcare Recruiting Steps

You’re not only tasked with filling critical healthcare openings. There is a broad range of behind-the-scenes work that goes into the process before extending an offer. You post job openings across a variety of listing sites. You respond to email inquiries and conduct pre-screening interviews. Then you might handle calling the candidates’ references and juggle scheduling secondary interviews, as well. All of these steps and necessary follow-ups require increased time and effort that you might not have available. If you’re crunched for time or, worse yet, feel like you’re cutting corners on some of these processes, it’s probably time to consider partnering with a healthcare recruiter.

2. Great Candidates Are Not Accepting Your Offers

Job offers may be rejected for a variety of reasons. For example, some healthcare candidates reject them due to the location, hours, or commute. Of course, it’s possible that all three apply. But the problem is that you may not know why quality professionals are turning down your offers. Healthcare recruitment firms can help shed light on these situations since they obtain information from both parties in order to match high-quality applicants in the right position. Partnering with a healthcare recruiter means better understanding the candidate side of the proposition. And recruiters can narrow down the candidate selection to those who are best-fit professionals.

3. You Have an ASAP Job Opening to Fill

Right now, it might feel as though every healthcare opening you have is mission-critical to fill. But there are just some positions that are more demanding than others. If there is a job opening that your office or facility considers to be a top priority, a healthcare recruiter can be a great solution. Healthcare recruiters will likely have candidate pools available that you traditionally wouldn’t have access to yourself. Professional recruiters with niches in healthcare can also be incredible resources to help with candidate vetting, sourcing, and scheduling.

4. Your Clinic or Healthcare Facility Needs Specialized Expertise

If you have a job opening that requires a niche-specific skill or specialized expertise, it might take you weeks or months to even source a single candidate. Niche skilled professionals in healthcare are also likely passive candidates, meaning they’re currently employed but open to new opportunities. Instead of trying to find that needle in the healthcare haystack on your own, turn to the healthcare recruiter for help. Chances are, a healthcare recruiting professional will have the network and resources to help you identify and connect with those passive candidates who possess the unique skills your facility needs right now.

5. Hiring Inconsistencies Are Prevalent

If you’re experiencing hiring inconsistencies in your physician’s office or healthcare facility, it may be a sign you’re ready to partner with a healthcare recruiter. Inconsistencies might include some pre-screening steps for certain roles, but not all roles. They can present in the form of gaps in onboarding or job listing marketing efforts, too. These types of inconsistencies can negatively impact your organization’s brand based on hit-and-miss discrepancies or infrequent online visibility. Having a recruiting partner means having a constant presence in the hiring environment, online and among candidate professionals, whether you need them or not. And this consistency, especially over time, can make finding and hiring the professionals you need much quicker.

6. You Are Struggling to Attract Candidates Beyond Your Backyard

Sometimes, regionally-based facilities that do great with attracting new talent locally will struggle to recruit abroad. And by abroad, we mean outside of the immediate community or even state. There could be incredible candidates for your healthcare roles out there you can’t reach simply because of your more localized efforts. If your candidate pools and healthcare applicants seem to all be from your own neck of the woods, you might be ready to partner with a healthcare recruiter. Professional recruiters have connections coast to coast with thousands of top-talent medical specialists, nurses, doctors, and surgeons. Tap into a greater pool of hiring potential with the right healthcare recruiting partner.

If any of these hiring scenarios resonate with you, let InSync Healthcare Recruiters help! Our professional recruiters specialize in filling critical healthcare-related roles and can help you bridge your gaps, as well!

7 Tips for Nailing the Virtual Interview

Today’s healthcare industry employers recognize the increased convenience of remote engagement tools available to them. Even if the job you’re applying for requires on-site reporting, you need to be prepared for virtual connections for meetings, collaboration, patient care, and even the interviewing and onboarding processes.

As you explore your healthcare career opportunities, you should be prepared for the virtual interview. Not shaking the hiring manager’s hand means missing out on that critical non-verbal connection. So, how can you make that incredible first impression from behind a screen? Today, we’ll share a few tips for nailing that digital interview.

1. Preparing Your Space Ahead of Time

Before your online healthcare interview takes place, take the time to prepare your space. Be mindful of what background will be visible to the hiring manager. Make sure everything is tidy and neat to reinforce your organization skills. Don’t hop online and realize after the fact that a cluttered counter or pile of laundry was visible the whole time. Instead, do a trial run to inspect what your environment might be saying about you. And if you want to go the extra mile, maybe display some of those awards and certificates behind you.

2. Testing Your Connection Stability

Consider conducting a few trial calls with friends and family to sample new earbuds or to troubleshoot any microphone interference. Make sure your home internet connection is stable for more than five or ten minutes at a time. And if you feel your home connection runs the risk of glitching during your virtual interview, consider going somewhere else with a stronger signal. Just be mindful of limiting any distractions, regardless of where you decide to set up for the call.

3. How to Stand Out on a Webcam

If you were sitting directly across the desk from a healthcare hiring manager, you’d know to make great eye contact. So how can you make that non-verbal connection with a webcam? Look at it! Often, candidates make the mistake of focusing their gazes on other aspects of the screen or downward. Instead, routinely look directly at your webcam, especially when the hiring manager is speaking. And if you do look away to take notes or jot down questions, mention that’s why you’re doing so.

4. It’s Still a Professional Interview

Even if you’re hopping online for a virtual interview from home, remember that it’s still a professional engagement. So dress the part and conduct yourself the same way you would if you were meeting in person. Fix your hair. Put on the tie. If you normally talk with your hands, make sure your hands are presentable on camera. And even if you don’t anticipate a need to stand up, go ahead and look professional below the waist, too. It would be all too embarrassing for you to stand up during the interview, to grab a nearby document, and your sweatpants show up on the screen.

5. No Robots Allowed

It’s definitely recommended that you do a practice run of your interview before the big day. Rehearsal, either alone or with someone else, can help you get the marbles out of your mouth and prepare yourself for delivering answers to tough questions. But what you don’t want to do is perform a monologue during your virtual interview. This isn’t the time for a soapbox presentation, and healthcare hiring managers don’t want to interview robots. Instead, be prepared for a conversation by rehearsing ways to spark dialogue. Be prepared to answer those questions, of course. However, have a few conversation starters in your back pocket as well. It’s the natural flow of discussion that will allow for a more authentic connection rapport-building.

6. Have Your Questions Ready, Too

To piggyback on the previous tip, have your own questions prepared to keep the conversation flowing. The hiring manager may be interviewing you. But remember, you’re interviewing the healthcare organization, as well. And you’ll want to know specifics about company culture, office expectations, and hospital or patient care policies that matter to you.

7. Interview Follow Up & Next Steps

As with any in-person interview, be sure to inquire about the next steps in the hiring process so you can prepare a follow-up strategy. Depending on the nature of the healthcare position you’re interviewing for, you may not be able to stop by for a follow-up visit, for example. Ask as though you’re confident you’re the ideal fit for the role, and then deliver accordingly. If you say you plan to touch base if you haven’t heard back by Thursday, then you need to be calling or emailing a follow-up inquiry on Thursday.

When you’re ready to consider a healthcare career change, let InSync Healthcare Recruiters help by taking the guesswork out of the available positions in your area right now. And take advantage of these tips for nailing the virtual interview.

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