How do you keep your healthcare operations healthy? No single solution is a cure-all, but maintaining an effective IT department goes a long way in keeping your organization in tip-top shape. Unfortunately, most hiring managers in the industry find themselves at an impasse when it comes to hiring healthcare IT consultants. The IT talent gap is already a significant obstacle that isn’t made any easier by adding healthcare experience to the list of requirements. If you want to overcome the industry shortage, here are a few strategies that the best staffing firms use to find top-notch consultants.
According to the 2018 Dice Tech Salary Survey, 63% of IT professionals cited higher compensation as their main reason for changing jobs. Though that’s not a mind-blowing reveal, Dice’s survey reinforces an important rule of thumb when hiring healthcare IT consultants: always determine their compensation rates before beginning your search.
One of the main reasons is that figuring out pay rates for healthcare IT professionals can be a bit of a puzzle. There are already so many IT skills to consider as you set compensation rates. Now add industry specifics like experience with EHR systems, HL7 standards, and HIPAA Privacy Rules, and watch as your calculations get even messier.
How do you gauge the most accurate benchmarks for your healthcare IT positions? By combining a few different resources. Review aggregates like PayScale and Salary.com to get initial ranges for the local market based on desired skillsets and experience. For more real-time pay rate trends, reach out to your local technical recruiters. Their regular interactions with both candidates and other healthcare organizations keep them informed of which offers are accepted and which are flat out denied.
We’re at the point of real healthcare IT innovation. Organizations are leveraging predictive analytics to offer new insight, efficiencies, and cost reductions from their extensive data. IT operations are running continuously with minimal downtime to ensure healthcare staff and patients are supported. All the while, healthcare organizations are facing a widespread IT talent shortage. The most competitive IT rates in the world won’t matter if you cannot find talent in the first place.
To overcome that scarcity, successful organizations take their search to compatible or satellite industries as an alternative source of top-notch talent. The insurance industry should be an early stop on your search. There are overlapping systems, and talent is more likely to be familiar with healthcare related policies.
Another source for talent (especially BAs and data scientists) is the data management and analytics sector. In some cases, tech professionals from these companies will have first-hand experience in healthcare related projects, sharing similar perspectives and understanding processes. Regardless of which industry you source talent from, make sure that you still implement top strategies for attracting IT candidates.
Want to hire consultants? You might find prospects among candidates who’ve historically worked permanent positions. Though they might not hold contract or contract-to-hire opportunities now, that doesn’t mean they are turned off by the idea. They may just need to better understand what’s in it for them.
In our experience, getting candidates interested in working contract IT jobs depends on targeting the right personas and offering the right benefits. Tech professionals who prioritize challenges in their work, want to fast track their career growth, and need more flexibility in their schedule are primed for IT consulting. Plus, if you offer benefits like our ESOP, Engagement Management Program, and Training/Certification Program, they are more likely to accept a contract opportunity and bring their talents to your business.
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