How to Find (and Hire) Eagles When You’re Bombarded by Turkeys
Check out this HIRING GUIDE that will help you find and hire great employees each and every time - a step by step approach to the right hiring decisions! … Read More »
Use Your Company Culture to Attract Talented Healthcare Employees
If you’re a staffing manager or an administrator for a successful healthcare facility, then you already understand the value of selective hiring, strong retention efforts, fair compensation, and worker friendly company policies. You know how to earn the respect of your staff by placing patient care and employee needs at the top of your long list of corporate priorities. But how much do you invest in workplace branding? The best way to manage and retain great employees is to attract great employees in the first place. And sometimes the best way to attract great employees is to leverage the ones you already have. Keep your teams happy and thriving, and they’ll become excellent ambassadors and terrific recruiters. Here are a few ways to set the stage. 1. Keep an open door policy between your teams, their managers, and your HR department. Strong relationships based on open communication form the foundation of any healthy workplace culture. If your employees have complaints or suggestions, they should feel no sense of hesitation about speaking up. And when they need to clear the air or make a request, they should have easy access to all the proper channels. 2. Keep a close eye on bad apples. If you have individual staff members or managers on your teams who bring others down, recognize the signs and know when it’s time to step in. Coaching and clear performance management can keep toxic vibes from spreading. Walk chronically angry employees toward the door, and recognize the red flags that indicate bullying and harassment. 3. Take complaints and resource requests seriously, and act on them immediately. Don’t make your employees jump through hoops to gain access to the basic tools they need to do their jobs. And when something goes wrong and it’s brought to your attention, act. Don’t delay your decision hoping your employees will forget about the issue. 4. Show gratitude. Thank your employees loudly and often. Show appreciation verbally every single day, and make sure your individual managers and team leaders do the same. 5. Spread the word. If you have a great culture that makes you proud, and your employees feel the same way, encourage them to share this fact. Reward employees for posting positive comments about the company on social media. And when you have an open position to fill, ask your current teams to solicit applications from their friends, family and personal networks. Provide generous bonuses for successful referrals. For more on how to make your employees happy, and then leverage that happiness into a magnet for talented applicants, reach out to the Seattle healthcare staffing pros at Pace.
Step into a Position in Healthcare Administration
A promising career in healthcare administration starts with an undergraduate degree (and ideally a graduate degree as well) in business, finance, healthcare administration, or healthcare policy. Some administrators begin with a degree in the life sciences, or even a full initial career in a clinical healthcare setting. But when it’s time to make the transition, most career shifters need to return to the classroom to gain the administrative and management background that employers usually require. But what comes next? When you’re ready to step onto the job market with your diploma in hand, how can you give yourself every available advantage in a competitive marketplace? Networking is Essential Start by growing your network. In fact, it’s a good idea to start building your network long before you complete your course work and exams. Join professional societies and local networking groups, and spend some time and effort reaching out beyond the boundaries of the healthcare industry. The more connections you maintain and the more you circulate actively among those who hold second and third degree connections that can help you, the faster you’ll reach your destination. And remember: what you can do for others is always more important than what they can do for you. Think in terms of offering and providing instead of requesting and demanding. Licensing and Professional Memberships After you acquire your state license, improve your marketability by applying for professional membership in any of the following societies: the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (AAHAM), the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), “a resource leader for healthcare administration management and medical practice managers”, and the Association for Healthcare Administrative Professionals (AHCAP), an “organization for administrative professionals who support our nation’s healthcare leaders.” Your specific career goals will determine which professional societies are right for you, but it’s a good idea to conduct some research and make contact with the branches in your area. In the meantime, determine the skills and specific areas of expertise your target employers are searching for and be ready to work your way into the field from the ground up. Reach out to the healthcare staffing experts at Pace for more information. If you are looking for healthcare administration jobs in Seattle WA, contact Pace today.
Why Pursue a Career In Healthcare Management?
If you’re on the verge of choosing a college major or making a mid-life career transition, consider adding healthcare management to the options on your list. Healthcare management/ healthcare administration offers a promising path for those who are passionate about some but not all aspects of healthcare, and who have a natural talent for business. A flash of social savvy, the ability to think critically, and strong analytical skills can also help in this field. Generally, healthcare management is an ideal place for those who like the challenges of administration and enjoy helping people overcome medical challenges, but who prefer to work in an office rather than a clinical setting. Does this describe you? If so, you may enjoy the challenges and rewards of managing a hospital, private medical practice, residential facility, or care clinic. Here are a few other reasons this profession might be the right one for you. 1. Opportunity The healthcare field is growing fast, and hiring is on the rise in every area of the country. To accommodate the healthcare needs of a wave of retiring baby boomers, clinics and private practices are opening everywhere, and these facilities need to hire and manage staff at a rapid and growing rate. If you have a degree in healthcare policy, healthcare administration, or business, the door to this field is wide open. 2. Earning Potential While healthcare managers may have educational debts to pay off immediately after graduation, salary potential in this field can be high, so these debts may not last for long. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, salaries for entry level positions in this field may start at around 40,000, but they can grow quickly into the six figure range. Larger clinics and hospitals in urban areas can usually provide faster salary growth. 3. Career Flexibility Healthcare management skills are highly transferable from one employer to the next, and these skills can also support success in other fields as well. These skills involve staffing, coaching, motivating a team, and managing complex budgets and schedules. 4. Advancement Potential In healthcare management, when it comes to career growth, the sky is the limit. If you’re looking for ways to take on more responsibility, increase you salary, and expand your field of influence, this career offers a great place to start. At the very top, large hospital CEOs are some of the highest paid professionals in any field. To learn more about what it takes to launch your career in this demanding field, make an appointment with the Seattle staffing and career management experts at Pace.
Skills Needed for Healthcare Administration
Do you have what it takes to launch a fulfilling career in healthcare administration? In addition to a bachelor’s degree (minimum) in healthcare policy or business, healthcare administrators also need high levels of skill in a few general areas, including communication, critical thinking, social savvy, and analytical reasoning. By the time they’re ready to step into a leadership role in any healthcare facility (including hospital, private practice, or clinic), healthcare administrators should be able to competently handle the tasks below. The Challenges Faced by Healthcare Administrators 1. Defining leadership style. As a healthcare administrator, you’ll need to understand how your specific leadership style works and you’ll need to know how to use this style to overcome the issues your facility and teams will face on a daily basis. Years of careful research conducted by sociologists and management experts have led to the conclusion that leadership styles are distinct and recognizable. The better you understand your own, the better your teams will respond to your direction. 2. Understanding legal regulations. Healthcare administers aren’t lawyers or policy makers, but their facilities are bound by regulations that are complex and constantly evolving. Successful administrators know how to interpret the regulations of HIPPA, for example, or the Affordable Care Act, and they know how to keep their facilities compliant. 3. Communicating clearly and effectively. As an administrator, your words will have a powerful impact on a wide range of stakeholders, from employees to patients to shareholders to community leaders. You’ll need to speak and write well in order to get your messages across. 4. Continuing your own education. Strong healthcare administrators maintain an ongoing interest in education, and they’re always learning new things about healthcare policy, healthcare leadership, and advances in clinical care. The most successful healthcare administrators are those who search for new ways to use technology to the advantage of the facilities they manage. As a healthcare leader, you’ll need to stay tuned in to new technologies and their potential to improve patient outcomes and strengthen the financial footing of your organization. If you can keep your teams motivated, your facilities compliant, and your patient satisfaction levels high, then you’re certainly on track to managing a successful healthcare organization. For more on how to set meaningful goals for both your facility and your own career, reach out to the Seattle staffing experts at Pace.
Should You Become a Healthcare Administrator?
Healthcare Administrators, also sometimes called Health Administrators or Healthcare Managers, form the backbone of functional healthcare facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, and urgent care clinics. While doctors, RNs, and medical practitioners handle the clinical needs of patients and clients, healthcare administrators oversee the entire clinic and handle the hiring and scheduling of these practitioners. Administrators also manage the operational needs of the facility including vendor contracts, supplies, and budgeting. This is a position of high responsibility and high reward, and the outlook for this role is very promising. Healthcare administrators are in high demand right now, and this demand is expected to grow substantially over the next ten years. Should you pursue a career in this field? Here are few considerations that can help you decide.
- The pay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare administrators can expect to make an average of about 45,000 dollars at the entry level, and more experienced administrators can earn salaries between 50,000 and 110,000 per year. This rate varies slightly by geographic area.
- The available opportunities. Healthcare administrators can pursue management positions in both large and small facilities in both the public and private sector. As a wave of baby boomers approach retirement age, the healthcare industry is expected to expand rapidly, and a parallel trend is occurring as facilities become increasingly specialized. Where people used to face only two choices when they needed treatment—hospitals and private clinics—they can now choose between a wide range of options from urgent care clinics to physical therapy centers.
- The path. Those who choose to enter this field usually start by earning a four year degree in health administration, public policy, or business management. Some administrators then go on to obtain a Master’s degree, while others launch their careers with state or federal healthcare agencies working to shape the laws that impact public health.
- The qualities necessary for success. Healthcare administrators who tend to thrive in this field usually possess qualities like a strong work ethic, organizational skills, and high levels of emotional and social energy. They often have excellent business sense and planning skill. Many of them enjoy the personal sense of reward that comes from helping those in need, and this role provides that reward without involving the hands-on clinical side of the healthcare industry.
Get Ready for your Healthcare Video Interview
Video interviews are becoming a mainstream way for companies to streamline their hiring process. As the ease of video conferencing increases, healthcare employers are saving money and time by cutting back on in-person interviews, especially during the first round of the selection process. Simply asking a candidate for twenty minutes of online conversation reduces countless energy, cost and travel time for both the company and its applicants. But as it happens, online capability often means shorter notice when interviews are scheduled. While traditional interviews usually involve a few days of prep time, employers often schedule online meetings within 24 hours. So if you have only one day to prepare for your meeting, what can you do to make sure you’re ready? Try these steps.
1. First, make sure you have the right equipment. This includes a working, reliable webcam and all the necessary software you’ll need to establish a connection. Ask the employer if there are any specific programs you should have access to, like Google or Skype, and do all the downloading and installing you need to do right away.
2. Then set the stage. Make sure your backdrop is appropriate, clean, professional and not too cluttered. A simple blank wall will work fine. And pay attention to lighting. Arrange the lamps and natural light in the room to highlight your best features and factor in the time of day when the interview will be taking place.
3. Choose your outfit. A suit, nice blouse, or simple dress will usually do for an interview setting. Just make sure everything is clean and wrinkle free.
4. Plan for contingencies. Arrange child and pet care so you are not distracted. While you’re at it, make sure your neighbors, friends and family know not to stop by and ring the doorbell. Silence the ringer on your phone and anticipate any other potential distractions.
5. Focus on poise, just as you would during an in-person interview. Make sure you direct your attention toward the camera, not the screen. It may seem strange, but this will feel more like “eye contact” to your viewers, even if it doesn’t feel that way to you. Don’t make your interviewers talk to the side of your face or the top of your forehead.
When you’re finally ready for your moment in the spotlight, complete a dry run with a friend or family member to make sure everything is working as it should. Then use your final hours to conduct a little more research on the company and get some well-deserved sleep. Meanwhile, check in with the staffing experts at Pace for any questions about your healthcare job search.A Day in the Life: Healthcare Administration
While physicians, RNs, surgeons, and orderlies are darting around a busy hospital focused on caring for their patients, how do they know who’s responsible for what? Who takes care of the work schedules, management issues, orders, billing, financial matters and policy decisions that allow the hospital to function? Who handles the hiring, firing, budget allocations and business transactions that support the financial health of the clinic and the actual health of its patients? This responsibility falls to the healthcare administrator, a hardworking, well respected member of the industry. This person directs everything that takes place within the clinic or healthcare facility, and she usually holds a master’s degree and several years of experience in a management setting. This position is perfect for those who would like to play a key role in healthcare but aren’t necessarily looking for hands-on treatment responsibilities in clinical environments. If healthcare administration sounds like an ideal career for you, enter the field by making the following moves. Entering Healthcare Administration: Four Steps
1. Learn as much as you can about the field. For starters, it may be useful to know that this profession is in very high demand, and the number of available positions is expected to grow to about 100,000 by 2016. Inquire into your social network to find out who can connect you to an experienced healthcare administer (or administrators). Once you have a list of names, set up informational interviews with these people to ask for guidance and advice.
2. Earn an undergraduate bachelor’s degree from a reputable, accredited university. Choose a major related to health policy, public health administration, business administration, biology, biochemistry, or any of the life sciences.
3. Pursue a graduate education. While some entry level healthcare admin fields don’t require more than a four year degree, most employers expect candidates to hold at least a master’s degree in public health administration or health policy. To gain access to a reputable graduate program, you’ll need to make sure your coursework, GRE scores, and recommendations are strong.
4. Survive graduate school without burning out. And while you’re working hard and gaining the support your need to pass your exams, make sure you’re also establishing a professional network. Earn the respect of your colleagues and professors, actively seek exposure to professional settings through part-time work and internships, and make contact with anyone in the field who may be able to help you when you’re ready to graduate and start looking for work.
When it’s time to step onto the job market, gather all the resources you need to hit the ground running. A professional staffing agency can be a great place to start. If you are looking for healthcare administrator jobs in Seattle, reach out to the employment experts at Pace for the connections, tools and job search tips you’ll need to get ahead.Lean Manufacturing Principles: Can They Reduce Costs in Healthcare?
While the economy recovers and many business sectors return to normal rates of purchasing, hiring, and expansion, the healthcare industry is still experiencing enormous—and growing—financial pressures. In the face of these pressures, healthcare managers are predictably turning to staff reductions, workforce shaping, and layoffs. But a closer look often reveals that drastic staffing cuts aren’t the only solution. In fact, relying on layoffs may actually not lead to long term cost reduction and may allow mangers to ignore more pressing cost-control issues inherent in weak processes and procedures. If you’re in a healthcare management position and you’re looking for ways to cut costs while avoiding layoffs and improving patient care, consider borrowing from the manufacturing sector and incorporating the principles of lean manufacturing into your facility or clinic. Start with the recommendations below. Cut Costs in Healthcare Using Lean Management 1. Streamline clinic design Attack construction and expansion projects first during times of high financial pressure. Instead of expanding recklessly, reduce capital spending and find ways to make better use of existing equipment and space. This may require revaluating floor layouts, or redrafting plans to make pending expansions more efficient. 2. Reduce preventable events Insurers and Medicare are increasingly unwilling to pay for events and conditions considered “preventable”. These can include anything from pressure ulcers, to falls, to accidental amputations. Since these events tend to occur more often when clinics are understaffed and professionals are overworked, reevaluate layoff plans and instead, take a close look at documentation procedures, training protocols, and other ways to reduce these problems at the source. 3. Take a closer look at your supply chain. Re-examine vendor contracts at least once a year, and in the meantime, consider the ways in which products are ordered and stored. Receiving items in smaller batches, for example, can reduce problems due to rotation, shelf life, and excess capital tied up in overstock. 4. Streamline charting and other processes to cut back on staff overtime. Cutting back on overtime can go long way toward reducing payroll costs without alienating employees through layoffs. While you’re at it, extend your good stewardship of financial resources by removing extra steps from the billing process, and reducing the degree of unnecessary tests and diagnostic procedures performed by doctors and technicians. Reach out to the Seattle staffing experts at Pace for specific guidance on reducing cost, waste, mistakes and billing delays at your healthcare facility. If you can make better use of your existing human capital, you’ll reduce the morale problems and other risks that can result from unnecessary staff reductions.
Career Fields on the Rise: Healthcare Management
If you’ve been thinking about a career in healthcare, but you’d rather focus on planning, organizing, budgeting and management than one-on-one patient care, maybe it’s time to look beyond nursing and medical school. Your ideal career my lie in the field of healthcare management. Not only is this a rewarding branch of the industry, it’s also a field undergoing a rapid expansion, and opportunities are on the rise in almost every geographic area of the country. What is Healthcare Management? Healthcare managers may not handle patients directly, but without them, treatments and clinical facilities go unmanaged and patient care is poorly controlled. These are the people who organize and run health and medical service facilities from the ground up. All operations that take place within these facilities are navigated, launched and controlled by healthcare managers. Their task is typically administrative rather than medical, but they’re the ones making the hiring and staffing decisions, maintaining the facility, handling business communications, negotiating vendor contracts, and dealing with every other aspect of clinical operations. Why is this Field Growing So Fast? Between 2010 and 2020, the available positions in this field are expected to increase by over 22 percent according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This expansion will be a result of two primary changes about to take place in the industry. First, an aging population will be increasing the pressure on available healthcare services, and so will an expected increase in who those who will now have access to healthcare as a result of the newly passed Affordable Care Act. The second reason has to do with the proliferation and diversification of healthcare and treatment facilities. Instead of having access to only a doctor’s office or a hospital, patients are now receiving treatment at drug store clinics, urgent care centers, and a wide range of highly specialized facilities. These facilities will need managers, and these managers will be well compensated for their efforts; annual pay for hospital managers in 2010 averaged at approximately $84,000 , and this number is only expected to rise as demand increases. Should you Pursue a Career in healthcare management? You’re the only one who can determine if a healthcare management career is the right choice for your personality, your working style, and your long term goals. But if you need more information, reach out the Seattle staffing experts at Pace. We can answer your questions as you plan your career and make your next big move.
