Bill Klaproth (host): The American Organization for Nursing Leadership or AONL is leading a national effort to develop a compendium of workforce best practices and innovations to aid and support nurse leaders. The AONL Workforce Committee sent out a nationwide call for exemplars from nurse leaders in all healthcare settings to share their best practices in local scenarios with particular attention to scenarios, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, nurse leaders were challenged to staff appropriately and experience scope expansion within a dynamic work environment. The workforce committee and subcommittees evaluated best practices and innovations, structured recommendations, and set forth leadership opportunities and resources. Additionally, information was leveraged and gathered to define areas for future evaluation and research. The workforce compendium will go beyond published literature and focus on successful strategies used to effectively improve the work setting and support nurse leaders.

So, let's learn more with Karen Hill, Editor-in-Chief of JONA and lead author of the Talent Attraction and Acquisition Chapter in the compendium.

This is Today in Nursing Leadership, a podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. I'm Bill Klaproth. Karen, it is so great to talk with you. Thank you so much for your time as we learn more about the compendium. So first off, could you tell us about your section of the workforce compendium and the challenge that you saw to address and why?

Karen Hill: Yes, I'm glad to because I'm really excited about this chapter and about the entire compendium. And I think it'll be helpful to nurse executives, nurse leaders and nurse managers. The chapter that I was involved with is called Talent Attraction and Acquisition. It's the first chapter in the compendium, and it really focuses on trying to find the right applicant, the nurse applicants, and helping to expedite an appropriate process so that a job offer can be made and a nurse can be hired by an organization.

Host: So in that section, can you tell us how deep do you go as far as laying that out and how to recruit for nurses?

Karen Hill: Pretty deep. We decided that the process really had three different phases. One phase was to attract and identify the appropriate candidates. A second phase was to submit the application, conduct an interview, offer position, and accept the offer, which is a loaded section. And the third was pre-boarding and onboarding. And we give best practices and suggestions throughout each of these that could be adopted by organizations in part or in whole.

Host: And can you give us any tips or insight on what you learned in putting this whole section together about the topic and how nurses can apply it to address or solve, you know, acquisition and attract nurses into the industry?

Karen Hill: Yes. I recently retired as the Chief Operating Officer and the nurse executive for Baptist Health Lexington, a four-time Magnet-designated hospital in Kentucky, in addition to being the editor of JONA. And one of the things that I learned from helping to lead this group, and it was a group of very talented, mostly people who are now in talent acquisition roles within different organizations, was that the way that we have to look at the hiring process, the interview process and the application process as a nurse leader in an organization needs to change, that what we used to do is not going to cut it in today's reality with the type of workforce that we have and with the need that we have to get the best candidates for the right job.

Host: Interesting. When you say, times change, what used to work back then doesn't today. So, you really do have to reformulate and rethink this. Is that right?

Karen Hill: That's true. And one of the things that I also learned was a huge appreciation for the evolving field of Talent Acquisition and Attraction. In fact, something that I would suggest is that nurse leaders, as busy as we are, try to learn more about the processes in your own organization because I think it will help develop a partnership with those professionals and will help you know where your opportunities are to try to implement some of these best practices.

Host: So for anyone listening to this podcast, why is it important that they take this information to heart and really try to learn and dig into this information?

Karen Hill: Well, one of the things that AONL has heard from the members, and they do listen to the members substantially, was that staffing is a number one stressor for nurse managers and nurse leaders today. And you've heard that all over the country. It's in the media. You know, there was a predicted retirement of Baby Boomers, we knew that was going to happen. I think there were more Baby Boomers that left the workforce because of the pandemic than probably had been expected just in the normal course of time. Also, I think the competition for labor based on temporary agencies and contract employment, and as well as the stress of the pandemic on the current nursing workforce. Those things together created the perfect storm of staffing crises that have caused stress for nurse managers and nurse leaders and organizations in trying to provide the best care that they can.

Host: I like how you put that, staffing is a stressor. That's an easy way to remember it. Very well put. So, I'm curious for a nurse leader listening to this podcast, what is the key takeaway then when it comes to talent attraction and acquisition? And what kind of tactics can someone deploy in their own organization?

Karen Hill: One of the key takeaways that we suggested is that you would do a blind application in your own organization for a job. We found that websites were difficult to navigate, that jobs were not well described, that pay practices were very difficult to understand and that there were poor tracking systems for applications once they got into the systems of an organization. So, really looking at how easy is it to even apply for a job in your own organization is one of our first recommendations.

If you really feel like your process is broken, you may want to look at our section in the compendium, and you may want to start from the beginning and just redesign your entire process with the talent acquisition staff that you have in your organization. But we really feel like that there are opportunities to improve.

Everybody can't fix everything overnight. And one of the things that we suggested to nurse managers and nurse leaders as they read the compendium was to prioritize where they felt like their opportunities were after they examined their systems to try to help those things become better and implement solutions one or two at a time so they could see how they resolve.

Host: Yeah. I'm wondering if it might be too soon for this question, but are there any measurable successes, and I'm just curious if there were any unanticipated or surprising benefits or outcomes that you learned going through this process?

Karen Hill: We don't have measurable successes because the compendium just got released. But I'll tell you, that's one of the things that we talk about in the work group with AONL. When you look at nursing practice, a lot of times when things are changed, it's based on research that takes a long period of time. The timeframes and the changes that are needed in the talent acquisition space are not going to be stable while those processes are being studied, like things have been studied in a clinical realm. And so, we have suggested to people is that they do pilot projects and try new things in this opportunity for talent acquisition because we feel like that'll be a way that you can test it.

There are metrics that have been suggested through our work for different organizations so that they could look at measuring their own processes. So for example, one of the metrics would be from the time that an application is filed by an applicant or nurse applicant who's interested in a position until the time that they're contacted by a representative of the organization. How long does that take? In some organizations now currently, that can take weeks. In the talent acquisition best practice map, it takes four to eight hours because that's what the competition is doing right now. They're contacting those applicants quickly and the people that contact the best applicant quickly usually can get them in the interview process more quickly,

Host: That's kind of an eye-opener. Usually, it takes weeks and you say you're recommending you get this down to four to eight hours. So if someone is interested and you find the right candidate, it sounds like don't delay, right? Get on this right now.

Karen Hill: Well, and it even goes beyond that because we did a process map in there with some suggested timeframes. We're suggesting that once that candidate is contacted by whoever represents the organization, that an interview be scheduled within 24 hours with that candidate. And that is really not the normal process in a lot of organizations. But what we have found is that the traveling agencies, the contract agencies, and the people who are very aggressive in hiring are doing that. And we have asked that, as nurse managers and nurse executives look at their process, they really consider off-hour and weekend interviews that are convenient for applicants and not to pigeonhole those applicants into traditional Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:30 or 5:00 interview time slots.

Host: That is great insight as well. You kind of have to match what the hiring agencies are doing. And when the candidate is available to do the interviews, and if it happens to be a weekend, you've got to be flexible to adapt and, you know, meet that candidate where it's comfortable for them. Is that right?

Karen Hill: That's exactly right. Another lesson learned in this was. When you have a good candidate, a lot of times in my history, I've seen nurse managers want to continue to interview a subset of applicants to see if they could find the best candidate. And what we found is that if it was a good candidate with a good fit, with a job, the job was offered, that they didn't put that good candidate on hold waiting for another better candidate because oftentimes that other better candidate was not there and you lost the good candidate.

Host: And it could take potentially weeks if you just keep searching and searching and searching when that good candidate that checks all the boxes then winds up going somewhere else.

Karen Hill: Plus it sends a bad message to the applicant that they may not be a desirable employee by the person that interviewed them or the organization, and that's a bad way to start the relationship.

Host: Yeah, for sure. Karen, this is great insight. We're talking about the Talent Attraction and Acquisition chapter in the compendium. Wow. This is really, really good stuff. Well, as we wrap up, Karen, any additional thoughts on this when it comes to talent attraction and acquisition?

Karen Hill: Yeah, a couple of things. We talked about the fact that there needs to be better education and communication between talent acquisition staff and the nurse managers who are responsible to do the interviews because they really have to be in a partnership on this. One of the things that talent acquisition staff told us, there's something called touchpoints, which are used a lot in other industries, but not necessarily a lot in healthcare in an employee relationship. And basically, those are different periods of time in the process that we've described where the applicant is contacted by someone, either talent acquisition, the nurse manager, maybe a peer on a unit where they've been hired to help have them be into the new position and transitioned well, so that they feel welcomed, that the first time that they're exposed to the organization, it's organized, and that they feel like that they know what they're getting into with their new role and that they'll be a part of the team quickly. That's a new one for us. And so, we talked about the importance of touchpoints in this compendium chapter as well.

Host: So, it sounds like getting off to a good start, really making the candidate or new hire really feel welcome and wanted is really important.

Karen Hill: Absolutely.

Host: Yeah. Really good stuff. This is going to be a dynamite chapter in the compendium. Karen, thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with us and clueing us in and giving us some insight on what to expect in it. We appreciate it.

Karen Hill: Can I tell you one more that I want to make people know? And we emphasize this in the compendium, there's a new philosophy called No Nurse Left Behind. And what that is being coined by many organizations is that when you have nurses who are applying for positions, you may not need the applicants that have applied for position. You may select one and then you have five or six or however many. Every applicant that has applied for a position is contacted immediately by talent acquisition and they are channeled into another position for an interview and hired by the organization because organizations do not want to let good talent go just because it was someone else that was selected for a position. And I love that philosophy of no nurse left behind because that means that we're going to hire good nurses in different kinds of jobs. And maybe they didn't understand the other options that were available when they applied for a particular job or an organization's website would only let them apply for one job.

Host: So usually when you don't select a candidate, say you've got four qualified candidates, ultimately you decide to go with one over the others for whatever reason. There's three still good candidates there. Usually, you get the letter, "Thanks. We'll keep you in mind. Good luck." You're saying you reengage with them and say, "Hey, we might have a position for you here. Would you think about doing this?" Is that right?

Karen Hill: And you reengage quickly, yes.

Host: So, you reengage quickly with all good candidates, even the ones that you didn't select, and see if there's other good fits in the organization.

Karen Hill: Absolutely. So, those are the key takeaways. The compendium has much more information for the readers and the chapters that follow us are valuable for different phases of the workforce, work that we've done together. But I think that this one starts out well because if you don't start the process right, then you really aren't going to have a good relationship with that employee all the way through.

Host: Yeah. So important and very well said. Well, this has been great, Karen. You've been a wealth of knowledge and I know the compendium is even going to give us more insight and knowledge and education that we need. So, Karen, thank you again for your time. This has been great.

Karen Hill: Thank you. It's been fun to talk to you and I hope it helps the listeners.

Host: And once again, that's Karen Hill. And for more information on the compendium, please visit aonl.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Today in Nursing Leadership. Thanks for listening.