A new jobs report out from ADP centered on a surprising stat: Job growth in March totaled 62,000, slight better than economists predicted. Similarly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report published Friday far surpassed expectations: According to the department, the economy added 178,000 jobs in March, triple the number that was anticipated. At the same time, unemployment edged slightly down to 4.3%.

What wasn’t a surprise? Healthcare hiring continues to be one of the biggest drivers of the economy.

In the ADP report, education and health services together provided the bulk of the momentum for job growth in March, followed by construction. The BLS report also pins growth squarely on healthcare, construction and transportation. 

It’s been an ongoing refrain, with healthcare hiring consistently dominating jobs reports.

“Healthcare is transforming the labor market,” Nela Richardson, ADP chief economist, told CNBC.

Navigating ‘an absolutely chaotic’ landscape for healthcare hiring

Operating in that booming landscape can present both challenges and opportunities, says Ellen Page, director of talent acquisition for Franciscan Health.

Page has been with the nearly 20,000-person Midwest healthcare network for almost 35 years. Page says competition for healthcare hiring started spiking shortly before the pandemic, and, while conditions have eased slightly over the last year, pressure continues to be extremely high.

“The last five years have been like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Just when you think you have it figured out, crazy says, ‘Hold my beer,’ ” Page laughs. “When you’re giving a $10,000 sign-on bonus for an entry-level position? That’s an absolutely chaotic labor market.”

An aging American population, along with the rise in chronic conditions, is driving healthcare hiring into a frenzy, while at the same time, the pandemic was a catalyst for changing talent expectations.

When so much of the world shut down, it had a two-fold effect, Page says: Talent got to stay home and “really reevaluate their lives,” while also shifting their perspectives on finances. Pre-pandemic, it was common for employees to go out after work, for two parents to work outside of the house and kids to be in full-time daycare, for families to take multiple vacations a year; with all of that gone, employees had more cash flow and more time with their families.

That contributed to worker shortages in healthcare—known for 12-hour shifts and frequent overtime, threatening that newfound work/life balance—and new demands from incoming talent.

“I was in a meeting recently, and someone said, ‘I have young kids, I want that work/life balance.’ And I thought, ‘Well, so do I. But no one ever asked me, and I never knew I could ask.’ ”

Apart from flexibility, healthcare talent today is looking at how employers will help them with finances—beyond retirement to offerings like student loan repayment—and opportunities for development and mentorship.

“Now, when we talk to candidates, the questions are a lot different,” Page says.

Finding the ‘moments that matter’

That is requiring Page’s team to lean more into candidate and employee experience to capture and retain talent in such a competitive market.

“We’re all about experiences now,” Page says. For instance, the organization is offering early wage access through its third-party payroll vendor. That has been particularly effective at attracting lower-wage talent.

“If they’re entry-level and they give their other job two weeks’ notice to come work for us and then may not get their first paycheck for a few weeks—no one can live without that paycheck that long,” Page says. “So, this has given people options of switching jobs. It’s enabling them to put gas in their car and get to work. It’s small changes that are significant.”

Such shifts are part of an overarching new vision for TA—shifting from a focus on end-to-end processes to instead investing in the small, yet impactful moments that matter, through benefits offerings, policy changes and interactions with talent professionals.

“From the time you find the job to when you apply to when you talk to the recruiter to the offer and the onboarding—each of those little pieces is what really matters to having an amazing experience,” Page says.

AI is a critical tool in that effort. Through its partnership with talent intelligence platform Phenom, Franciscan Health has automated significant portions of its recruiting processes. The tech is allowing the organization to take a data-driven approach to candidate outreach while also enabling talent professionals to invest more deeply in the human aspects of the candidate experience.

It’s a formula that’s working: The organization’s NPS was 50 before its AI-driven recruiting transformation three years ago, a figure that now sits at 83.

“We know what we’re doing is right,” Page says. “And now we’re just figuring out how to double down and find other moments that matter—for candidates, hiring managers and recruiters.”

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