Healthcare employers face a huge amount of pressure today. For example, according to projections, there will be a shortage of about 3.2 million healthcare workers in the U.S. by 2026. That raises the urgent question, ‘How can hospitals and clinics fill critical roles faster without compromising patient care?’
The answer is becoming increasingly evident. Shift the focus of hiring from degrees to demonstration of ability. Skills-based hiring is now an effective tool for helping healthcare organizations seek out capable candidates based on what they can actually do, rather than merely what's on paper. Here is what skills-based hiring means for the healthcare field.
The Meaning of Skills-Based Hiring
In general, skills-based hiring prioritizes competency rather than credentials. Instead of screening applicants based on degrees or number of years of formal education, employers are looking at how candidates can complete various types of tasks associated with the job.
This change is even more meaningful when associated with health care because the ability to perform a specific task in the real world directly impacts a patient's health outcome.
Education is still important, but now it is just one of many ways that someone may qualify for a job in healthcare. Candidates that completed affordable hands-on healthcare education can demonstrate their qualification without having to get a four-year degree.
Moving Beyond Degree-First Screening
For decades, healthcare hiring followed a predictable pattern. It started with identifying candidates based on their degrees and then evaluating their experience. As much as this worked for employers in the past, it now creates a bottleneck in hiring qualified applicants.
Degree-first screening procedures may prevent other capable people from becoming employed in healthcare. By creating a skills-first or hands-on hiring practice, healthcare employers now ask, ‘Can you do the job?’ instead of always needing to know where you went to school.
A 'skills-based approach' works exceptionally well for applicants seeking employment in the following roles:
➔ Medical Assistant
➔ Phlebotomy Technician
➔ Patient Care Aide
➔ Health Information Technician
These are roles where the required level of practical/technical competence exceeds basic theoretical knowledge.
Competency Mapping in Healthcare
Competency mapping, which forms part of skills-based hiring, is the process of breaking down each job into measurable abilities. For example, a clinic hiring a medical assistant might define competencies such as:
➔ Taking accurate vital signs
➔ Maintaining a sterile environment
➔ Using an electronic health record (EHR) system
➔ Communicating clearly with patients
With defined competencies, employers develop an objective hiring process whereby candidates are evaluated against specific criteria. They don’t need to work with immeasurable criteria such as school prestige or educational attainment.
Practical Assessments: Proving Ability in Real Time
Hiring interviews alone will not be sufficient for hiring in a skills-based model. In addition to the interview, hiring managers are increasingly relying on practical assessments to verify candidate abilities. Practical assessments can consist of:
➔ Simulated patient interactions
➔ Performing hands-on demonstrations (such as drawing blood or delivering basic medical care)
➔ Solving problems based on scenario modeling
➔ Completing technical tests designed to evaluate a candidate's ability to use EHR systems
Practical assessment eliminates guesswork from the hiring process. Managers will see the applicant's ability to perform a task in real time.
The Future of Hiring in Healthcare
With ongoing shortages in the workforce and increasing demand from patients, hiring based on skills versus place of education will most likely become the norm. This indicates a move towards practicality, putting a higher value on what someone can do than where they went to learn it.
If you are a healthcare provider, this means creating a stronger, more flexible team. For job seekers, it will provide new avenues to find meaningful work. The result is a better quality of care for patients.
