As demand for healthcare talent continues to accelerate, it’s growing increasingly difficult for employers to capture and retain candidate attention. The best people are now more cautious with their evaluation of hiring opportunities. The best talent is looking for the best benefits, the best development options, and the best company culture.
So, how do you show your candidates that your organisation can offer something special? It all starts with the recruitment process. Gamification in healthcare hiring engages potential candidates, generates excitement about your company, and improves your employer brand.
Let’s explore how gamification in recruiting could be the key to an easier hiring experience.
What is gamification in healthcare hiring?
Gamification in healthcare recruitment involves using the fundamental elements of gaming to engage and excite potential candidates. This might include using competitions, rewards, level ascension, and other strategies to upgrade your recruitment plan. You can even use gamification to improve the onboarding experience and help new staff integrate into your team.
Gamification is currently improving employee engagement on a massive scale. Gamified activities can increase motivation by 48%. Studies also indicate that up to 69% of employees intend to stay with their employer for three years or more when engaging in gamified activity.
A gamified recruitment and onboarding experience help your business outshine the competition and keep potential candidates invested in a competitive hiring environment. Once you bring your employees on board, gamification will also improve training experiences and potentially reduce turnover.
So, how do you leverage gamification in healthcare hiring?
1. Use Gamification to Assess Candidates
One way to add gamification to Healthcare hiring is to use it to assess your candidates. Rather than simply gathering personal data and qualifications from interviews with your candidates, think about how you can use games to define their skills.
If you’re looking for a new medical device engineer, you can give them a quiz on the technology they’re going to use or have them perform a mock task with a version of the equipment. If you need a professional with skills talking to external clients and customers, have them role-play interaction with another team member.
Unilever used 20 minutes of gaming in its recruitment process to increase its appeal to millennials and younger potential candidates. The gaming experience engages candidates while putting their skills to the test in the context of the personal care industry.
Gamification is excellent for speeding up the assessment process in healthcare hiring because each individual gets a comparable score. This idea also helps to reduce the risk of bias in hiring.
2. Gamify the Application Process
A complex or boring application process can sometimes be enough to drive possible employees away. Some candidates may even see a flawed application process as a sign that your business isn’t innovative or interesting enough for them. If you want to get as many candidates as possible during the healthcare skills shortage, make your application more exciting.
Work with a developer to create a digital application process with a mobile app, where candidates can perform tasks and complete tests to determine how suitable they are for a job. This gaming experience could come with a progress bar to show candidates how far they have to go and provide helpful feedback on different sections to help them reach the next “level”.
A gamified application experience helps to set your business apart from other potential employers. However, it can also strengthen your chances of hiring the right person quickly. The tests and games you have your candidates complete before the interview process will help you narrow your choices to the most relevant people.
Games make it much easier to weed out candidates who might not be suitable for your needs. Plus, games get people excited; 78% of people say a gamified process makes them more eager to work for a company.
3. Use gamification in onboarding and training
Onboarding and training are crucial components in getting the most out of your potential employees. The better the onboarding experience, the more likely it is that you’ll transform a candidate into a productive employee in as little time as possible.
Gamification allows you to introduce ideas and important concepts to your new hires in a memorable way. You can use games to teach staff how to use different programs or advise them on policies for security and safety. 33% of employees say they’d like to see more game-like features in training, and 83% say that they feel more motivated to complete their training after engaging in gamification.
A team from Deloitte once created a game based on a zombie apocalypse where the new hire had to make decisions to save humanity. The game trained the employee in consulting skills and problem solving while allowing teams to have more fun. You can use similar strategies to promote everything from productivity and teamwork to improved engagement in your new hires. Gamification is also an excellent way to introduce your staff to the KPIs and metrics you’ll be using to track their success.
As your new hire becomes more comfortable in your business, you can continue using similar gamification methods to introduce additional training and development options.
Using Gamification in Healthcare Hiring
Introducing gamification as a tool for healthcare hiring isn’t just about making the onboarding experience more exciting to candidates. A gamification strategy will improve your employer brand and help to set you apart from other potential employers. This could mean that you reach more of the best talent from around the world.
Additionally, games can help you to build more diverse teams without wasting time on the wrong hires. Gamification allows you to screen candidates objectively and check on the potential skills of your employees without having to rely on qualifications alone. In a hybrid work environment where we have fewer opportunities to interact with candidates before a hire, they can also develop a better understanding of your candidates.
What Next?
If you are looking for your next healthcare role or want to build your talent pipeline and want our help, contact our team on +971 (0)4 442 0921 or via email here to find out more about how our expert team of recruiters can enhance your medical device business starting today.
Thanks,
Chris
How Kinetic Can Help
Kinetic sources professionals locally and internationally for leading multinational, regional and local Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices companies, including Consumer Healthcare organisations.
If you need help sourcing the best candidates for your pharmaceutical or medical device organisation who will help drive your business forward this year, contact us today.