Yes, They Are Qualified But Are They Deliverable?

Everyone I talk with today expresses how demand has tremendously picked up in the Healthcare IT  job market. Most employers have multiple positions open and most candidates I talk to say the volume of calls they receive for positions are certainly picking up compared to a year ago.

With the job market picking up, many people who felt apprehensive to explore career options a year ago are certainly feeling like the time is right.  Because of this, employers are dealing with a dynamic that begins each time we see an uptick in the job market.  On the one side, employers I talk with are feeling good that more people seem to be answering their ads that are posted for open positions.  But at the same time they have more positions to fill.

Employers have the perception that since more people are responding to ads that their choice of potential candidates is increasing.  On the one side this is true, however, a high percentage of candidates who respond to the job postings of one employer are often applying to many employers.  After all, as I am sure most people would say, if you are going to change jobs, you might as well explore all the opportunities that are available.

Because of the increased candidate volume, many organizations become more selective in whom they begin to interview.  They become more selective in evaluating the skills, knowledge, and experience that appear on a candidate’s resume.  On the surface this seems pretty normal and logical….Screen resumes for the “most qualified,” consider them Group A and interview them first.  Other resumes that are not the “most qualified” but could excel in the position (as it appears from their resume) will be put in Group B and interviewed if necessary.  Easy enough right?  But there is one big issue…and that is deliverability.

As the Managing Partner of a Search Firm, our clients hire us help them identify candidates that have the skills, knowledge and experience to excel in their critical positions.  A major part of our qualifying is not just,  “Does the candidate have the potential to excel in the job?”, but what is their “deliverability?”  We define deliverability as the likelihood that the candidate will “accept” the position at the end of the interview process, should one be offered.

Many organizations are spending their time interviewing three or four candidates that are 90% qualified while only having a 10% chance of being deliverable.  These are the situations when you feel like you have three or four really good candidates but at the end of your hiring process you are starting over because your offers have been turned down.

These organizations would be better off interviewing two or three candidates that are 75% qualified but have a 60% chance of being deliverable.

There are actually some very predictable techniques organizations can use to group a candidate’s deliverability (which I will mention in future posts).  For many organizations, getting good people hired in a timely manner and contributing within key roles on major projects is a key objective right now.  Spending more time at the beginning of the hiring process to qualify candidates on their deliverability will lead to a highly improved interview-to-hire ratio.

About the author

David Kushan

David Kushan is the President of Healthcare IS and has spent the last 18 years of his career working in the Healthcare Information Technology industry assisting over 120 healthcare organizations nationwide. Visit www.HealthcareIS.com for Dave’s company blog, articles, podcasts and more.

   

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