Wanted: Upper-level home health executive
What to do when you need a CEO
While providing an extra cushion of employees lest a minor epidemic of Hong Kong flu passes through your agency, temporary staffing agencies don’t exactly fit the bill when it comes to finding your top executives. You want them there for the long haul.
Enter health care executive recruitment firms, such as MedXec USA in Deerfield Beach, FL, which are finding a solid footing in the health care industry alongside their part-time staffing siblings. After all, who better to hire the top person than someone who does nothing but hire.
Dick Myers, PHR, CPC, MedXec USA chairman and CEO, notes that companies such as his provide executive search services for every type of job from director of nursing on up to the CEOs of national companies. When it comes to critical players, recruiting firms have the edge.
"We offer confidential searches and often identify candidates for the position who aren’t necessarily looking for a job," he says, noting that his database includes more than 11,000 home care professionals. Moreover, nearly 80% of the people MedXec places, he says, weren’t originally looking for a new position.
Separating the eagles from the turkeys
Such resources are critical in today’s home care arena, he points out, "where finding talented people is more difficult than ever. There are so many people available. So how do you screen out the unacceptable and screen in the eagles — the really exceptional performers?"
By outsourcing the hiring process, he says, agencies can save themselves a significant amount of time and money. "It’s a very effective method of going about your business because we take away most of the pain that goes with hiring."
Granted, Myers says, it may not be a small home health agency’s best strategy to use a recruiting firm to fill lower-level positions, especially when the firm charges a flat percentage finder’s fee.
"When the average cost per hire drops significantly, our rate doesn’t; so if you’re looking for a $26,000-a-year intake coordinator and you’re paying out 25% of that, you can probably find a person through more effective means," he adds.
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