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Finding top nursing talent is a widespread concern across the healthcare industry – nearly half of all nursing jobs take longer than six weeks to fill, and 20 percent take 12 weeks or longer, according to a CareerBuilder study of healthcare hiring managers. Streamline the hiring process by clarifying the most essential traits needed so you can evaluate and make decisions more quickly and effectively. Learn more about the top skills that the best nursing candidates possess.

Technology

As healthcare administration processes continue to be phased out from paper to electronic methods, nurses will need to be comfortable with technology, especially electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Efficiency, accuracy and quality of patient care are at stake if nurses are unable to adapt to learning and working with both established and future healthcare technology systems. Being resistant to this change won’t help the long-term success of any nursing career. Accepting the new systems and welcoming any training will stand out to managers.

Leadership

Nurses are highly influential in healthcare settings, and professionals at all levels – from medical assistants to physicians – turn to them for their expertise. In order to effectively share their knowledge and ensure quality patient care, nurses should have leadership skills, even if they are in a non-managerial role. They should be able to make decisions, share their opinions with confidence and communicate well. Additionally, the nursing candidates of today could potentially be your organization’s nursing managers of tomorrow. Having nurses with strong leadership skills on staff can make it easier to fill the position in the future.

Flexibility

There are many variables for nursing careers, from location to specialty to shifts. The more flexible a candidate is in their preferences, the more versatile of a role they could play in your healthcare organization. Versatility is particularly helpful in nursing because it can help combat nursing shortages if your nursing staff is willing and able to take on less than desirable positions that are difficult to fill until you can hire. Identifying that versatility during the hiring process provides nurse managers with flexibility when the number of patients increases and adding new staff members quickly isn’t a possibility.

Ambition

Nursing is a challenging profession that is prone to burnout. If nurses entered the industry for external reasons, such as job security or pay, there is a significant risk they will succumb to the stress. What separates committed nurses from the rest is a passion for what they are doing that enables the nurses to stick out the trying times. A key indicator of passion to look for in nursing candidates is a willingness to grow professionally and ambition to accept more responsibility.

Attract top nursing candidates with Ethan Allen Workforce Solutions. We serve employers in the Hudson Valley area and their staffing needs by collaborating to determine the precise traits they’re looking for in their candidates. Contact a leader in Hudson Valley healthcare staffing today to learn more about how Ethan Allen could work with you to achieve your health care staffing needs.