If you’re looking for a new job in the healthcare industry, you’re in luck: thanks to the worker exodus during the pandemic, which has seen almost half a million people leave the industry since 2020, there are thousands of openings all across the country. Each of these facilities is clamoring for an ever-dwindling candidate pool, and many have recognized that they need to provide excellent benefits in order to attract good workers ready for a long tenure.

No matter your particular specialty, it’s essential that you carefully vet each opportunity and weigh the pros and cons of each. There are three different strategies to utilize when hunting down the perfect job, all of which should be used in conjunction with one another for maximum synergy.

Use a blend of generalized and specialized job boards to get good coverage of the whole field

There are an enormous number of job boards out there, each of which is geared toward certain groups. For example, Indeed is great for those outside of specialized fields, such as service workers, and LinkedIn focuses more on white-collar options in sales and management. 

This is true of the healthcare industry, too, which has its own specialized job boards for only physicians and other medical staff; these websites will have listings that hospital systems and private clinics have not placed on general boards for fear of getting many irrelevant applications.

While those in certain healthcare professions, like nurses, may be able to find a large wealth of postings on sites like ZipRecruiter or Monster, those with highly advanced degrees might find it hard to get any hits for neurologist jobs or endocrinologist positions on such boards. For the best results regardless of your skill level, make profiles on a number of different sites, including healthcare-specific job searches, and ensure that you give the exact same information on each one; if you end up updating your resume, go back and reupload it on every site that you use regularly. Set up job alerts for your specific parameters and develop a schedule for when you apply to jobs, such as twice or three times a week. 

Leverage your professional network to learn about potential offers

Healthcare is a very collaborative work environment, so it’s likely that you’ve developed some close connections over your time in school and on the job - and this networking can be the lynchpin that finds you an incredible new role.

Throughout every industry, networking is an invaluable way to hear of new opportunities and get your foot in the door; this is especially true in the medical industry because reputation is everything amongst licensed and credentialed professionals. This means that when you’re considering a shift, your coworkers and former schoolmates are the best people to discuss this with.

It’s best to reach out to your colleagues outside of working hours, especially if you’re still coworkers in your current position; simply explain that you’re thinking of finding a new role and ask them if they know of anything that might fit you. You may be surprised at the wealth of knowledge your work friends have, especially about the current job market!

Work with a recruiter to get expert advice on what roles will be the best fit

If your own professional circle doesn’t have much advice for you, it’s time to tap into an even larger network - and you can do that by working with a recruiter, specifically one for the healthcare industry. These companies have focused their operations on the medical field, so they have developed hundreds of connections throughout your area; they’re kept up to date on openings in the region, and they will be able to help you find the right position for your needs. 

Recruiters are especially helpful if you’re moving to a new area and do not yet have established connections there, as they can take the place of a well-rounded professional network for this first position.

You may believe that recruiting firms just want to place people without consideration for their long-term happiness, but you must remember that these companies have a reputation; if many of their placements end up leaving shortly after onboarding, it reflects poorly on their skills, and others may be unwilling to utilize them in the future. Instead, they strive to create a great match between the candidate and company, bringing out the best in each participant and ensuring that both parties get what they desire out of the transaction. 

Job hunting is difficult, but developing a winning strategy will make it much easier

Even though the market in the healthcare industry is currently weighted heavily toward workers, this doesn’t mean that great opportunities will simply fall into your lap: you still need to work hard to find the right match so that you’re not wasting your time. Thankfully, you have numerous resources at your disposal, including specialized job boards, your professional network, and recruiting firms. By utilizing all of them together and avoiding redundancy in your searches, you can vastly reduce the amount of work you put in - and the amount of time it takes to get you the right position.