What employers want – healthcare industry

Do you want a career in the health industry?

We met with Larissa Davidson the HR Business Manager at Hoys Allied Health and Wellness to find out what employers want in the healthcare industry to help job seekers.

You can watch the interview here, or there is a breakdown below.

Larissa, how many staff and what types of roles do Hoys employ?

“We have approximately 40 staff employed as contractors, permanent staff and casuals. We have Admin Assistants, a Bookkeeper, Physiotherapists, Exercise Physiologists, Occupational Therapists, Dieticians, Massage Therapists, a range of Managerial Roles and Rehab Consultants.”

How many sites do you have and when was Hoys established?

“Hoys Allied Health and Wellness was established in 2006 and there are three sites (Coffs Harbour, Sawtell and Toormina). Then Hoys Work Health was purchased by Hoys Allied Health and Wellness in 2009 and we have one site for that at the Jetty practice.”

What stands out to you in a Resume?

“First of all that it’s well written and concise. I don’t like to see a Resume that’s pages and pages long, ideally, keep it to just two pages. I look for relevant skills and experience, so ideally if the applicant can highlight that at the start of the Resume, it makes my job a whole lot easier.”

How important to you are Referees on that Resume?

“I definitely need to contact Referees and prefer those who are workplace related. So a Supervisor, Business Owner, or work colleague. A personal referee, even though people do put these on Resumes, I tend not to make contact with.”

Is there anything throughout the Resume that might be a red flag to you?

“Red flags are gaps in employment history, e.g. if someone has a year or so where it doesn’t look like they’ve been working. Also, when someone seems to have a very quick turnover in positions. When I look at Resumes I really like to see that they’ve worked somewhere for 2 years or longer. I’m not keen on seeing just 6 months or 12 months and jumping from employer to employer. If we’re going to take the time to train somebody, I’d like to know that they’re going to stick around.”

Do you look at people’s social media profiles as part of the screening process?

“I don’t actually. I know some of our Managers do and they’ll feed back to me what they may have found. But I personally as the primary recruiter, don’t.”

If someone wants a health industry job, what attributes must they have?

“Enthusiasm is the most important. We can train people, but enthusiasm and an interest in the role are the biggest.

It also depends on the role with what we’re looking for. So if it’s an Administrative position – attention to detail is really important. Also, when I said for their Resume to be concise, they also need to have the ability to be concise when they speak. To be really on point with what they’re discussing and not waffle on.”

Do you encourage applicants to view your website and know what your business is all about?

“Some of the questions in our interviews are ‘what do you know about Hoys?’ and ‘why have you applied for a job here?’. So in that, I would expect that someone has gone to the website and read a little bit about us. So that when they come into the interview, they can answer the questions in a relevant way to Hoys and what we do.”

Do you provide feedback to applicants?

“When we recruit, we might interview around 10 people for a position. So in terms of me providing feedback to all of those applicants, I wouldn’t be individually contacting those people. If they want feedback from me, then certainly they can contact me for that feedback, more than happy to give that. I think it’s important for people to know if their not successful in the position, what they might do differently next time.”

What’s your process after the interview?

“I’ll start contacting Referees and if I’m happy with that, I’ll contact the individual and make an offer. If they’re happy with that offer, I would then send them a letter of offer, along with the employment forms they need to fill out. So they’ll do all that electronically and send it back to me.”

As part of our recruitment process at ETC, if you were to employ one of our candidates, we would like to do follow up contact with you to see how you’re both going. How often do you think in that initial time with that new employee that you’d like to hear from us?

“I think initially once a month, and I think that’s really important to be face to face. In the work that we do with workplace rehab, we are as well placing people into employment. We make sure we do those follow-ups face to face because there’s so much more to be gained through a face to face conversation, then just over the phone. I think both the employer and the employee are likely to provide you with so much more in terms of how it’s going, any particular issues that you can address, if it’s in person.”

Thank you Larissa! We really appreciate your time in helping job seekers to understand what employers want in the healthcare industry.

ETC can help you to get a job in the health industry!

Contact your Jobs/Youth Advisor on 1800 007 400 to express your interest in any available roles.

Now that you know what employers want in the healthcare industry, we hope these tips help to keep you motivated in finding a job during the coronavirus pandemic >

To get yourself prepared for an interview, check out ETC’s tips for video/phone interviews >