It’s not limited to recruiting; social media and LinkedIn are just as effective at helping lab managers advance their personal careers by helping them find their ideal jobs
It’s the toughest labor market in decades for skilled clinical laboratory and pathology professionals! In cities across America, lab managers struggle, not only to recruit and fill open positions, but also to retain their most-skilled staff members who are getting first-rate offers from competing labs.
How tight is the job market in pathology? Just ask the young pathologists who’ve graduated from their residency programs and fellowships. In recent years, it’s become tougher and tougher to find a position in a city of their preference that fits their subspecialty training.
More Competition among Medical Labs for the Best Med Techs and Lab Scientists
How tight is the job market in clinical laboratories? The demand for skilled, competent, clinical chemists, medical technologists, histotechnologists, phlebotomists, and other lab scientists outstrips the supply in those labs that are dealing with increased volumes of specimens, and which are adding sophisticated molecular and genetic tests to their in-house menus.
“In many respects, this is a perfect storm for labs that are actively recruiting to fill positions, as well as for med techs and pathologists looking for their ideal job,” declared Peggy McKee, CEO of Career Confidential, a national management and sales recruiting company in Gunter, Texas. “Employers are losing some of their best staff members to competing labs. Meanwhile, lab professionals looking for their ideal jobs are struggling to stand out and get the attention of the top lab employers in their communities.”
In a tight labor market for clinical lab professionals and pathologists, both employers and candidate employees are two sides of the same coin. “One side of the coin is employers,” continued McKee. “How do employers tell the labor market that their clinical lab or pathology organization is a great place to work? How do employers educate the labor pool about their first-rate benefits and ideal working environments?”
Opportunities for Med Techs, PhDs, and Pathologists Seeking ‘Perfect Lab Job’
“The other side of that coin are med techs, lab scientists, and pathologists looking for a job,” she said. “These lab professionals have the identical problem. How do they stand out from other candidates for their ideal lab job? How do they build their credibility and visibility as reliable contributors when responding to open lab positions?
“Essentially, that ‘same coin’ is how to stand out in a competitive marketplace,” stated McKee. “The challenge and the opportunity for clinical labs and pathology groups to build awareness across the medical lab industry that their lab is a super place to work, that it offers great training and career development opportunities, and that its lab staff enjoy great benefits and a productive working culture.
“Med techs, pathologists, and other lab scientists looking for the best job—or the job that advances their career upward another step—share that same problem of creating awareness in the laboratory space of their skills, their accomplishments, and their potential to contribute incredible things for their next lab employer,” she emphasized.
How Clinical Laboratories Are Attracting Top-Performing Med Techs
So what does it take to establish this awareness in the medical laboratory community? “Unfortunately, all the reliable, tried-and-tried professional networking and recruiting approaches of past years are now passé,” noted McKee. “Baby boomers relied on Rolodexes when hiring or when looking for a new job. But today, Generations X and Y don’t even know what a Rolodex was!
Debra Harrsch (above left) is Founder and CEO of Brandwidth Solutions, LLC, in Lansdale, Pa. Peggy McKee (above right) is Chief Executive Officer at Career Confidential in Gunter, Texas. In the June 23, 2016, Dark Daily webinar, these two experts will explain how social media actually works, the ways in which it can benefit your laboratory, and how to use social media to tap lab resources and knowledge at critical junctures. (Photo copyrights: Brandwidth Solutions and Career Confidential.)
“What does work is savvy use of social media, particularly LinkedIn,” she stated. “It is just as important for a clinical lab or an anatomic pathology group—as employers—to have an easy-to-find presence on social media as it is for the lab scientist who is seeking a better job. Simply said, the Internet is the first place everyone turns to do research on companies and to vet candidates for open jobs.”
Can Your Medical Lab’s Job Candidates Find You on LinkedIn or Facebook?
McKee pointed out that even lab administrators who are hiring staff members to fill open positions in their clinical lab organization will attract the highest-caliber candidates for those jobs if they have up-to-date personal profiles on the social media websites. “Think about that for a moment,” advised McKee. “If you were a med tech seeking a stable job and you knew that the health system lab in your town was hiring, wouldn’t you do some research about the managers running that lab? Wouldn’t it be helpful to see the names and profiles of the lab administrators on LinkedIn? And also the names and profiles of the department heads and section supervisors?
“That is why the managers at labs and pathology groups want to have a personal profile on these social media websites, along with a profile of their lab organization,” she noted. “Your best candidates for the jobs you want to fill are checking these profiles, even before they decide to submit a resume in response to an open position.”
Important for Job Candidates to Have a Good Profile on LinkedIn, Facebook
The need for a strong professional profile is just as important for the candidate who wants to be hired for their ideal job at their laboratory of first choice. “Imagine, for a moment, that your ideal lab employer has just received your resume and it is good enough to be put in the ‘we should interview this person’ stack,” said McKee. “Don’t you think that a good HR department and hiring manager would next go look for your professional profile on LinkedIn, as well as to check you out on Facebook and similar sites? And, if they were to look today, would your pages on these websites represent you as a worthy candidate to fill that position? Or would there be a vacuum … no useful information? In today’s information-rich business environment, no information about you on these websites is just as bad as a poor profile page!”
To help clinical laboratories, pathology groups that are actively hiring, and to help those medical laboratory professionals currently seeking jobs, Dark Daily is presenting a timely webinar, “Tapping the Power of Social Media: How Clinical Labs and Pathology Groups Are Increasing Revenue with New Accounts while Improving Staff Recruiting and Retention.”
The webinar will take place on Thursday, June 23, 2016, at 1 PM EDT. Information and registration can be found here (or type this link into your browser https://ddaily.wpengine.com/audio-c onferences/webinar-how-to-harness-the-power-of-social-media-to-expand-your-clinical-laboratory-or-pathology-practice-win-new-clients-and-increase-revenue-626).
Two experts will show webinar attendees how to put the power of social media to work in improving their lab’s recruiting efforts and in boosting the career progress of lab managers, med techs, PhDs, and young pathologists. They are Peggy McKee, CEO, Career Confidential of Gunter, Texas, and Debra Harrsch, Founder and CEO of Brandwidth Solutions of Lansdale, Pa.
How Medical Labs and Med Techs Can Use Social Media to Best Advantage
Each expert will help webinar participants understand how to use social media to best advantage. Using the “both sides of the same coin” concept, the information they present will be equally useful to the medical laboratory organizations that are actively recruiting and hiring to fill open positions and individuals looking for their perfect job with their ideal lab employer.
Both McKee and Harrsch recently presented at the 21st annual Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management that took place in New Orleans last April. Both sessions were highly-rated by attendees.
“Whether you are a lab manager wanting to fill a key position with a top-flight candidate or you are that job candidate seeking your ideal job, social media is now an essential tool,” advised McKee. “That is why it is imperative that you understand how social media works, how to build a useful profile for your lab or yourself, and how to use that profile to network intelligently so as to make the best match between the available job and the right candidate.
—Michael McBride
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