Driving Applicant Growth

The United States is facing a national shortage of healthcare workers including nurses, medical assistants and medical front office staff. The shortage is due to a number of factors, including burnout, an aging population and the COVID-19 pandemic. With crucial nursing, medical assistant and medical front office positions to fill, the health system tapped GRADIANT to find a solution to reignite job seeker awareness and interest in their open roles. Stagnant site traffic and a lack of returning applicants highlighted the urgency of the situation.

The health system and GRADIANT implemented a job-specific, growth-oriented paid search and social campaign aimed to speak directly to job seekers in each field, reaching them on channels and platforms where they most likely consume career content and could start an application. Using daily-time-spent data, the team optimized channel mix and ad timing for each job-seeking audience. Paid search and paid social ads featuring job-specific imagery and messaging were set to run during carefully curated flight windows for maximum exposure.

Despite facing a 29% decrease in available roles during the fiscal quarter, the health system’s revamped digital strategy yielded impressive results. Total site visitors increased dramatically, with a remarkable 68% increase in new candidates. Career site traffic rose 65%, and the health system saw a 24% increase in returning job seekers to the career site. The strategic digital campaign supported attracting top talent and demonstrated the power of targeted messaging, channel optimization and robust measurement.