CHICAGO, Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Health care continues to be one of the hottest areas for hiring in the U.S. and one of the toughest to recruit in-demand talent.  CareerBuilder's annual survey finds 22 percent of health care hiring managers plan to add full-time, permanent health care employees in the New Year, up three percentage points over 2012.  At the same time, 23 percent of health care employers reported that they currently have open positions for which they can't find qualified talent. A new CareerBuilder division is poised and ready to help health care organizations target and secure the staff they need today and tomorrow.

Thirteen percent of all U.S. jobs are in health care and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the U.S. will add 5.6 million health care jobs from 2010 to 2020, the largest projected increase of any industry. CareerBuilder has made a strategic decision to realign resources that will better support customers in health care by providing:

• More robust health care employment data – stronger market intelligence for workforce planning and modeling
• More customized health care talent acquisition and next generation technology solutions
• Enhanced service through education on health care trends and workforce issues

"The recession had very little impact on the hiring momentum of the health care industry and, to meet further demand, CareerBuilder has pooled a group of proficient experts into a new division that will focus solely on assisting health care clients' hiring needs efficiently and effectively," said Jason Lovelace, President of the Health Care Group at CareerBuilder, "Our research suggests that heath care hiring will accelerate in 2013 with heightened competition for high skill labor and improved compensation trends. As a result, it is essential that we arm our health care clients with the data and tools needed to recruit qualified talent and ultimately, positively impact patient care."

Temporary and Contract Hiring
More health care organizations are turning to staffing and recruiting companies and temporary workers to help meet increased market demands.  Thirty-six percent of health care employers plan to hire temporary and contract workers in 2013, up from 34 percent last year.  Among these employers, 37 percent plan to transition some temporary workers into full-time, permanent employees over the next 12 months.

Navigating the Skills Gap in 2013
There are an increasing number of areas where demand for skilled positions is growing much faster than the supply.  As hospitals and other health care organizations work to get qualified talent in the door, key trends to watch in the New Year include:

1)  Employers Scouting Talent at Other Organizations
Employers may come knocking, solicited or not.  One in five health care workers (20 percent) reported they have been approached to work for another employer in the last year when they didn't apply for a position with that organization. 

2)  More Employers Willing to Increase Compensation
In an effort to retain and attract top talent for skilled positions, health care employers expect to provide higher compensation for both current staff and prospective employees.  Seventy-six percent of health care employers plan to increase compensation for existing employees – up from 65 percent last year – while 53 percent will offer higher starting salaries for new health care employees – up significantly from 34 percent last year.  Most increases will be 3 percent or less.

3)  Employers Creating the Right Candidate Instead of Waiting for One
Employers are taking measures to "re-skill" workers themselves.  Two-thirds of health care employers plan to train people who don't have experience in health care and hire them for positions within their organizations, up from 33 percent last year. 

4)  Employers Stepping Up Retention Efforts
Thirty-seven percent of health care employers reported that top performers left their organizations in 2012.   While most health care workers reported they're generally satisfied with their jobs, 39 percent said they feel underemployed, and 20 percent said they plan on switching jobs in the coming year.  To stave off an increase in voluntary turnover, 45 percent of employers reported they are increasing employee retention efforts including more employee recognition, flexible schedules and surveying employees to see what's most important to them.

*Totals may not equal 100 percent due to rounding or respondents being able to choose more than one answer.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive^© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 274 health care hiring managers and human resource professionals and 576 health care workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between November 1 and November 30, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 274 and 576, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 5.92 and +/-4.08 percentage points, respectively.  Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 50 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and talent and compensation intelligence to recruitment solutions. More than 10,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact
Michael Erwin
773-527-3637
michael.erwin@careerbuilder.com
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SOURCE CareerBuilder