Nurse practitioners are in great demand these days. And being a nurse practitioner is a very well-paid occupation. A psychiatric nurse practitioner in a big city can earn as much as a doctor in a rural area. So why is it so hard to hire a nurse practitioner?
Enter the nurse practitioner recruiter.
With a great demand and a limited supply, there is now a need for people who spend their entire day trying to find nurse practitioners to fill job openings.
Why is there a limited supply of nurse practitioners? Because the medical profession makes it very hard to become a nurse practitioner. And because nurse practitioners are in a sort of strange niche. Are they nurses or are they doctors? Neither. They are a few steps above being a nurse and several steps below being a doctor.
Yet, in some states, a nurse practitioner can practice independently and even prescribe medications without a doctor’s permission. As an evolving field, nurse practitioner jobs can be very hard to define.
Training for Nurse Practitioners
Traditionally, a nurse practitioner had to be a nurse for at least seven years before being admitted to a training program to become a nurse practitioner. Training these days comes in many different packages.
In a few specialized programs in the United States, a person can enter the program without first practicing as a nurse. The training is crammed into three years and culminates with the student earning a master’s degree in nursing, RN certification, and an NP certification. More commonly, a person is already a nurse and enters a program that culminates in a master’s degree and the NP certification.
As expected, all nurse practitioners have to pass licensing exams.
With all the additional training and clinical hours needed, it’s no wonder there are so few nurse practitioners.
Demand for Nurse Practitioners
Since becoming a doctor is also a difficult career path, and the cost of that training is so exorbitant, there has been a steadily declining supply of new doctors. This is where nurse practitioners come into play. They are able to diagnose illnesses, order tests and analyze results, and manage patient treatment, taking a load off of doctors.
Additionally, a nurse practitioner costs the hospital or medical practice a lot less money than hiring a doctor.
Nurse Practitioner Recruiters
As expected, a nurse practitioner recruiter requires a great deal of specialized training as well. Most recruiters have experience recruiting regular nurses. Many nurse practitioner recruiters are nurses in their own right so that they can make a reasonable judgment about whether or not a nurse practitioner is a good fit for a particular facility.
Not only do they have to know the medical field, but they also need to know the human resources field. A good nurse practitioner recruiter will be certified by the National Association of Personnel Services and will be a Certified Personnel Consultant.
Employers
Most nurse practitioner recruiters work for hospitals and other healthcare facilities since this is where the demand is most significant. However, some nurse practitioner recruiters work for personnel companies. It is also possible to be self-employed as a nurse practitioner recruiter.
Duties
It’s important to remember that a nurse practitioner recruiter works for his client, not for the person seeking a job. A nurse practitioner recruiter gets paid to find someone; they don’t get paid by the job seeker.
Most nurse practitioner recruiters will solicit resumes from candidates and conduct the first screening interview. If a nurse practitioner recruiter works for a hospital, they may also hire the nurse practitioners and supervise their training.
What Makes a Good Nurse Practitioner Recruiter
When a healthcare facility hires a nurse practitioner recruiter to help them fill openings, it’s difficult to determine who is a good recruiter. A good recruiter will have a lot of networking connections in the healthcare field. They will have a proven track record of finding good candidates.
An excellent nurse practitioner recruiter will make themselves available. A healthcare facility should be able to reach the recruiter whenever they have questions. A superb recruiter learns everything they can about the healthcare facility to avoid placing people who don’t fit in with that particular culture.