How to Start a Healthcare Staffing Agency Training Manual

How to Start A Healthcare Staffing Agency

Myth Number 4: You need to offer free services until you start getting a certain number of contracts 14

Myth Number 5: You need to have an office to run a staffing agency 14

Myth Number 6: You have no time left for family and friends when running a staffing agency........... 14

Myth Number 7: It’s too late to start a healthcare staffing agency. The market is brimming with staffing agencies. 15

Myth Number 8: You have to hire experienced staff for your healthcare staffing agency 15

Chapter

Staffing Agency

Healthcare

DISCLAIMER

© 2019 Quality Staffing Network LLC

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including printing, scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

The Author has strived in every way to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this book, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within the book are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the subject.

While all attempts have been made to verify each and every piece of information provided in this publication, the Author assumes no responsibility for any errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.

INTRODUCTION

The medical staffing industry is on a path that results in its continued expansion, with double digit yearly growth rates being very common. Medical facilities and hospitals find it extremely convenient and cost effective to work with staffing agencies to fill their short term vacancies, weekend shifts, and to fill the general demand for all types of medical staff.

Many medical centers and hospitals actually tend to prefer to work with healthcare staffing agencies due to the fact that they can ‘test drive’ any particular medical professional without having to go through the risk associated with hiring process within permanent positions.

Today, the trend of working for healthcare staffing agencies is on the rise. There once was a stigma of working with such staffing agencies; however, this is no longer the case. In fact, many individuals prefer working with a healthcare staffing agency instead of working full time positions at a medical center or hospital. Both inexperienced as well as experienced workers enjoy many benefits by working for a healthcare staffing agency.

Additionally, such staffing agencies can be ideal for new graduates, those people transitioning between careers, or those who have been downsized. Full time parents who are in search of part-time work or those who just need to get some extra money for the holidays can also benefit by working for a healthcare staffing agency.

On the other hand, retired medical workers can also work for such an agency. They possess the experience and the skills but might only be interested in working part time, instead of getting tied down with a full-time job, which is generally far more demanding.

When it comes to starting up your own healthcare staffing agency, the barriers to entry are relatively small. A healthcare staffing agency can be run effectively with just a phone and a fax machine. By focusing on a particular geographic area, an agency can steadily grow to a point where it becomes capable of competing with larger organizations with greater overheads. Only a small group of staff and clients are enough for a staffing agency to begin its operations.

The healthcare staffing industry encourages growth by tapping into various professions. Each profession with a healthcare staffing agency is able to generate a decent annual income that can increase your agency’s revenue close to millions of dollars each year. The potential of a healthcare staffing agency cannot be undermined.

With the right set-up in place, it can be safely said that you can earn over $100,000 a year by running a staffing agency while working only half the time that you would otherwise have to dedicate if you were working a full time job at a hospital.

WHAT WILL YOU FIND IN THIS BOOK?

This book contains valuable information for those individuals who are interested in starting up their own healthcare staffing agency. You will find credible information that will assist you in developing a strong framework upon which you can base your agency’s entire operations.

Note: It is to be noted that the word ‘candidate’ refers to the staff of a healthcare staffing company; whereas, the ‘client’ is that facility that is hiring staff from the staffing firm.

CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING HEALTHCARE STAFFING

The healthcare staffing industry is responsible for staffing medical clinics, hospitals, and medical offices. It employs medical professionals who are assigned to varying healthcare facilities depending on the agreement between the healthcare staffing firm and its clients. The employees of such a firm are normally paid higher wages than they would otherwise get by working full-time. Besides this, many of these firms are now starting to offer medical insurance, benefits, income tax withholdings, and retirement plans.

The clients of staffing firms are those medical facilities that seek professionals to take over various vacancies and staffing needs of the organization. A staffing firm is able to generate its revenue by charging higher fees from its clients, while it attracts candidates to work for it by offering higher salaries than typical market rates.

Some of the staffing agencies out there combine medical staffing and finders’ fee recruitment in order to generate greater revenue.

Matching the staff to the needs of a client is far easier in the healthcare staffing industry than in any other staffing industry out there. The employees of a healthcare staffing company are normally qualified and trained to perform duties within their scope of practice. The candidates are simply required to exercise their professional responsibilities at the client’s facility. This enables healthcare facilities to fill any staff shortages at a moment’s notice.

ASPECTS OF SERVICES

This is a lot of variety and depth to the healthcare staffing services. Yet, these different aspects are becoming more and more aligned than ever before.

ARE HEALTHCARE STAFFING SERVICES EMPLOYERS THEMSELVES?

Those firms that provide medical staffing services are actually employers. Even though many candidates opt to sign up with the staffing agencies on an independent contract or with their own sets of rules, the candidates are nevertheless the employees of the agency. Whenever a certain staffing agency sends a candidate to any hospital, then the candidate becomes the employee of that hospital, which is then responsible for their compensation and insurance.

Many of the healthcare staffing agencies out there provide both medical staffing as well as recruitment services for clients. Quite often, a temporary-to-permanent placement can be an integral part of the services provided by such an agency.

Previously, healthcare staffing, temporary-to-permanent, and recruitment services were independent of each other. Today, however, all of these services have merged together and have come under the scope of many firms in the staffing industry.

By providing temporary-to-permanent positions, staffing agencies are able to benefit from the recruitment finders’ fee and are able to mark up their hourly prices. These are some of the ways in which staffing agencies generate a steady flow of income while providing a wide portfolio of services to their clients. For these agencies, it is no longer an option to provide all-around service, it is a necessity.

TYPES OF HEALTHCARE STAFFING

Healthcare staffing agencies are capable of covering most aspects of staffing within their industry. However, to be able to serve better, it is important to understand what these ‘aspects’ really are.

Temporary healthcare staffing

This is the service that healthcare staffing agencies have the greatest focus on. These services involve short-term shifts, including daily as well as weekly. These are the shifts that can cover the requirements of any healthcare facility at times of urgent need, including holidays or vacations. The agency bills on an hourly basis for the services they provide and the invoices are normally sent bi-annually.

Long-Term healthcare staffing

These are the assignments that are usually longer than 13 weeks. Such long term staffing is required at facilities located in rural areas, which are unable to send a professional for just a day or two. Additionally, heavily populated facilities might also need long term staffing due to their full time, in-house staff.

Healthcare staffing recruiting

A number of staffing agencies tend to specialize in offering professionals within a certain industry. In the case of a healthcare staffing agency, it is relatively easy to provide such a service together with providing

temporary staffing services. Recruiting fees can be very high, and such services provided by a staffing agency can be crucial for medical startups, especially in their initial phases.



Healthcare staffing temp-to-perm service

Combining healthcare staffing recruitment and long-term medical staffing is more common today. A client may consider an employee for permanent recruitment by observing them for a certain period of time, only to hire them later on if they are found to be of a satisfactory level. Your staffing agency would receive a fee for this service.

WHO CAN START UP A HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCY?

When it comes to starting a healthcare staffing agency, having a medical background greatly helps. The biggest challenge is deciding how to start the agency and what services to offer. Many people start their staffing agency as independent contractors providing services according to their expertise.

A company aiming to expand from, say, an accounting staffing firm to a healthcare staffing firm would have to experience a much greater monetary entry as compared to a single nurse who wishes to selfcontract herself. Partners have been found to be quite successful by splitting the shifts among themselves. For instance, one may work the day shifts while the other works the night shift.

Let us review some of the professionals who have an advantage when it comes to launching a healthcare staffing agency, particularly in specific areas within the medical industry:

Medical Imaging: Radiology

Cardiovascular technologist

Computer technologists

Magnetic resonance imaging technologist

Mammography technologists

Nuclear medicine technologists

Radiation technologists

Radiology technologists

Ultrasound technologists

Laboratory Technologists

Cytotechnologist

Histology technologists

Laboratory assistant

Medical laboratory technologists

Medical technologists

Rehabilitation Professionals

Audiologist

Occupational therapist

Physical therapist

Speech pathologist

Perioperative Professionals

Surgical technologist

Pharmacy Professionals

Pharmacists

Pharmacy technologists

Pharmacy aid

Respiratory Professionals

Respiratory technicians

Respiratory therapists

Paraprofessionals

Phlebotomists

EKG technicians

Medical assistants

THE POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH

In terms of finances, the medical field has the fastest projected growth. This billion dollar industry provides great opportunity for those who wish to enter it and start their healthcare staffing agency. The industry assures many entrepreneurs a great success and high return on their investment. A chronic shortage of nurses is expected in the nursing field alone by the year 2016. Supply and demand states the higher wages of nurses, other medical staff, and negotiating power for the healthcare staffing agencies.

The above list illustrates the potential markets that can be tapped into within the healthcare staffing industry. All of these markets are expected to see huge deficiencies within the staffing industry. As a

matter of fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts more jobs would be created in the medical field; unfortunately, the labor pool would not be available.

With that said, it is clear that healthcare staffing agencies would play a crucial role in fulfilling the deficiencies by attracting and providing professional labor pool at increased pay rates while charging higher hourly rate from the medical facilities in need of such professionals.

Fortunately, the costs associated with launching your own healthcare staffing agency are quite low, hence, allowing professionals to start their own staffing agency cheaply and quickly. In many cases, a phone and a computer is all that is needed.

WHY PROFESSIONALS OPT FOR HEALTHCARE STAFFING?

An increasing number of professionals are understanding the fact that they can earn more while working less when they work with a healthcare staffing agency. This, combined with the shortage of labor, enables healthcare professionals to ask for more pay. Medical centers and hospitals are quite frequently unable to compete with the staffing agencies and are forced to accept the terms and pay outlined by the staffing agencies. As a result, an increasing number of medical staff join staffing agencies to get better perks and pay. This adds to the shortage experienced by hospitals and medical facilities.

Another reason that makes healthcare staffing agencies so appealing for professionals is because many hospital politics, in one way or another, prohibit increasing the pay of professionals. As a result, individuals prefer to work for staffing agencies in order to avoid all kinds of internal politics.

This shift and increase in the trend of working for staffing agencies has gripped the medical industry and the knowledge has now reached fresh graduating professionals. These fresh graduates have always wanted to earn top dollar to quickly pay off their loans and establish themselves quicker. Healthcare staffing agencies have, as a result, become a beacon of hope for them. When they are not able to earn the wages they expect from hospitals and medical centers, they eventually turn towards staffing agencies. This triggers a cycle where hospitals are forced to pay high wages to staffing agencies to meet their staffing needs, therefore allowing the medical staff to realize their true financial potential.

WHY HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL CENTERS PREFER TO WORK WITH HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCIES?

The benefits of working with healthcare staffing agencies are not limited to medical professionals. In fact, when the total expenses that hospitals have to endure when it comes to having a full time employee are considered, including benefits, hospitals and medical centers believe healthcare agencies to be a viable option despite their higher fee. Healthcare facilities have to only pay for the services rendered by the

staffing agency. They (the hospitals) do not experience absenteeism when working with a medical staffing agency as someone would always be available to cover the required shifts.

Various managers prefer to utilize healthcare staffing agencies instead of attempting to hire employees of their own. This has been augmented by the fact that many healthcare staffing agencies are now taking their place in the process while streamlining it. When hospitals are being forced to run an apparently lean operation, managers view this as an excellent way for getting monetary gain.

The cyclical nature of the medical industry makes it a viable option for hospitals to use staffing agencies for hiring employees. Hospital census determines the manpower in a particular facility and by using a healthcare staffing agency enables hospitals and medical clinics to just call up an agency to cancel a shift. As a result, hospitals can save costs for any specific day as compared to firing an employee just because the operations at an hospital are slow.

DETERMINING YOUR SERVICE

Deciding what service your staffing agency should offer would be easier if you define your goals. If the goal is to provide services to medical clinics and hospitals using whatever skills you possess, then figuring out the niche is almost as simple as putting your professional license to use.

If you aim to start with your profession first, then move on to other areas, then all it takes is to hire professionals that are within your scope, create a financial base, and then slow expand to other areas of the medical field.

If you already operate a staffing company and wish to venture into the medical industry, your best bet would be to find a qualified business developer to help you understand the ins and outs of the medical field.

Do not forget that your decision regarding the niche is heavily influenced by the prevailing conditions in marketplace. The region you plan to operate in will dictate its supply and demand for the supply of labor as well as client. For instance, let’s assume that there are five hospitals functioning in your area; however, around twenty-five healthcare staffing agencies are attempting to gain an edge over a specific niche, then this would definitely not be an ideal market to start offering your services.

Nonetheless, you may learn that specializing further in your niche might help you gain an edge over others. You may also consider offering weekend night shift services at a high rate of guaranteeing services. This will put you in a position where you will be attracting more employees, hence beating your competitors.

KEY ELEMENTS: OPPORTUNITY AND FLEXIBILITY

OPPORTUNITY

A healthcare staffing agency can bring down its hourly rate for the first contract in an area just to be able to enter the market and start doing business. When a staffing agency provides exemplary service to a healthcare facility, it automatically makes way and enters other staffing niches, experiencing less friction along the way. Loose pennies and gain dollars – a wise method of gaining foothold in a region where competition is intense. Many new start-up staffing agencies do not understand this, and hence fail to secure enough contracts to help them get started.

FLEXIBILITY

There will be times when your staffing agency would be asked to provide professionals that are outside the scope of your forte. This is something you should be prepared for and must have taken steps to create an environment where you can tend to such requests in a timely manner. These requests are often a way of making way into other niches that would otherwise have remained shut.

HEALTHCARE STAFFING ENTREPRENEURS

It takes a lot of determination and love to become a successful self-employed person in this business. No two days are same as the owners have to face variations in dealing with the candidates as well as clients. To become a healthcare staffing entrepreneur, you need to be a people person as you will have to talk to a lot of people, interview them, and having almost daily meetings with numerous people from all corners. Most individuals who start a healthcare staffing agency have experience in the medical field, including experience of solving problems among clients and candidates and so on.

Back in 1985, a local California radio technologist began his own X-ray staffing service. He worked shifts until he could find candidates to fill them. His firm steadily grew until it almost doubled in a certain period of time. The organization continues to expand and gets loyalty from all the hospitals that it provides staffing services to.

In another case, a local mammography technologist started to provide help with mammography at a local clinic while her children were at school. The local clinic’s sister facility also requested staffing help from this technologist, leading her to establish a second contract. The doctor at this facility appreciated her work, and gave recommendations to a friend of his who worked as a manager at a large imaging center, leading to the third contract for her. Within two years, she was getting enough income to be able to hire staff and a secretary to assist her in filling up the increasing demand for shifts from her contracts.

These examples show that many individuals start off by offering services within their professional capacity, slowly expanding to other areas as the demand grows. These are the ways that many people start their staffing business. It certainly helps to have deep pockets, but it takes much more than that. Planning and a clear understanding of the market will determine the difference between an agency’s success or failure.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR BEFORE STARTING

No matter what your goal is or which niche you plan to target, you need to have clients and candidates to be able to make money. Focus on the following two aspects before starting your healthcare staffing agency, and you will be able to save hundreds and thousands of dollars that would otherwise be wasted due to mistakes and inefficiencies:

• Determine the number of hospitals and medical facilities in your area.

• Determine how qualified the candidates are in your pool of staff.

By coordinating this information, you will be able to figure out an approach to validate your healthcare staffing agency.

While most of the people who have launched their own healthcare staffing agency have some kind of a background in the medical industry, it takes more planning & knowledge than just experience of a certain profession. You need to have an entrepreneurial spirit within yourself.

Some of the ways to perform a needs analysis minus the need to spend a lot of money on researching the market include the following:

 Call and request an appointment to interview potential facilities that you see as prospective clients. Ask them about their staffing needs and whether they are being met. If they are already using a certain healthcare staffing service, ask them if they would ever consider using a different one.

 Sign up with a healthcare staffing agency that operates outside the area you aim to cover. This will help you understand how they operate and how their service is viewed in the eyes of the clients.

 Gather demographic information of the area you aim to cover using Census Bureau.

DEALING WITH PROBLEMS

The healthcare staffing agency comes with its own sets of problems. This is why you should be totally aware of what you are getting into. You should understand what issues you will have to face together with knowledge of all the stressors that are associated with running a healthcare staffing agency.

 Paying the Employees – It is very easy to end up with a huge payroll even before a client actually pays for the services you offered. It is not unheard of to have a certain client in the healthcare staffing agency pay: Net 45, 60, 90 or even Net 120.

 Intense Competition – In most cases, there is intense competition in the healthcare staffing agency. It can even get downright dirty. Stealing other firms’ staff by giving more incentives is a very common thing. Loyalties are uncommon, particularly when a client sees a way to save a couple of dollars and a candidate finds a way to earn a few extra.

 Finding Candidates – Due to the intense competition, it can be quite hard to locate candidates. The margins have greatly shrunk in an attempt to locate qualified professionals while securing new contracts.

 Life Span – The lifespan of a candidate varies significantly. It can range from between a few days to a few years. It is a continuous struggle when it comes to keeping your clients as well as candidates happy.

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO GET INTO THE STAFFING INDUSTRY?

While anyone can start up a staffing agency, to be actually able to run it in an efficient manner that generates revenue, there is a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot of hurdles that need to be overcome. This, by no means, is an attempt to dissuade you. In fact, it’s just about providing you all the information that you need - the good and the bad – before you make a decision.

The bright side of this is that almost every business, no matter what industry it operates in, has to overcome hurdles and solve problems, and the healthcare industry is not an exception. Nevertheless, this staffing industry has become a professional choice for many, and if done right, it can turn out to be a fortune maker for you.

8 MYTHS STAFFING ENTREPRENEURS SHOULD AVOID

The following 8 myths are widespread amongst entrepreneurs. Believing in such myths can misguide you and derail you from your path, resulting in wastage of not only efforts but also valuable money.

MYTH NUMBER 1: YOU DO NOT NEED A BUSINESS PLAN

It is a common perception that a business plan is only needed to give to investors, and this only needs to be done if you are looking to secure funding. While it is true; it’s only half the truth.

You definitely need to provide a business plan to your investors or any funding sources, such as banks, to secure a loan. However, a business plan does more than that. It provides you guidance and helps you

stick to the intended path through thick and thin. By having everything in written form, you have something to refer to that might have slipped from your mind.

Therefore, a business plan is more of a necessity than a luxury, particularly in today’s highly competitive staffing industry where you really need to be on your toes to compete with other firms targeting the same niche market as yours.

With that said, write down all your ideas, research your target market, study the competition, and by all means do some price modeling. There’s nothing wrong with doing so even if you have no one to give your business plan to.

MYTH NUMBER 2: YOU NEED TO GENERATE FUNDS FROM EXTERNAL SOURCES

If you plan to manufacture a product or want to directly start targeting a large consumer base, then you would need to secure a loan from external sources, such as investors or banks. However, a staffing agency is actually a service industry where you do not ‘manufacture a product’. In fact, you actually provide a service. In addition to that, most of the owners start their staffing agency on a small scale, sometimes even as a one-person operation. This annuls the need to generate lots of funds just to get the company started.

Whatever the case, you should try to avoid getting money from others for a number of reasons, including the following:

• Once you have taken money for your company, you’ve already started to sell it and that too at the lowest possible valuation. It is also likely that you are ‘selling’ your company to those who do not share your passion or vision; they just want to make more money.

• Once you borrow money, you will probably need to take more of it later on. This is because the finances that you put together in the business plan to get the initial money would become inaccurate. When the incorrect financial assumptions come to fruition, you either end up shutting down the company or get more investments. Soon enough, you end up working for those who pumped in the money.

• Starting a business with money that isn’t gained through revenue leads to bad decisions. You never know, you might end up buying expensive business cards, kicking off parties, flying first class, or perhaps hiring too many people. On the other hand, when you have little money or money that you have earned yourself; you will be more focused in spending it.

If you have to manage a float payroll, consider using a payroll funding company instead of ‘raising money’.

MYTH NUMBER 3: YOU WILL GET THE TIME TO FIGURE OUT THE PROCESS LATER ON

Building a business that is scalable requires creating and automating processes that can be repeated. While it may take you some time to actually need scalable processes (usually with 5 or more employees), it is still a good practice to implement a good process as soon as you can. Developing one-off deals, customizations, and repeatable non-scalable processes is an excellent way of creating a real mess. It may seem for a while that everything is fine, but it will come crashing down in the long run

MYTH NUMBER 4: YOU NEED TO OFFER FREE SERVICES UNTIL YOU START GETTING A CERTAIN NUMBER OF CONTRACTS

This is somewhat true for tech companies. The freemium model can be useful in some cases, but it’s risky nevertheless. It should only be tried when you already have a wide consumer-based model and are looking to raise significant capital and want to get acquired quickly. For all others, this is nothing but a death trap. Once you give away your services for free, it gets almost impossible to get people to pay for it. If you are offering something that is truly valuable, people will pay for it right from the start. If they don’t, then you will have to evaluate the value of the services that you are offering.

It is better to find out the real value of your products/services at the start than having to deal with 100 free customers who are not willing to pay when you try to convert them. A much more feasible option is to offer your services at a discount to encourage people to try.

MYTH NUMBER 5: YOU NEED TO HAVE AN OFFICE TO RUN A STAFFING AGENCY

There is no reason why you have to have an office to be able to run a staffing agency, especially if it’s a small startup. With the technology available today, you can easily start a business and have a virtual office without having to spend on a physical space.

In addition to that, a staffing agency is about assigning individuals to work at your clients’ premises. Therefore, there is no need to have a lavish office at all. People can work and coordinate remotely, and as your company starts to grow steadily, you can then opt to open up a physical office.

MYTH NUMBER 6: YOU HAVE NO TIME LEFT FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHEN RUNNING A STAFFING AGENCY

Again, this is not entirely true. You have to dedicate your time and put in all your effort when starting a healthcare staffing agency – but isn’t this true for all businesses?

Even those people who start a new job somewhere have to initially put in more time to full understand their role and responsibilities at the new workplace. With that said, you may feel as if you have little extra time for family and friends when starting a business, but this would be because of the huge number of things you will have to manage initially. Once things get settled and you start operating in a fairly predictable routine, you will have to start and try to balance your work and personal life.

Then again, this is dependent on how well you manage your time. Many people undergo a lot of stress and strain their relationships by working long hours, including over the weekends, just to make their businesses successful. Unfortunately, later down the road they realize what they have lost in an attempt to become successful. Keep everything balanced!

MYTH NUMBER 7: IT’S TOO LATE TO START A HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCY. THE MARKET IS BRIMMING WITH STAFFING AGENCIES.

It’s never too late to start a healthcare staffing agency. If there are many staffing agencies in your area, you cannot ignore the increasing demand for quality healthcare too. Also, if you offer quality services at competitive packages than your rivals, you will automatically gain better footing in the industry and niche market. Nevertheless, keep in mind that it is not a race out there.

MYTH NUMBER 8: YOU HAVE TO HIRE EXPERIENCED STAFF FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCY

There is a common misconception that in order for a startup healthcare staffing agency to succeed, the management (that could be just you) has to hire experienced staff that has worked for larger companies. However, as experience tells us, these people do not work as well as expected in the environment of a startup. These types of people are often too dependent on guidelines, rules, and processes got getting things done. Putting it other words: they are rigid. This is the opposite of what you need in a start up firm.

Whenever you start a new company, you need to have people onboard that are flexible, eager to learn, and are not dependent on a policy manual to get things done. Furthermore, finding people who are not as experienced or new to the industry makes it easy for you in terms of ‘molding’ them based on your requirements. They fit much nicely in your company, and are ready to learn any skills that may be needed to get their job done.

CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCY

In this chapter, we will talk about what really goes on behind the curtain of a healthcare staffing agency. This business is about people and it is about dealing with the people. You have to manage your employees and you will have to manage the clients. Having a clear understanding of what needs to be done to effectively manage such relationships is imperative for the success and growth of any healthcare staffing agency.

Most of such agencies operate for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The office hours are normally between 8 to 6 pm. An answering machine may be used to capture calls after hours.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TIMING

Let us take a look at a breakdown of a typical day at a healthcare agency to give you a basic idea of what goes on during the day. It is from the point of view of an owner of a staffing agency.

Time Description

0800 You walk into your office and the phone starts to ring. You are told that an employee is running late and would not able to reach for the assignment at the hospital.

0812 Moments later, another hospital calls. They need 2 employees to cover their 9 am shifts

0820 An employee calls and he needs directions to a particular hospital. You give them the directions. After hanging up, you call the first hospital to let them know that the employee would be late.

0825 Call those employees who might be available for covering the 9 am shifts.

0830 Another medical facility calls up; an employee has not arrived for their shift. You assure them that you will find out the reason for this.

0840 You call up the hospital that requested 2 employees for the 9 am shift. You let them know that the employees will reach on time.

0850 You start to call and track the employee who was late for her shift. You call up the hospital and let them know that the employee is on the way and will reach shortly.

0900 A prospective employee calls up asking for information. You tell the employee to come in and fill out the forms.

0915 A sales rep calls up asking for the price modification to secure a contract with a hospital.

0930 A call comes in from a hospital that a certain employee has not arrived.

0935 You call an employee who was on standby and send them to the hospital.

0940 You call back the hospital to tell them that the new employee would be arriving shortly.

1000 An employee walks in to pick up their check.

1005 An employee calls in to check available shifts for the next day.

1010 A sales representative calls and tells you that a hospital is interested in securing a contract.

1015 A fax comes in with a new contract. You sign it and send it back immediately.

1030 A call comes in from a prospective employee who claims that he is not sure if temporary work is for her.

1100 A hospital calls to say that they need an employee for the next day.

1110 You coordinate with a candidate and let them know they are due to visit a hospital tomorrow. Consequently, you ring up the hospital to let them know that an employee would arrive on the scheduled shift time.

1120 Another hospital calls up to tell that they are not happy with the employee they have been assigned. They request a change of individual.

1130 The individual who is assigned as a replacement is contacted and he confirms his availability.

1145 Call the employee who was not acceptable to the hospital to determine the hospital’s frustration.

1200 You order lunch for delivery at your office as you are too busy to head out to grab a bite.

1210 A prospective employee walks in to fill out an application.

1230 Another call comes in with an interested candidate trying to get more information about working with your staffing firm.

1250 A sales representative calls you up to tell that a new hospital needs coverage. You assure them that they will be provided for their coverage.

HOW TO HANDLE NEW EMPLOYEES

When running a healthcare staffing agency, you will come to know that new employees have to be dealt with tactfully. Your employees are your bread and butter and some of the healthcare staffing candidates know their value and become quite demanding.

Whenever a prospective employee visits your office, make sure you keep the following things in mind:

• Ask the candidate what types of licenses they possess. This will allow you to understand how much knowledge they have and how skilled they are. The healthcare staffing agency is very unique in the sense that the licenses of an employee will determine what kinds of services they can offer on your behalf.

• Do not forget to get their resume. Figure out whether they are fresh graduates or have a couple of years of experience under their belt. This will help you determine what salary you should be paying them.

• Ensure that the candidates not only have the licenses to perform their duties, but check with the state licensing body to verify the accuracy of the data on the license.

• Get copies of their driver’s license, social security and other forms of ID for verification of their US citizenship.

• Get the prospective employee to fill out an application form. Give them time and settle them in a comfortable environment so they do not have any problems.

• Ask questions regarding their experience once they have filled out the forms. Try to determine the level of their understanding for the job they are applying for. As a result, you will gain a better understanding of which facilities that particular candidate would be suitable for.

• Ask them when they are able to start. Discuss the shifts they are interested in doing and how far they are willing to travel.

Ultimately, you need to understand that all the candidates would be searching for a healthcare staffing agency that pays them the most. This is nothing to be viewed from a negative perspective. In fact, many professionals might not even settle for an interview until or unless you give them a ‘ball park figure’ of the pay scale you would be offering.

GETTING READY TO DO BUSINESS

Once the healthcare staffing agency has been launched and is operating, and after you manage to secure contracts and the calls start to pour in, you will have no time to sit around and ‘hope’ to do business. In fact, your mornings would normally be the busiest, particularly the Mondays and the Fridays. You will have calls from clients coming in with requests for shifts that need coverage or complaints. Prospective employees would also be calling to get more information.

In the midst of such hustle and bustle, do not forget to greet the prospective candidates in a positive manner. While you may be very busy, you do not want to turn them away as this will build a bad reputation for your business. On the other hand, even if you have no placements for any additional employees, it is still a good idea to keep interviewing and collecting the resumes of the candidates that call you up. You can let them know that you currently do not have any placements available, but if they are willing, you could call them up whenever there is a vacancy.

This pool of applications will also keep buffer that can come very useful in busy times and at times of emergencies.

Your employees will normally call you on a daily or a weekly basis to let you know of their availability. Using a healthcare staffing agency software, you can keep track of all the employees’ availability and fill any gaps as necessary.

Just make sure you do not accept call-in timesheets from your employees, and make it a part of your company policy, clearly stating that employees would not be paid if they do not mail their timesheets. It is

already very difficult to deal with hospitals that pay Net 60 or above, and it would be very problematic to not have employees mail in their timesheets.

When running a healthcare staffing agency, work orders come on a daily basis. It is very important to take note of everything, including all requests and complaints from clients or candidates. Different facilities request particular types of employees in order to cover certain areas. For instance, a request may come in for a female ultrasound technician. If you send a male technician instead, you will only be frustrating the client.

If you get a call from a client with a request to fill a shift, and you promise to call them back in an hour, then make sure you fulfill your promise. If it is taking you more time to fill in their shift, make sure you get back to them and request additional time.

If you are not able to produce an employee, let them know. Nothing is more frustrating for a client than not having a particular shift covered as well as not being informed that the shift was not/could not be covered.

Often, healthcare staffing agencies confirm with their clients that shift would be taken care of without having a candidate to fill in the position. This is only possible if you have a large enough employee base with sufficient employees at standby.

Typically, calls come from clients who have already signed contracts with you. Many a times you will get calls from new hospitals or healthcare facilities that were referred to you by your existing clients – if they request you to have one or more of their shifts covered, go ahead with providing your services. Getting a contract signed is a secondary thing when your new client’s needs immediate assistance.

If, for any reason, you are not able to provide them coverage, there are several things you can do:

• Call your client and recommend another staffing agency so they can get coverage for their shifts

• Call your client and ask for additional time to confirm the shift

• Get an employee of another client to cover their shift

• Call any other staffing agency and arrange coverage

• Call an employee who might have an off day to arrange coverage at a higher rate in order to secure the account

• If you are a healthcare professional and suited to cover the shift, you may want to do it yourself

Your clients and candidates will always be calling you to report any issues. The clients may be reporting no-shows, discussing billing errors, or the employees could be pitching requests to be taken off certain clients’ facilities. Some clients may also be calling to not send certain employees to their facility (Do Not Call List).

Just make sure you have a well-managed database so you are prepared to handle requests and keep a track of everything. Many of your employees may also call in sick on Mondays. This is why you need to have contingency plans at hand. Some healthcare agencies have staff that work regular jobs at night and are offered a hourly-fee for standing by for the agency on Mondays.

When it comes to answering the phones, initially, you may be able to handle all the calls. As the frequency of calls increases due to increasing number of clients and employees, you will have to hire additional employee (s) to attend to the calls. Hire people who are aware of the dynamic nature of a staffing agency. Some of the responsibilities that are tied to such a position are as following, regardless of whether you do them yourself or have someone else perform the duty:

• You need to ensure that all the employees are arriving on time to the client’s facility. You might want to make check-up calls each morning to ensure employees have arrived where they are supposed to. The need to make such phone calls is dependent on your relationship with each client. Some clients do not lend themselves to make such calls, while others will call you even if an employee is even a minute late.

• New clients should always be called after the completion of a shift to determine the performance of an employee and whether or not the client was satisfied. This is a really good PR technique and shows that you care about the client’s needs. You might find out that the client is not happy with the performance of a particular employee and would be better off with a replacement.

• You should get in the habit of calling each of your clients on Friday. Out of sight is out of might in the staffing industry.

• Call up your employees the night before their shift to confirm the schedule, the time, and the address where they are to reach. This minimizes any possible miscommunication between both of you.

• Call up clients who have not requested a service for quite some time. Let them know that you are here to serve them whenever they need any assistance with staffing.

• Send a thank you package to those facilities that are regular clients. This will strengthen your relationship with them. Meanwhile, remind your sales staff to visit both new and existing facilities to remind them of your presence.

MATCHING CANDIDATES TO CLIENTS

Matching the ideal candidate to the specific needs of a client is like playing chess with 100 players where each player has made its own sets of rules. Skills of working closely with people and understanding their needs are a necessity as a part of running a healthcare staffing agency. As you establish a small staffing agency, you will, with time, begin to grasp the individual needs of each of your clients while learning to pair up the right employees with the right clients.

Healthcare staffing software greatly reduces the learning curve in this regard. Good software enables you to input certain criteria and automatically finds out the ideal candidate from your database. Besides this, the software can also reveal their availability and duration of availability so that they can be assigned a shift accordingly.

In today’s competitive staffing industry, it is very hard to run an establishment without the help of staffing software.

If you are running a one-person operation, then the case might be different. You might be able to use a notepad to jot down any details and prepare a schedule. However, as the numbers of clients you serve and the employees you have go up, staffing software becomes more of a necessity than a luxury.

When selecting staffing agency software, you need to focus on a number of key aspects, including the following:

 The software should allow you to instantly see who is available for a particular client

 The software should reveal only those individuals who meet the skills criteria as requested by the client

 The software should allow you to differentiate between employees preferring short or long term assignments



The software should not reveal employees who have been placed on DNS lists of specific facilities when requests by those facilities are made

 The software should access distance and location criteria, licensing & gender criteria, as well as experience

 The software should also show hourly rates to give you the greatest return on investment

Such software needs to be constantly fed information if you wish to leverage full benefits from it. With time, a database would be developed to streamline your services.

DO ALL EMPLOYEES GET PAID THE SAME?

Does every employee of a healthcare staffing agency get paid the same? No.

You cannot and must not pay every employee at the same rate. Your level of understanding as well as your negotiating skills is different at a given time, and this will work in your favor. The reason why you should not be paying each and every employee the same is based on a insider healthcare staffing secret:

You use the higher paid employees to cover those shifts that are difficult, while you use the lower paid employees to cover easy shifts. An employee who is paid higher is unlikely to say no to a shift that

requires him or her to drive for an hour to do a 12 hour shift, and then be requested to drive 1.5 hours in the opposite direction to take over an 8 hour shift.

To figure out what you should be paying a particular employee, you should first establish a benchmark. To be more specific, ask yourself what do you normally charge a client? Deduct 75 percent of this fee and this would be your high-end rate of pay. The client fee might be different, but at least you have a basic formula to prevent overpaying your employees.

At the end of the day, everything balances out. Let’s take the case of John, who is paid $30 for an hour and works for 40 hours every week. Your return on investment (ROI) is $400 and his pay for the week would be $1200. You will be billing the hospital $1600 for 40 hours. John is, therefore, being paid the highest amount you are willing to pay – 75 percent of the gross billing revenue.

On the other hand, Mike is a new graduate, and he makes $20 per hour and works 40 hours per week. You are charging the hospital the same $1600 for 40 hours, but paying only $800 to Mike for his services, leaving you with a ROI of $800.

This different between what John and Mike are being paid will enable you to calculate a $25 per hour pay rate; hence, your agency’s ROI is $1200 for the whole week. You can use this method to calculate the pay for different employees according to their working capacity.

ARE ALL CLIENTS CHARGED THE SAME?

Just like all employees aren’t paid the same, all the clients are not charged the same. The billing rate is subject to negotiation and can change. Your competitors will do it and will try to figure out what you are charging so that they can lower their rates to steal your account. Unfortunate as it may be, it is a very common occurrence in the healthcare staffing agency where competitors adjust their rates in order to present a more ‘appealing’ offer to healthcare facilities.

A hospital with a high volume is much more likely to discuss & negotiate a lower rate as compared to a facility that only uses your services once or twice in a year. It is also a common practice amongst healthcare staffing agencies to lower the rates for clients that have been utilizing the agency’s services for a long time.

Regardless of what rate structure you develop for your staffing agency, make sure only a single person is responsible for negotiating rates with the clients. This could be you or any other person designated by you. Make sure you gauge the needs of each of the facilities including their coverage demands. There can be instances where facilities will refuse to negotiate and simply accept your terms. In such instances, there is no need to offer a lower rate.

A standard bill rate is a good idea to start with as it provides a threshold from where you can begin reducing your rates during a negotiation, if necessary.

Equally important is to determine well ahead of time what the accounts receivables’ payment schedule would be. Cashflow is a huge problem in the healthcare staffing agency and when figuring out how each of the clients would be paying is crucial for your payroll. There might be times when you will have to secure funding through a factoring company to get rid of any payroll issues, particularly when dealing with clients that pay over and above Net 60.

When covering night and swing shifts, your billing rate is ought to be higher. This should be a standard part of your contract because everyone in the healthcare staffing industry charges more to provide coverage for swing and night shifts as compared to day shifts.

Weekend night shifts are also charged higher than the weekend day shifts.

A GLANCE AT THE PAPERWORK

For a start-up healthcare staffing agency, managing paperwork and the invoices is relatively easy. If you are running a one-person operation with a single contract, then there is no need to get your hands on a sophisticated piece of software. However, with growth come heaps of documentation and the effective management becomes much harder if done manually.

If you have plans to expand your start up into something bigger, then you will have to consider purchasing industry specific software to meet your organization’s needs.

In agencies with two or more contracts and numerous employees, the amount of paperwork involved requires a full-time employee to look after the documentation.

Paperwork can be divided into two distinct categories: Clients & Candidates. Each of the categories is itself quite diverse, with its own sets of needs and assessments.

The clients, for instance, have to be billed while the candidates have to be paid on time. In order to balance each category properly, one has to use software that can deliver accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll distribution, and benefits information.

Before you venture into starting your own healthcare staffing agency, you need to know that you cannot skip paperwork in anyway whatsoever. You need to learn how to handle and properly organize everything.

CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPING A PLAN

When you have made up your mind regarding launching your own healthcare staffing agency, you need to make sure you have a business plan that you can follow to remain on track and proceed towards your goals. It is crucial to get the ground work complete to prevent from making mistakes that are common among startups.

IMPORTANCE OF A BUSINESS PLAN

A solid business plan is just like a map that outlines key locations to let you know that you are heading in the right direction. What if an airline pilot did not know the route he was flying to? Would you get on that plane and fly with him? Certainly not.

Similarly, a business plan is needed to give you a semblance of direction to ensure that you are going where you are supposed to go. A business plan should be viewed as one of the most basic (yet critical) components of any business. Essentially, it should include each and everything that tells how you will be running your healthcare staffing firm.

The business plan for you healthcare staffing firm should include, along with the basic structure of the business, a marketing as well as financial plan. While it can be difficult for a startup business to include all of its long term goals, you must make sure to include your main objectives, modifying the plan along the way.

Having a clear picture of what your goal is and where you want to see your company in the coming years is not at all easy. It is very difficult to see beyond tomorrow; however, a business plan simplifies the process significantly by painting a relatively lucid picture of where the company plans to head and what it can expect to see along the way.

You will need a business plan:

• If you want to secure a loan from a bank

• If you want to establish clear goals along with steps needed to get there

• If you want to identify your competitors and how to gain an edge over them

• If you want to avoid any confusion when starting up or running your business

One of the crucial aspects of a business plan is to maintain your focus in the right direction when running your healthcare staffing agency. Many individuals willing to enter into this industry are normally forced to call off their operations until specific milestones were reached. After all, milestones determine the success of an organization while disclosing its actual financial fortitude.

It takes time as well as a lot of effort to develop a thorough business plan. The following guidelines will help you do so in an effective manner.

NAMING YOUR BUSINESS

To many, this seems to be the easiest part of a business plan as compared to licensing or financial issues. However, this is a process which needs to be carefully completed to prevent overlooking issues that could otherwise cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars if they are neglected.

Many startup healthcare staffing agencies do not focus on a bigger picture. They fail to realize that the name of their company can have an effect on its growth. Here’s an example:

Suppose you are a nurse with plans to start a nursing staffing agency with a one-person operation. After remaining as an independent contractor for some time, you are asked whether you could provide staffing for multiple shifts. You take on this challenge by asking one of your friends to join your staffing agency. Two years down the line, you start grossing more than a million dollars and are requested to cover shifts for respiratory therapy, nuclear medicine, and radiology. Now this is where the problem starts. When you

had launched your staffing agency, you had named it ‘Independent Nurse For You’. Even though you have become successful, the name has now become a hindrance to your growth.

This is a very common problem that needs to be avoided by choosing a name that allows for growth down the line. Another problem with naming a staffing agency is regarding its pronunciation. Difficult to pronounce names will cause communication issues with your clients and candidates.

A successful staffing company that makes almost 8 million dollars as gross revenue each year once made such a mistake when it was being named. The company’s officials never bothered to check if the name they had chosen was available online. When they wanted to create a website, they found that their name was not available with .com domain.

This can be avoided by registering a domain right when you are deciding a name for the company. This will save you from unwanted expenses as well as stress.

DO YOU NEED AN OFFICE?

It depends. There are two things that you need to consider when deciding whether or not you need a physical office premises.

There are many horror stories lingering about regarding companies that had to deal with premature office growth. For instance, it often happens that an owner of a new staffing agency rents an expensive office and purchases office equipment only to fail in finding any clients for as long as 6 months. The owners, now almost out of budget because of spending on rent and office equipment, do not have any money left to market their business. What is the use of beautiful business cards and gorgeous furniture if there are no clients?

Using the technology available today, you can easily create a virtual office while enjoying all the trimmings of an actual corporate setting without spending too much. This is actually recommended for all startup staffing agencies because their budgets are limited and because this approach saves them money that they can actually spend on things that matter the most: marketing and securing contracts.

Once a firm starts to get contracts and more candidates and the revenue starts to flow in, this is when it can THINK about spending some money on an office.

Healthcare staffing agencies operating with tight budgets can have virtual addresses and even virtual phone numbers with their respective local area codes. This makes these startup agencies look bigger than they actually are, without having to spend considerable amounts of money just to appear so.

Nonetheless, if you have sufficient budgets and really want to open up a physical office premises, that you should keep certain things in mind. For starters, make sure that the office you choose is located

centrally within the area you plan to market to. A lot of hospitals and medical facilities tend to shy away in dealing with staffing agencies if they are located far away. Many of the office buildings offering leasing service also provide a secretarial answering service as a part of the package. This service is great for a startup healthcare staffing agency.

Also, now that you are looking for an office, make sure you choose one that has some room for expansion. A staffing agency can grow at an unexpected pace and you may find that your existing office space is not enough. Shifting your office is an expensive ordeal. It is best to remain on the safer side by choosing office space with some additional space to allow room for growth.

Just be careful of signing a lease that is offering an office at low rent, but you are required to sign a lease for an extended period of time, such as 5 years. Five years is a long time in the staffing industry and a lot can happen. You do not want to be held down or want your growth to be stunted due to this lease.

STRUCTURING THE BUSINESS

When starting a healthcare staffing business, you are not invulnerable in any way and can be sued for any number of reasons. Having a right structure for your business involves thorough planning and requires you to have a clear understanding of what each of the structures represent and how each structure can shield you if you are sued.

SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP

Only a few healthcare staffing agencies use this structure of business. In a sole proprietorship, you are responsible for the debt and the liability incurred. Your personal assets would be tied to the company and if anyone sues you, they will be able to go after your personal assets.

CORPORATION

The best way to protect your personal assets is through a corporation. Many healthcare staffing agencies choose to become an S-Corporation.

An S-Corporation also helps a company avoid having to pay double taxes that are otherwise linked with Corporations.

Many healthcare staffing agencies file register as S-Corporations in other states. This is because some states offer better tax incentives and it is less expensive to register a company there while allowing you to provide healthcare staffing agencies in another state, For example, in Delaware, the taxes are much lower than those in California. If you have plans on starting up a travel healthcare staffing agency, then

filing in a state different from yours will not matter much as compared to an instance where you want to become a regional healthcare staffing agency.

INSURANCE

Getting the right insurance for the healthcare staffing agency is an important part of your planning process. Many hospitals would not provide you contracts if you don’t have insurance. Besides that, you would be setting yourself up for failure without insurance. Insurance is a crucial aspect that protects your clients and candidates from injury or theft on the clients’ premises.

You cannot provide staffing services without protecting yourself and your candidates. Insuring is the key to that protection. Normally, healthcare staffing agencies need a General Liability Insurance with at least a million dollars. This cost rises as the number of employees increases.

Another insurance you will have to deal with is the workers’ compensation insurance. If any of your employees get injured while being under your employment, you would be liable for that. Most of your clients would check to see if you have this type of insurance before accepting any of your employees to work on their premises. The cost of the workers compensation would be determined by the state you operate in.

CONTENTS OF A BUSINESS PLAN

We have been discussing the importance of a business plan in this book, and it should be clear to you by now that regardless of whether you need to get funding or not, a business plan should be developed. A business plan contains around 7 major sections, and each of these sections is comprehensive and complex in its own way.

Let’s roll up your sleeves and begin getting your ideas on paper. This section will discuss what each part of your business plan should have.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive Summary follows the title page, and is simply an outline of the entire business plan. This summary should be able to clearly tell the reader what your aims and objectives are. This is extremely important. It often happens that what a business owner wants is buried deep inside in the middle pages of the plan. Many people prefer to create the executive summary after the entire business plan has been completed.

The statement in the executive summary should be businesslike and short; typically not exceeding half a page. While it could be longer based on how complex the use of funds would be, but nevertheless, it should not reveal too much.

Within your executive summary, you need to include the following key elements:

a. Business concept

You should describe the business, its products, services, and the market it plans to serve. It should clearly point out what would be sold, to whom, and how the business would have a competitive advantage over others.

b. Financial features

Some important financial features should be highlighted in the executive summary, including sales, cash flows, profits, and returns on investment. This will obviously apply if your business is already operating and you are developing a business plan after launching it.

c. Financial requirements

This is particularly important if you wish to get funding from external sources. Clearly state what capital would be needed to start the staffing agency or how much would be needed to expand it. It should be mentioned how the capital is to be used, and if there is any equity, should be mentioned. If, for the initial capital, a loan is going to be based on security in place of equity, then the source of collateral should be specified.

d. Current business position

Provide any information about your company, its legal type, when it was formed (or will be formed), the owners and key personnel.

e. Major achievements

This applies if your company has already been in operation and you are looking to expand it. Any achievements should be clearly mentioned, including crucial contracts and so on.

When you are writing down the statement of purpose, take care not to waste any words. If the statement of purpose turns out to be several pages long, no one would bother to read it because it would imply that the principals of the business are unclear and indecisive and are unaware of what they truly want. Make

sure you make it easy for the readers (if any) to capture the needs and capabilities of your organization at a glance.

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

After the executive summary comes the business description. This normally starts with a brief description of the industry you plan to operate in. Discuss the current outlook along with any future possibilities of the industry when you talk about it. Make sure you include information on numerous markets within this industry, including any products or services that will have a positive impact on the success and growth of your company.

Make sure you assumptions and calculations are based on reliable data. Include footnotes containing the sources of information wherever appropriate. This is particularly important if you want to seek funding; the investor would be interested in how much he or she can depend on the information you provide them. No one will risk their money on conjecture or assumptions.

When you are describing your business, you need to focus on its structure. By structure, we mean the type of operation of the company, i.e. retail, manufacturing, or service oriented. In the case of a staffing agency, your type of operation would be service-oriented.

Do not forget to mention whether the business you are starting is new or has been already established. Besides the structure, a legal form should also be mentioned. State whether the business is a:

• Sole proprietorship; or

• Partnership; or

• Corporation

Include information about who you would be selling to while describing the types of services you plan to market. The product description you develop should be enough to provide the reader a clear picture of what you intend to do.

Additionally, you may want to emphasize on certain variations or unique feature that differentiate your business from others in the same industry.

Be specific here by stating how your staffing agency would have a competitive edge over other employment agencies.

HOW WILL YOUR EARN A PROFIT?

Now think like a typical capitalist: ‘How will you earn a profit?’

Answer this question and convey this answer to other people by putting it in the business concept section.

You do not have to write a 20 page-long document just stating the ways in which your business would be profitable. Instead, if you plan to provide candidates to various hospitals and medical facilities to cover their shifts, this reason should be enough to give your business plan a solid foundation.

On the other hand, do not skip a few factors that would describe your business operations, such as it being a well-organized company that operates with state-of-the-art staffing agency software to keep track of all shifts and assignments, etc.

If you plan to use this business plan for financial purposes, do explain why the added debt money or equity would make the company more profitable.

MARKETING STRATEGIES

1. Define Your Market

Market strategies are derived through careful market analysis. By conducting a market analysis, you would be acquainting yourself with the various factors of the market hence allowing you to properly define your target market. Once your target market is defined, you will be able to not only in a position to better target them, but you would also be able to enhance your services according to their specific needs.

For instance, in the staffing industry, if you determine that hospitals in your local area need a lot of professionals to cover their various shifts, as compared to smaller medical facilities, then you would target those hospitals with your services.

This market analysis would also allow you to come up with proper pricing structures. What are the current market rates? Which shifts cost greater? What are your competitors (other staffing agencies) charging? Can you charge lower than them and still generate a profit?

All these questions can be answered once a thorough market analysis has been done.

Start your market analysis by establishing the market in terms of its size, its structure, and potential for growth, sales, and trends. The total aggregate sales of your competing companies will give you a relatively accurate idea of the potential of the market. Once you have figured out the size of the staffing market, you should start to define your target market. You can narrow down to the target market by narrowing down the total market through several segmentation factors. These segmentation factors can be based on customer attributes, geographic area, or service-oriented needs of the clients.

2. Projecting Market Share

Projecting the market share for your business plan is a subjective matter. It is based on the analysis of your market along with pricing and promotional strategies.

For your business plan, you should be able to estimate market share for a duration that the plan covers. You would need two factors in order to project this:

Industry growth – The industry growth will go up with as the number of users increase. Most of the projections normally utilize at least 2 growth models that define various industry sales scenarios. These scenarios should be based on the leading industry sales indicators, including industry sales, demographic data, industry segment sales, and historical precedence.

Conversion of users – This conversion is from the total feasible market and is based on the sales cycle that is similar to a product’s life cycle, where 5 separate stages are available, namely: early pioneer users, the early users, early majority users, the late majority users, and the late users.

3. Positioning Your Company

Before you can position your services, several key questions have to be answered, including the following:

• How do the rival staffing agencies position themselves?

• What kinds of services do you offer that your competitors do not?

• What needs of your clients do your services fulfill?

4. Pricing

How you plan to price your services is crucial as it will have a direct impact on the success of your staffing agency. While developing a pricing strategy can be quite complex, the basic rules of pricing remain relatively straightforward:

• All the prices must cover all costs

• The most effective way to lower your prices is by lowering the costs

• Your prices need to be a reflection of the demand, dynamics of cost, response to competitors, and changes in the market

• Prices have to be established in a way that they assure sales

• Product utility, maintenance, longevity, and end use have to be analyzed repeatedly, and the prices must be adjusted accordingly

• Prices must be set in a way to preserve order in the industry’s marketplace

PROMOTION PLAN

You certainly need to have a way to reach out to the hospitals and medical facilities to let them know about your staffing services. There are numerous ways in which you can do this. A promotion strategy, in its most basic form, should outline the tools that you would be using to reach out to your target audience.

Your promotional strategy may include one or more of the following methods of promotion:

• Social media

• Exceptional customer service

• Search engine optimization

•

•

• Advertisements (online and print)

CHAPTER 4: MANAGING FINANCIAL ASPECTS

If you are reading this chapter, then you are really serious about getting started with your own healthcare staffing business. It’s time to discuss the most important thing all businesses need to get started: MONEY.

Either you have sufficient money to get started, or you don’t. In the latter case, you would have to get money from other sources. Before we jump to the point where we discuss how you can get money from other people, let’s talk about how much capital you are really going to need.

It is a fact that starting up a healthcare staffing agency requires more money than many other types of businesses. This is mainly because staffing agencies are required to pay their employees for a couple of months before they themselves get paid by their clients. This requires them to have a decent amount of money in ‘buffer’.

The rate of your projected growth would be a major decisive factor that will help you determine how much money you would actually need to get things started. Once you have figured out the amount, you will have to double it!

So what are the common questions that you need to answer to determine the needed capital? Well, for starters, think about the following:

• How big is your healthcare staffing agency going to be?

• Will you be hiring office employees, if so, on a part-time or a full-time basis?

• Would you have part-time employees (candidates) working at numerous healthcare facilities?

• Will you pay for workers’ compensation or would you rather have them pay for their own insurance?

All of these questions are important, especially the last one. IF your candidates have their own insurance, they would be classified as 1099 and not W2. This difference is considerable when it comes to what you have to pay and what you don’t have to pay. Each state in the US has their own sets of rules concerning this designation, and you should make sure that you contact the relevant authority to get a clear picture of the differences between a 1099 and a W2 employee in your state.

Another important question you should pay attention to: what services do you plan to offer? Depending on the types of services you plan to offer will have a major impact on the startup costs of your organization. A healthcare organization that is physician-based will need more capital as compared to a, say, respiratory therapist staffing agency.

The startup capital would also be higher if you have no specialty in the niche market you are targeting as compared to a scenario when you are specialized to do something. Let’s say you are a radiology technician, and are serving the same niche market – you would be able to cover any shifts of your clients instead of having to rely on other employees to do so. On the other hand, if you have no skills or the qualifications in radiology, your hands would be tied and you would be forced to hire qualified employees, which will naturally require capital for the salaries that you would need to pay.

The ongoing competition and the costs in the region where you plan to operate are also crucial factors that determine the money required for the purpose of marketing and sales. The salaries you pay to your employees also vary depending on the state as well as the location within a state. Not only that, but the tax rates also vary along with the expectations of client and employees.

COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS

Here are examples of two different startup healthcare staffing agencies – both of these firms are now earning gross revenue in excess of a million dollars.

COMPANY ‘A’

The owner of company ‘A’ started working as an independent contractor, as an ultrasound technician, at a local hospital. This owner worked at the facility per-diem and then decided to get started on her own.

The hospital she worked for was very pleased with her work, and decided to offer her a contract. All she had was a P.O. Box, a cell phone, and a free email account along with a business license. She also insured herself. While you may be surprised, but the initial cost for her startup was a mere $1000. She had no office, and she was essentially working from home.

If any client wished to schedule her for a shift, they would simply call her on the cell phone and request her to cover specific shifts. Just a few months after securing her first contract, another medical facility –again a hospital – got in touch with her after hearing about her ultrasound services and the reputation of her work. This was her second contract.

It wasn’t long when the first client asked her whether she could help them with their radiology department as they required an x-ray technician from Monday through Friday. All she had to do was contact numerous x-ray technicians until one of them agreed to cover the required shifts. Over the course of working for the two clients, he had saved sufficient money (around $5000) to pay the x-ray technician, but soon after, she billed the second client, which improved her cash flow considerably.

At the end of the day, she ended up spending $6000 of her money to get her business started. Today, she is the owner of a healthcare staffing agency that generates revenue over a million dollars every year.

COMPANY ‘B’

Company ‘B’ was established as a corporation with an office and employees were hired to handle potential calls. They had hired a scheduler, a secretary, and a staff CPA. The owners had invested approximately $250,000 and it took them around six months before they managed to secure contracts. After this, they were able to hire more staff to cover the shifts of their clients. A sales person was also hired to get contracts for the company.

Today, the company is generating revenue in excess of a million dollars after it invested one-fourth this amount and has already achieved (and crossed) their break-even point.

Both of the companies described above have been successful, and a clear contrast can be seen between the expenses incurred for each owner of to startup their staffing agency depending on the type of setup they wanted.

The capital required for commencement of operations is depending on a number of factors; nonetheless, the biggest expense that you will have to manage would be the salaries that you will have to pay your employees.

Growth is dependent on a delicate balance between the amount of money you have and the number of contracts you secure. At the end of the day, if you are not able to pay your employees, they will quit, leaving you with no workforce to provide service to your clients.

While the story of Company A was a very successful one, you need to keep in mind that many healthcare staffing agencies start and shutdown because of inadequate funding. Regardless of the type of business, it is always a wise idea to have enough capital to help a company survive 6 to 12 months of operation.

Consider keeping your payroll in check in the first year of business. Many new owners are shocked by the amount of money they have to pay to their employees even before they start getting paid.

GETTING FUNDING

The first priority of any person intending to start a healthcare staffing agency should be getting the funding needed to start operations. Let’s talk about credit and how it can help you in times of desperation and need.

If you can convince a bank to give you a loan without having to sign your entire life to them, then you are definitely a genius and have a lot of good luck with you. In olden days, banks were the only option for getting the money needed to start a business. However, there are a lot of other resources available today that can be used to get the funding, particularly for companies in the staffing industry.

One of the options that we will discuss is called factoring. This is when companies provide financing based your invoices, and they charge a certain amount of fees in return. It is an excellent way that enables startup companies to continue paying their employees until they get their payments from their clients. While there are charges that need to be paid to the factoring company, but this service comes in really handy especially when the budget is tough and times are demanding.

Factoring companies simply ‘buy’ your invoices. Take an example of a person who had $40000 for his startup company. Soon enough they realized that they could not launch the company, particularly because they had to pay salaries to the secretary, secure an office, and purchase decent staffing agency software to ensure streamlined operations from day one.

This is when a staffing agency came to realize that they needed to get in touch with a factoring company for financing. They used the services of a factoring company and were able to afford all the expenses until they were able to pay the employees from their own account receivable.

Many owners of staffing agencies right down expenses that they expect to face when starting up their company. While there is no set amount of expenditures for all startup companies (because every situation is different), the following expense sheet can give you a general idea of what to expect:

Rent or lease $500 to $2000

Software $500 to $5000

Equipment $1000 to $10000 Payroll $5000 to $40000

Insurance $500 to $1500

Phone and other utilities $100 to $500

Salary for the owner $3000 to $5000

Licensing $200 to $500

Marketing $1000 to $4000

Professional fees $100 to $400

Miscellaneous $300 to $600

TOTAL $12200 to $69500

NOTE: These expenses are highly variable. Your costs will vary depending on the state you live in and the structure of your company.

Most of the healthcare staffing agencies we have provided consultancy to had plans to start with a budget of around $20000. Many of them succeeded and were getting payments from their clients within a few months. Many of these started as a one-man operation and then expanded with time as they secured more contracts and their bottom line improved. Some companies had to depend on their funds until the payment started to come in within 3 months or so, and it wasn’t uncommon to see between two to three temporary employees being used to cover various shifts, with their combined salaries equaling that one a one full-time employee. This is the most common practice utilized in many startup staffing companies.

CHAPTER 5: FINDING THE RIGHT CANDIDATES

Remember the age-old question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, in the healthcare staffing industry, this is a type of question that you will face numerous times. Similarly, what should come first: your clients or candidates? If you are starting a one-person operation setup, then the obviously you can jump to the next chapter that discusses how to find clients.

On the other hand, if, as a part of your business plan, you want to hire employees first, then this chapter will help you find the candidates in the right places. While we have divided candidates from clients, it is important to understand that both are crucial components in the healthcare staffing agency, and in the staffing industry as a whole.

You have to continuously maintain the balance of clients and candidates depending on your (and your clients’) varying needs.

HELP WANTED!

The revenue you generate comes from your employees; therefore you have to make sure you choose those individuals to work for your company that give a good impression of your company to your clients.

Many healthcare staffing agencies have gone for the quantity-over-quality approach and have failed miserably and ended up ruining their reputation before they could even get on their feet.

If you are launching a small company, most of the tasks concerning recruitment would be managed by you. While a mid-to-large sized company may be in a position to hire HR staff to do all the recruitment tasks, a smaller company may not have such a budget in its hands.

A recruiter has the responsibility of finding new employees for a company’s vacant positions. They do this in many ways, including by searching online job databases, calling up potential candidates, scheduling interviews, placing ads both offline and online, and performing direct marketing and utilize other methods to draw the attention of potentially qualified candidates.

Your main priority should be to ensure that the candidates you select possess the right credentials and that their availability is acceptable to you. Don’t forget the fact that the healthcare staffing companies generally face a very high turnover rate, and the most effective way of dealing with this is to have a constant pool of potential employees whom you can call when you need them.

There was a healthcare staffing company established by two brothers and their mother. Both the brothers used to cover shifts while their mother handled the requests and scheduled her sons.

When you know your niche as well as the industry that you are serving, you will be in a better position to hire people.

DIFFERENT NEEDS OF VARIOUS STAFFING AGENCIES

If a certain employee has enough credentials, this alone isn’t sufficient to send them to cover a particular shift. It is no longer as simple as that. Certain positive qualities are necessary when searching for people to hire. In many cases, you will often get more business or even lose it based on the actions of your employees. Remember that your employees are like your soldiers – out there on the front line – and in this highly competitive industry, you need to have all the competitive advantage you can get. If you don’t do your homework, you may be put into a compromising position by your employee(s).

When hiring an employee, make sure you look for the following things.

• Any prior experience – If the candidates have experience of working for a staffing agency, they will generally already have any idea of how things work in this industry and you won’t have to explain each and everything to them as compared to a fresh graduate from medical school.

Do ask them if they have been placed on a ‘DNS’ list before; and if so, on what facilities and why. It is always a good idea to hear their side of explanation. It is very important to know this because if you have a contract with that facility, you won’t be able to send this employee to that client, which automatically makes them less valuable for you.

• Ask about their skills – Keep a list of questions to ask them during the interview. Some of the questions should help you fully determine their skill level and whether or not they would be able to take up the pressure of working in the medical field. Try to gauge their honesty and professionalism by observing their body language and note whether they make eye contact when speaking to you. That tells a lot about them. The healthcare staffing industry is known for dumping a lot of work on their temporary employees; make sure you tell them about this and ask them how they would feel about it. This is particularly important if the candidate has no prior experience of working in the healthcare staffing industry.

• Are they friendly? – During the interview, do they appear friendly to you? This will give you a fair idea of whether they will be friendly when sent out on assignments. Just don’t rely too much on this alone; many of the people who come for an interview would be at their best behavior.

• Ask them why they want to work for a temporary service – This is a very important question as it helps clear any confusions right from the start. IT will also help set the boundaries between you and them, and elaborate upon expectations of both sides for each other. The process of hiring your staff can be very time consuming. Knowing who to hire and who not to hire only comes with experience. You will probably make mistakes, but that’s fine – everyone makes mistakes. Just make sure you learn from them and avoid them in the future. Hiring employees is probably the most frustrating part of running a healthcare staffing company. It is not easy to judge what you will get from an employee in terms of skills and quality.

Here are a few screening techniques you can use during the employee selection process. Keep the following in mind:

• Experienced candidates would be more willing to travel and would have no objections to working odd shifts if they are paid higher.

• New graduates would normally have no objection to travelling regardless of what they are paid.

• It is important to be upfront with your employees right from the stat regarding your expectations. This will prove to be very beneficial later on.

• If you are the fifth company that a candidate is going to work for in the past six months, the chances are you aren’t going to be the last.

• New graduates will, initially, work hard for you. However, their ultimate aim would be to find permanent employment. (You can also make money by offering employment services)

• Older or retired people generally do not wish to travel long distances.

These are only a few things out of many others that you should pay attention to.

THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

Finding the right employees for your healthcare staffing agency depends on the niche you wish to serve. In addition to that, knowing how many employees you would need is also a crucial balancing act. This should be based on the number of clients you have. Also, if you are not able to keep your employees working, they would seek employment elsewhere.

Similarly, if you cannot provide staff to your clients that are required to cover their shifts, they will seek another medical staffing agency. This is why it’s crucial that you maintain a balance between the ‘supply and demand’.

Certain segments within healthcare staffing agencies allow employees to find work on a daily basis – or once a month. You will find many candidates who would already have a full time job, but they want to work for a healthcare staffing agency to make extra money. Another group of employees would want to work full time and would be more interested in getting a full paycheck.

Your staffing agency needs to have both types of employees in its pool, including the full time employees who are ready to work on a daily basis along with the floaters who just want to work part time. The skills needed to maintain a balance between these two types of employees is crucial. When times are low, you do not want your employees leaving you for other healthcare staffing agencies. The scope of skills needed to manage this effectively is well beyond the scope of this book – and many other books – as there are some things that you can only learn by doing.

THINGS CAN GET HECTIC

As you grow as a healthcare staffing agency, things will get more and more hectic. Take one owner of a staffing agency as an example: she started her company with just herself and one other employee onboard. After a year, she had three (3), full time, and fifty (50) temporary employees. After a decade, her company now has thirty (30) full time employees and over 800 temporary employees on standby.

The truth is, as your staffing agency grows, you will need to hire more full time employees to effectively handle the day to day operations. There will come a time when a small two-person operation would simply break if additional staff is not hired. This breaking point is dependent on a number of things, such as how far your clients are spread, the number of clients you have, the number of temporary employees, and how well you are capable of organizing your resources.

RECRUITMENT 101

So far we have discussed the importance of maintaining a balance between permanent and temporary employees along with the importance of hiring employees as your staffing business grows. However, you still face the real challenge of actually finding the right people to hire

This section will shed some light on industry-tested recruitment techniques that are normally used by both small and large healthcare staffing agencies. Many of these techniques have been refined prior to being listed in this book.

Always remember that the challenges you have to face with regards to the recruitment process is same regardless of the size of your staffing agency. The following strategies are more successful in healthcare industry because the workforce of healthcare staffing agencies is much more educated and comprehends the importance of their skills.

A larger healthcare staffing agency will have a larger budget that they can allocate to their recruitment process and develop wide-reaching marketing campaigns. On the other hand, while a smaller agency may not have such a budget for its marketing efforts, it can normally pay higher wages because of its smaller overhead costs.

With this understanding, each player will enjoy a competitive advantage when it comes to recruiting candidates. Nonetheless, the competitive advantage within the healthcare staffing industry is so right, that it can sometimes be non-existent. When you compare two healthcare staffing agencies of the same size, you will often find that the separating factor between them is sometimes as simple as a one-dollar raise.

Having a comfortable staff, friendly staff, and being nice to your employees will help you keep them.

Here are the top 3 methods you can use to find prospective employees.

REFERRALS

When you have an effective referral based system, you would find it to be one of the least expensive and most effective ways of recruiting candidates. Many of the healthcare staffing agencies rely solely on referrals to get quality employees on the team. They pay a referral fee to the candidates who provide referrals. Some have certain criteria in place that limit the referrals only for individuals who are top performers in the industry and are renowned for their quality of work.

A referral system is particularly important in the healthcare staffing industry Getting all the new employees to provide a list of possible candidates when being signed onboard is going to be invaluable for the organization.

Make sure you ask your candidates and clients if they are aware of someone who might be interested in working for your agency. Give them a means of contact if they find someone or want to refer to you. Clients can be excellent source of referrals particularly because a lot of employees seek part time work, often referred to as ‘moonlighting’.

Whenever you send your employees to work at healthcare facilities, tell them to keep an eye out for potential employees. You can use your employees as a branding tool – this is a norm in the industry.

It is also a good idea to arrange yearly visits to medical schools and other training facilities to find fresh graduates who may be willing to work for you. These people can be excellent candidates for your agency and can add value to your referral base. Consider providing students a bonus for providing referrals and you will find your referral base will expand.

When these students receive a lump check at the start, it might make the difference between them starving or not. This tactic has worked quite well when healthcare staffing companies hire new graduates.

ADVERTISEMENTS

If done correctly, this method can provide widespread exposure. Marketing on a trade publication, especially one with a national base, is just like throwing your marketing money down the drain. It is a better approach if you place smaller ads on regional publications, such as weekly local publications or smaller newspapers, only then, if your budget allows, go for larger publications.

On the Internet, you will find a number of sources for placing industry-specific advertisements. Just head to Google or any other search engine and search for ‘medical staffing jobs’ and you will see lots of websites come up where you could place your ads.

Dealing with online publications can be tricky, particularly when you are trying to target tight niches. Make sure your ads target regional viewers, and not international audience. Care must be taken to ensure that each dollar is spent accurately and effectively. During the initial stages of starting up your business, you will have a tight budget and it becomes absolutely crucial that you spend money wisely when it comes to advertisements. You have to advertise in a way that it gets you the maximum return on investment (ROI).

Beside publishing adverts online and offline, you should print many business cards and hand it out whenever needed. Give your cards to prospective employees, clients, and perhaps even the mailman because he or she might be aware of someone who works in the medical field. Do not be hesitant in

giving out your business cards – you never know that a person sitting next to you might turn out to be a good prospect.

Normally, it is not recommended to spend money on advertising in yellow pages. The effectiveness of yellow pages is somewhat unsatisfactory. Professionals that are on the lookout for trade-specific work do not search in yellow pages. In fact, they head to websites such as Monster.com or any other large job portals. You have a higher chance of getting more attention at such portals instead of yellow pages.

Sending out newsletters is also a good idea. You should plan to send out a newsletter once a month. Newsletters can be quite effective when it comes to marketing a healthcare staffing agency. The newsletter doesn’t have to be in a printed form. You could develop an email database of prospective clients or employees and send them email newsletters. The newsletter could contain the latest news regarding the healthcare staffing industry and medical industry in general.

IMPORTANCE OF WORD OF MOUTH

Word of mouth is a powerful method and a challenge that you have to face when recruiting medical personnel. Word about your healthcare staffing agency travels fast from one person to another. It’s up to you to ensure that this ‘viral talk’ is positive. Bad talk about your company, perhaps ignited by a disgruntled employee, can wreak havoc on the growth of your organization.

Think about how a virus can spread if it is not contained. You cannot ignore the fact that your healthcare staffing agency’s employees will talk to each other and with others in the same industry and not much can be done to control this viral talk. While you cannot contain it, you can take measures to control it.

The best way to control this viral talk is to give them something positive to talk about. For instance, if you treat all your employees well, they will spread this in whole industry. Similarly, if you pay them well, others in the industry will come to know of this and will develop a desire to work for you. The healthcare industry is very close-knit, and almost everyone knows everyone.

Once, a large healthcare staffing industry began recruiting employees leveraging the power of viral marketing. Many of the employees who joined this staffing agency were managers and medical centers and hospitals. The staffing agency provided excellent treatment to its employees and as the word spread, more clients started calling up with their staffing needs.

More professionals became eager to work for a company that had such a good reputation with regards to the way it treated its employees. Soon there came a point when the company had come so far in terms of its growth that they forgot the main reason behind their success. The company started treating its new employees poorly, and within a year, it lost around 50 percent of its contracts along with a similar

percentage of employees. As of yet, this company has a 90 percent turnover rate and are unable to keep their internal staff.

THE COST ASSOCIATED WITH RECRUITING A NEW EMPLOYEE

It has never been cheap to find and recruit employees for a healthcare staffing agency. It is surprising to see how so many staffing agencies are still following the traditional shot-gun approaches to find suitable candidates. Don’t forget that its now about the number of applicants you interview; but it’s the quality that counts.

In the healthcare staffing industry, it can cost you between $3000 and $5000 to find employees using traditional recruiting methods. Multiply this number by a factor of 100 and you will start to appreciate the importance of positive viral talk and word of mouth marketing, together with how it can ruin the image of your company if it heads on the negative connotation.

A FEW EXAMPLES OF HOW VIRAL TALK HELPED STAFFING AGENCIES

There was once an owner of a healthcare staffing agency who was having issues grasping the concept of viral talk. We provided him instruction on the importance of initiating positive viral talk by offering incentives to their employees, along with raises, bonuses, insurance benefits, and things that mattered the most to employees.

The aim was to bring down their turnover rate while enhancing the positive viral talk. Our client assumed that the approach we recommended would ruin him, mainly because his calculations determined it to be cost prohibited. However, we explained to him that the concept of positive viral talk had nothing to do with being cost prohibited. In fact, it will result in a profitable future for his agency. Eventually, our client agreed and we started the process of providing benefits to employees, and as a result, triggering positive viral talk in the industry. The result was surprising: employees began to stay with the company longer, the owner started receiving more calls from the clients who called to give positive feedback about his employees, and he also began hiring more fresh graduates.

While he paid a lower wage to the new graduates, but in order to retain them, he offered numerous benefits. Just two years on, the company stopped its advertising for recruitment and began relying only on viral talk.

Now that you have learned a lot about how you can find and recruit employees for your healthcare staffing agency, you should move to the next chapter and learn the most effective ways of finding clients.

CHAPTER 6: FINDING CLIENTS

The one thing that will make or break your staffing agency is your ability (or lack of it) to find and retain clients. You would, by now, have qualified employees ready to be placed; however, without any clients, these clients would be of no use to you.

AN OVERVIEW

Let’s begin by emphasizing on the need for exposure and how this exposure can be used in the most effective manner with the fastest response time. It has been observed that many hospitals and healthcare facilities often ignore advertisements by healthcare staffing agencies when they have no staffing needs. However, when they need someone to cover their shifts, they often scramble in all directions in an attempt to grab any staffing agency who could serve them. Why does this happen?

Well, simply put, it goes like this: when they don’t need you, they won’t have any time for you. Sounds cruel, right? But do you remember the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ saying?

How can you overcome this syndrome that is prevalent in almost all healthcare facilities?

First of all, you have to write an effective advertisement campaign that is directed towards your niche. The campaign doesn’t have to be expensive – you can keep the costs under check by writing it by yourself.

The ad should be simple and clear. Make sure you include the following things in your ad copy: who you are, what types of services you provide, and your contact details.

The importance of keeping your ad campaign as simple as possible cannot be overemphasized. The majority of directors or supervisors at healthcare facilities know what a healthcare staffing agency is –what you have to do is to grab their attention with to-the-point ad copy. There is no need to go into too much detail until demanded

A little soft marketing doesn’t hurt. For instance, you could send a 5x7 card every month to your target facilities, and soon enough you will know the prospective clients by name. This would be the best time to address them using their personal name.

FARMING YOUR LOCAL AREA

Using the ads in a simple way to remind your prospective clients about your presence is an excellent way to avoid the ‘out of side, out of mind’ scenario. After you have gotten underway with the first part of your campaign, i.e. writing and distributing ads, you can focus on other things.

Don’t forget that you need to send the post cards or ads to as many healthcare facilities as you can within your niche and geographical area.

Keep in mind that most of these facilities are usually interested in two main things: Can you supply me the necessary staff? And how much will it cost us? It can be safe to assume that almost 50 percent of your prospective clients would be thinking along the same lines. Another 40 percent would have loyalties with the staffing agency they are currently working with – but don’t forget that things can change quite fast in the staffing industry. Never take them off your mailing list. You never know when they mind need you.

This leaves 10 percent of the remaining prospects, out of which five percent will simply hate to be disturbed and will only see you when you book an appointment. The other 5 percent will never use your services because the staffing agency they are working with is probably a friend or relative.

THE EASIEST WAY TO GET CLIENTS

The least expensive and easiest way of getting clients is to simply walk into a medical facility or hospital and have a chat with the supervisor or director. It is surprising to see how many startup healthcare staffing agencies spend so much money on advertising and marketing, yet they fail to properly farm the

area they want to target. The term ‘farming’ has come from the real estate industry, which basically refers to driving by and visiting the facilities where you plan to do business.

The area you are considering to cover with your marketing and provision of healthcare staffing services would be considered your farming territory. Experienced staffing firms have closed more accounts just by walking into a facility and talking to the director than any other means.

Make sure you look sharp and thoroughly professional when visiting any potential client’s premises. When you are required to give your name, say ‘Mr (Your Last name)’. Most people will naturally assume that you are important and will immediately direct you to the director’s office. Once you are in their office, they would be surprised to see that you managed to get into their office, and will actually hear you out.

NUMEROUS OTHER METHODS TO GET CLIENTS

If money is not too much of a problem for you, then you can follow the methods given below in order to try and capture as many clients as you can. Just remember that in the healthcare staffing industry, nothing can replace person-to-person contact – like the talk you can have with a director or a supervisor!

Here are other ways you can use to try and capture clients for your staffing business:

MARKETING BROCHURE

If you are the owner of a startup staffing company, you might find this to be out of your budget. On the other hand, experienced staffing agencies that have managed to build their position on stable ground in the industry can, in an attempt to capture a larger stake in the staffing industry, create marketing brochures to portray a more professional image of their company.

WEBSITE

It is quite inexpensive to create a website these days. However, it is more of a necessity than a luxury, regardless of its cost. The healthcare staffing agency is highly competitive, and in order to gain a competitive edge over others, you need to make sure you use as many channels as possible to reach out to your prospects.

Make sure you allow the clients (as well as candidates) to sign up and get in touch with you.

NEWSPAPER

This method isn’t really used to capture clients, but is used to attract candidates. Nonetheless, you never know who might come across your advertisement in the paper!

SPECIFIC PUBLICATIONS

The healthcare staffing industry has a number of industry-specific publications that are available both online and offline. Your advertising in industry-specific publications must succeed in assuring the supervisor/director readership of hospitals and medical facilities to work with you in order to maximize the effectiveness of your advertising dollars.

TELEPHONE

You will definitely be using the phone to get in touch with your existing clients. As for new clients, even if at least 30 percent of them call you back, you would be lucky. You should try to be fairly persistent in your calling efforts, without annoying your prospective clients. Consider using the 5:1 rule – if five attempts to contact a prospective client on the phone fails, walk into their facility.

VIRAL MARKETING

Remember the word of mouth marketing concept? You can use it to your advantage. If you provide good services to your existing clients, they will defiantly talk about you. A lot of new startup agencies have made their way up on the ladder just by leveraging the power of viral marketing, and nothing else!

INDUSTRY SECRETS FOR FINDING THE CLIENTS YOU

NEED

What you are going to read in this section is extremely valuable. It is a closely guarded secret that not many people in the staffing industry are aware of, and those who know, won’t tell you.

This method alone will save you a lot of money and precious time when attempting to find clients for your business.

This is what you should try:

• Go online and search all online job banks and databases that are related to your target niche.

• Scan through newspapers and industry-specific publications that are related to your target niche.

• Once you have all the data gathered regarding job vacancies in medical facilities and hospitals, you can begin sourcing for the job openings to facilities that fall into your scope of services.

• Start by calling or consider visiting the facilities that need staff to cover their shifts.

Why should you follow this approach? Well, for starters, you are only going after those facilities that actually need people to cover shifts. Secondly, you have the people who are willing to provide services needed by the hospital or healthcare facility. What else matters? It’s like finding the perfectly matching pieces of puzzle.

All you have to do is to persuade them why your staffing services are best for them – they need staffing, and you can provide them just that!

This is among one of the easiest yet most efficient and effective way of finding clients to do business with. When you get in touch with someone who really needs staffing, you do not appear to be ‘annoying’, which would otherwise be the case if you are cold calling.

Additionally, a facility might be having a problem with finding permanent employees. In this case, you could come to their rescue by providing temporary staff until they find a permanent replacement. If you also provide permanent placement services, you could make money from that too!

CHAPTER 7: MOST COMMON REASONS WHY STAFFING AGENCIES FAIL

What are the most common reasons that cause a start up agency to fail? Knowing which problems lead to an ultimate shutdown of new startup business – particularly staffing agencies – is crucial as it allows you to avoid those pitfalls.

Read on to learn more about some of the most common reasons.

INSUFFICIENT FINANCING

Insufficient funding is a problem that every business in every industry faces. However, the problem is more prominent when medical staffing agencies are concerned. Why is this? Well, for starters, cash is the king in the staffing industry. Even though we have discussed how you can start a business with as little as a thousand dollars, things tend to get quite rough when you have multiple people onboard and when salaries have to be paid. Your financial status must be relatively stable enough to battle periodic storms, and you must be in a position to meet payroll if you want to avoid losing employees.

When employees don’t get paid for their services, they simply move on to other staffing agencies, and this is what happens to many of the staffing agencies when they face financial hardships.

INSUFFICIENT INSURANCE

The staffing industry is brimming with potential liability problems. A single expensive claim can simply wipe you off the face of the industry if you are not insured sufficiently. It is crucial that you take care of all your insurance needs by regularly evaluating them and taking action accordingly.

Many healthcare staffing agencies try to get by with little insurance; however, things happen that result in huge financial losses. Many agencies are forced to shut down just because of this.

INADEQUATE TEMPORARY WORKERS

We discussed how you should have a balance of permanent and temporary workers working for your staffing agency, remember?

Many clients who use services of staffing agencies only want workers to cover shifts when their own permanent workers are unable to show up for work. This is why it’s important to have temporary workers as a part of your team: you are required to pay them less than full time employees, and they are most suitable for filling in the random shift requirements of your clients.

Unfortunately, many startup staffing agencies do not understand this, mainly because of their lack of experience. They hire a number of full time employees, pay them full salaries, but are unable to utilize them to their maximum potential; hence, they don’t get the ideal return on investment, if any!

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Your clients are the source of your bread and butter, if you don’t treat them well, they will not give you their business. An example of a staffing agency was given in this book where a company provided exemplary customer service to its clients and as a result, experienced rapid growth and a large base of happy, satisfied clients.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long that the management of the company forgot their core values and forgot what actually helped them grow. The quality of their customer service declined, followed by a sharp decline in the number of clients (and employees!).

Make sure you provide quality customer service because the medical staffing industry is a very competitive one, and good customer service is something that can give you an edge over your competitors.

UNDERESTIMATING THE TIME COMMITMENT NEEDED

All startup businesses require a lot of time commitment, particularly in its early stages. Due to the nature of medical staffing agencies, they require more time than any other business. You have to manage your clients’ needs, you need to juggle your employees to place them as and when required, if an employee doesn’t show up at a client’s facility, you need to get in touch with them or arrange a replacement – it’s very hectic, to say the least.

Many entrepreneurs fail to realize how much time they will need to commit to a healthcare staffing agency. A lack of sufficient time commitment is among one of the things that cause healthcare staffing agencies to fail.

UNSATISFACTORY EMPLOYEES

Hiring the right employees is crucial for the success of a healthcare staffing agency. Getting unprofessional or unqualified people onboard is a sure recipe for destruction as they will give a bad name to your agency.

One way to avoid this is by implementing effective testing as well as evaluation procedures in your selection and hiring process of candidates.

Keep in mind that you will face problems and will have to troubleshoot every now and then. Some of the problems that healthcare agencies face with regards to their employees are as follows:

DISSATISFIED CLIENTS

If any client expresses their dissatisfaction with the staffing firm’s employee, the course of action taken by the staffing firm is to NOT charge that client. You may be required to make the best use of your judgment on this matter. Whatever you decide to do to handle this situation, you will have to pay your employee regardless of whether you charge the client or not.

NO-SHOW EMPLOYEE

You may want to give your no-show employees one show-cause notice before striking them off your employee list. There are exceptions of course, particularly if they have a good reason to explain why they

did not show up. If this becomes a habit among your agency’s employees, your clients will become disgruntled and quit using your services.

EMPLOYEE CANCELLATION

A high employee cancellation rate is not only annoying, but it wastes a lot of time of your client as well as you. Whenever this happens, make a note of it in the computer and try to find a replacement worker as soon as possible. Observe the pattern of irregularity of each employee and terminate them if necessary. Failing to effectively manage employees can lead to cessation of operations of your staffing agency.

MISSING TIME SHEET

For many agencies, it’s a hassle to get their employees to hand in the time sheets. This is known to cause operational difficulties, which can elevate to potentially dangerous levels, causing severe disruptions in the smooth running of your business.

The best way is to enforce firm deadlines for your employees to hand in the time sheets. If an employee fails to hand over within the deadline, they don’t get paid for the week or month. This sounds harsh, but it’s something that is necessary if you want to prevent yourself from going into doldrums.

If the time sheet cannot be handed in physically by the employee due to an unavoidable reason, then allow them to phone in the information. Verify this information with the client and only then cut their paycheck.

INACCURATE JOB DESCRIPTION

Assignments are handed out to employees based on the job description given by the client. This description can sometimes be inaccurate, and many startup agencies fail to address this issue, leading to consistent problems between the employees and clients.

It is a good idea to fill out a profile of a particular assignment and send it back to the client for verification. If there are any discrepancies, they should be solved BEFORE you assign the duty to an employee.

Employees have the right to call you up and request a replacement if they feel they are not up to the mark with regards to what is expected of them. You should handle these requests to make sure your employees are comfortable doing their job.

UNRELIABLE CLIENTS

Yes, even unreliable clients can cause staffing agencies to fail. Clients can be unreliable in many numbers of ways. For instance, they may cause problems at billing time by paying you late, or they may be too difficult to work with, perhaps due to the attitude of their supervisors or because of their policies towards temporary workers.

If any of these problems are not minimized or taken care of, you could end up with disgruntled and demotivated employees who simply do not want to work at that particular client’s facility. If that client is your only client, then you’re in trouble.

CHAPTER 8: GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR HEALTHCARE STAFFING FIRMS

All healthcare staffing agencies have to meet the industry-accepted quality standards and ensure that their staff is well-qualified and that they carry out their duties as medical professionals ethically

Here are some facts and guiding principles for all healthcare staffing agencies.

MEDICAL STAFFING INDUSTRY HAS RAPIDLY MATURED

The medical staffing industry has expanded to become a $10 billion industry. These staffing firms are valuable providers of supplemental medical staff at times of shortages as well as strategic partners. As a result, they have immense responsibility to accurately and carefully examine the background of each and every staff member they hire, particularly those who hold medical qualifications. The reputation and future of a staffing agency relies heavily on them following strict quality standards. Apart from this, healthcare facilities and patients also depend on them.

This means that all healthcare staffing agencies should implement and adhere to rigorous screening and selection procedures when hiring their employees.

HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCIES PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN ENHANCING QUALITY OF HEALTHCARE AND SAFETY OF PATIENTS IN THE CURRENT HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS

Ever since the recession of economy, hospitals have rationalized their utilization of services offered by staffing firms. Those hospitals that had around 40 to 50 firms to fill their staffing positions have now reduced the number to single digits. They have formulated their own ways to utilize the agencies in more effectual ways, including getting assistance by obtaining the Magnet status. Today, healthcare staffing firms provide healthcare professionals to almost 80 percent of all Magnet facilities.

SUPPLEMENTAL HEALTHCARE STAFF POSSESSES THE SKILLS NEEDED TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE DELIVERY OF HEALTHCARE

As a whole, the supplemental staff assigned by staffing agencies consists of highly skilled professionals. These individuals have a crucial role to play in assisting healthcare facilities effectively deliver quality care to patients. Dr. Linda Aiken, the author of a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania confirmed the quality of supplemental nurses. This study was published in the Journal of Nursing Administration, and revealed that the quality of temporary nurses was on par with the permanent staff at various hospitals. It also emphasized that temporary staff nurses actually help enhance the patient outcome at hospitals that have insufficient resources & staffing shortages.

ALL EMPLOYERS IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY FACE THE SAME TYPES OF EMPLOYEE SCREENING REQUIREMENTS & LIMITATIONS THAT EXIST AT BOTH STATE AND FEDERAL LEVEL

Despite having the most stringent practices and screening procedures, quality healthcare staffing agencies have to face the same types of limitations as hospitals and numerous other healthcare providers when disclosure of misconduct needs to be reported to licensing agencies.

It is after a lengthy investigation that a Board might make decisions to enforce restrictions on a professional’s license. It is only then that the suspension/restriction information is made available to staffing agencies and other employers in the healthcare industry through the same mechanism.

A possible solution is to develop a central database of state disciplinary actions against healthcare professionals.

For instance, the Title IV of Public Law, 99-660, The Healthcare Quality Improvement Act of 1986 established the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) as an information bank that can be used to collect and release data related to the professional conduct and competence of physicians, nurses, dentists, and other healthcare practitioners.

WHAT HOSPITALS LOOK FOR WHEN CHOOSING A HEALTHCARE STAFFING AGENCY

When you know what hospitals look for when hiring a healthcare staffing agency, you would be able to increase your chances of getting selected as their primary choice.

EXPERIENCE

Hospitals and healthcare organizations often carefully review a staffing firm’s track record and check for any references of other clients that have been serviced by them. They do this to learn more about the firm’s business practices and quality standards.

FINANCIAL STRENGTH

The startup cost of a typical staffing agency includes the following:

• Professional liability insurance costs

• Ongoing payroll

• Workers’ compensation costs

• Taxes

Just like other industries, a company in a healthcare staffing industry that has a financially sound history is less likely to cut corners and is more likely to follow strict quality guidelines. This is, however, quite difficult to assess mainly because most staffing industries are privately owned.

SCREENING AND HIRING PRACTICES

Almost all hospitals and healthcare facilities prefer to utilize the services of staffing companies that conduct comprehensive screening and have established hiring practices. They look for staffing agencies that carry out verification of licenses and pay attention to the status and standing of each individual with respect to their state professional licensing board. These agencies are also expected to document evidence of the health of their employees, perform thorough criminal checks and screening for drugs through independent laboratories.

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

A good staffing firm is expected to be involved in some form of a continuous performance improvement program aimed at improving the skills and efficiency of their employees. Hospitals and healthcare facilities consider this an added advantage and are more likely to do business with such agencies.

COST

Cost-effectiveness is surely an important factor, and facilities looking for staffing agencies keep this in account. Nonetheless, those who have had experience of working regularly with healthcare staffing firms understand how quality is important, and do not always aim for low-cost solutions.

SAMPLE FORMS

SAMPLE EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION #1

EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION

It is our policy to comply with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination based on race, age, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other protected classification.

PLEASE PRINT

Name: Date: Social Security #

Address: Telephone Number: Alternate Number: Email Address:

Are you over 18 years old? Yes  No  Are you legally authorized to work in the United States? Yes  No

Are you willing to work all hours, shifts or days as required? Yes No If no, please list those hours, Shifts and days you are willing to work:

Are you willing to work overtime if asked? Yes No

Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offense? Do not include convictions that were sealed, expunged, eradicated, annulled, erased, vacated, set aside, or referred to a diversion program. Yes No (Note: Conviction of a criminal offense will not necessarily disqualify you from employment.)

MILITARY HISTORY:

Branch: Member of Reserves? Yes No Active Inactive

PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE/CERTIFICATIONS:

Type/Number: State Issued:

Description of Duties:

Previous Employer: Address/Phone :

Date Started: Starting Position:

Starting Salary: $ per Date Left: Position on Leaving:

Salary on Leaving: $ per Name and Title of Supervisor: Reason for Leaving:

Description of Duties: Previous Employer: Address/Phone:

Date Started: Starting Position:

Starting Salary: $ per Date Left: Position on Leaving:

Salary on Leaving: $ per Name and Title of Supervisor: Reason for Leaving:

Description of Duties:

Previous Employer: Address/Phone:

Date Started: Starting Position:

Starting Salary: $ per Date Left: Position on Leaving: Salary on Leaving: $ per

Name and Title of Supervisor: Reason for Leaving:

Description of Duties:

Previous Employer: Address/Phone:

Date Started: Starting Position:

Starting Salary: $ per Date Left: Position on Leaving:

Salary on Leaving: $ per

Name and Title of Supervisor: Reason for Leaving: Description of Duties:

APPLICANT’S CERTIFICATION AND AGREEMENT

I hereby certify that all of the information set forth in this employment application is true, accurate, and complete to the best of my knowledge. To the extent permitted by law (and separate and apart from any background check that may be conducted pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Disclosure and Authorization Form attached to this application), I hereby authorize STAFFING AGENCY to investigate any of the information set forth in this application, including, but not limited to, with respect to my background, professional/technical certification/licensure, and experience with former employers, education institutions, and any relevant agencies, hereby further authorize all such third parties to provide such information to STAFFING AGENCY without restriction or qualification, and hereby release STAFFING AGENCY and all such third parties from all liability and damages relating thereto.

I understand that, if any of the information set forth in this application is false, or if any information is omitted from this application, then it may lead to the rejection of my application or, if I become employed, then it may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. I hereby give STAFFING AGENCY permission to release information to clients for purposes of my employment.

I understand that, upon an offer of employment, I will be required to pass a drug test prior to employment.

I hereby authorize my agency to release any and all professional credentials, work verifications, criminal background check information and/or health information that have been acquired by Agency. I understand this information will be sent only to the clients where I will be working as an Agency employee, for the purpose of assuring that all required credentials and regulatory documentation as required by contract are in place and current prior to and during my assignment

I hereby release Agency and affiliates, schools, companies, former employers and all other persons named from

© 2019 Quality Staffing Network LLC

all liability for any damages resulting from issuing this information.

Sign Name: Print Name: __________________________________________________ Date: _______________________________________________________

Initial Here: Employee Notes to Payroll:

CONCLUSION

The healthcare industry is a rapidly growing field in the United States because of the increased life expectancy, aging population, rapid advancements in technology, and increasing number of medical procedures that can be selected by patients. The problem, however, starts due to the shortage of healthcare professionals to meet this growing demand.

This is where healthcare staffing agencies come in. Healthcare staffing firms play a vital role in overcoming the shortage of physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals.

The growing demand for such firms makes them an excellent business option for those considering starting up a healthcare staffing agency. While it is not a prerequisite to have a background in the healthcare industry, it does help to have some knowledge of how the medical industry – particularly medical staffing industry – operates to run the firm smoothly and efficiently.

It is hoped that you would have learnt a great deal about starting up your own healthcare staffing agency by going through this book. Keep in mind that meticulous planning and hard work are required to successfully launch and run a healthcare staffing agency.

Do your research, develop a comprehensive plan, and provide excellent customer service – and you will have little chance of going in the wrong direction.

Good Luck!