Now more than ever the NHS and Department of Health need senior-level commercially skilled staff to achieve its goals. But with a number of senior HR roles remaining unfilled, it seems to be struggling to recruit the strategic talent it needs.
Back in May we reported that the NHS was finding it harder than most employers to attract and keep a hold of the best interim talent, due to its exacting standards. A strict set of recruitment criteria can often mean that it has a limited pool of suitably experienced candidates to consider.
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Despite repeated advertising, the NHS is also struggling to recruit for key HR director positions. With ambitious five-year goals to achieve, it needs the necessary strategic hires in place to help drive the HR agenda and its existing talented HR professionals to shine.
To date the same HR professionals have tended to move across different NHS organisations, satisfying the need for sector experience and operational knowledge. But with some NHS officials believing the HRD roles have been too challenging for applicants, there exists a skills gap.
Proven strategic leadership and the ability to command respect in the role have been pressure points at interview. Until the NHS addresses this internal skills gap with added training and development, or reviews how it can attract the right level of external applicant to plug the gap, its senior recruitment woes are likely to remain.
If this is an issue affecting you, download the key insights from our recent HR Recruiters’ Forum event, at which delegates discussed best practice senior level recruitment with the public sector.
One Comment
Agree with the editorial.
How does the NHS plan to reach its ambitious 5 year plan with an Edwardian strategy? I’ve recently viewed numerous vacancies advertised w/in the NHS, but opted not to reply due to exacting pre-requisites for the various roles i.e. NHS experience required. An astute record, twenty-five years of commercial experience with various top 100 international organisations and yet I don’t meet the NHS criteria. A change in recruiting strategy is required w/in the NHS to achieve a higher and more innovative organisation. It should be recognised that there is currently key talent in the market with transferrable skills, which could significantly attribute to a paradigm shift; allowing the NHS to meet its plan.
Even with the continuous annual churn of students from the various medical institutes, the NHS will fail to reach its objectives unless a new strategy is rapidly introduced.