To Train or To Recruit?

Posted on August 27, 2008
Filed Under Best Practices, Solutions |

This dilemma for human resource professionals goes back as far as the “chicken or egg” argument.

The real answer is…. do both.

Obviously it is best to “grow our own” in everything we do. However, many times we do no have the time or the luxury to do that. It all depends on the level of training needed for the particular vacancy and what the marketplace we serve demands. Let’s take a look at one critical shortage …. the nursing shortage.

Back in 1999 Nevada identified that we had an acute nursing shortage on the horizon. The problem was addressed in front of the legislature. The legislature was misinformed that the nurses were leaving the professional because they were being mistreated. The fact of the matter was Nevada had more of a demand for nurses than the local educational infrastructure was supplying. To get to the numbers - we were graduating some 332 nurses each year and our growth created 800 new nurse jobs in Nevada.

Run a calculator on that equation and take out the nurses that either leave the state or the profession and Nevada was operating at a net loss of about 500 nurses each year. Again - it is best that we “educate” and “grow our own.” Reality is - Nevada would not have seen the fruits of those efforts for several years.

Growing our own is still the long term solution and we can not overlook that for our immediate needs. The legislature doubled the capacity of the nursing schools, still leaving a need to recruit. Realty was - we needed nurses yesterday. We need nurses today. And we will need nurses next year and for years to come.

What were we to do? Wait for education to catch up? No - we had to recruit. Not within Nevada, but outside of Nevada. We needed to find 500 nurses each year to relocate to Nevada and correct our supply-demand issue. We did that. Read the case study on Nevada’s Nursing Shortage.

Here we are a few years later. Our nurse to population has increased. Our population also increased. Our demand increased. We now need close to 1,100 nurses each year. So the legislature is looking to double the nursing program capacity again. And our recruiting efforts from out of market continue. We must train more nurses, but we can not give up on our recruiting efforts either.

So which comes first - training or recruiting? Again - it must be both.