Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) hiring authorities and human resource professionals are finding that there are not many technically qualified and experienced biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) and imaging service technicians available to fill the many vacant positions throughout the U.S. Healthcare employers are struggling to keep up with the demand for these specialized service individuals.
We have seen a significant economic impact on health care organizations nationwide due to the decline of available qualified talent. As the aging “baby boomers” retire, the labor shortage for quality healthcare technical professionals will continue to challenge health care organizations more than ever before.
The use of increasingly complex medical equipment drives the demand for professionally trained and experienced service professionals. To add to this problem, there seems to be fewer students graduating from professional biomedical equipment training programs, nor enough BMETs exiting the military to help fill the gap in the available talent pool. This is creating a major shift in hiring trends nationwide.
We have seen some health care organizations and ISOs hiring basic electronics technicians and performing on-the-job training to repair clinical equipment. These organizations soon realized that most of these basic electronic technicians could not replace the services of the professionally trained BMET because they lacked the training and qualifications to repair complex clinical equipment. Additionally, most of these electronic technicians lacked the understanding or knowledge of the health care structure and the impact on patient care.
Another challenge for hiring officials is recognizing professionally trained BMETs and imaging service technicians with appropriate compensation as a crucial part of the successful hiring and retention equation. While historically not at the top of the pay range for technical positions, salaries have increased for professionally trained BMETs over the past few years due to the classic economic law of supply and demand. The demand for experienced BMETS and imaging service technicians is significantly increasing, and wages continue to rise due to the labor pool shortage. Employers need to continually evaluate the market trends and keep up with the appropriate pay and benefits to retain qualified staff.
Hiring authorities can ease their recruiting burdens by utilizing appropriate resources that are available. We suggest using local biomedical equipment associations and trade publications.
As a result of the shortage of talent, we are experiencing an increase in need for our services to locate top healthcare technology talent for health care organizations and service support firms. As recruiters, we screen our candidates carefully, and dedicate our time to find qualified candidates who are ready to accept a new opportunity.
“The demand for experienced BMETS and imaging service technicians is significantly increasing, and wages continue to rise due to the labor pool shortage.”
Professional recruiting agencies can save time in screening and qualifying candidates for these very technical specialty positions, saving time and money for employers in the end. Fees are reasonable and worth the investment, relieving the burden for managers and HR professionals. Recruiters may be found from a variety of resources; however, you want to focus on using a firm that specializes in this career field as they have the experience and resources to find the required talent to fill these positions.
Another challenge is that candidates are moving on to other opportunities because of the slow process. When employers finally find qualified talent and go to hire permanent employees, hiring authorities are taking much longer to bring an employee on board. In the process, the candidate may become very discouraged and may move on to another opportunity. So both the employer and the candidate lose out due to the delayed hiring process which is not good considering the shortage of available and qualified talent.
On a positive note, this very tenuous and uncertain economic period has created a shift in hiring trends that helps employers and candidates. To meet the staffing demands and deal with the economic insecurity, employers are turning to recruitment and staffing companies for temporary and contract staffing as an alternative to the economic risks of hiring permanent employees. The delay in hiring is also causing many employers to consider temp-to-perm alternatives to lock in a prospective candidate.
We, along with several other recruitment and staffing agencies, provide contract staffing. They are a reliable single source for the hiring organization’s staffing needs (to include direct hire, contract staffing, contract-to-direct conversions or temp-to-perm conversions, payroll services, as well as retiree re-staffing).
Why contract staffing?
Contract staffing enables companies to bring in workers on a temporary basis to fill the demand and eliminates the fear of having to lay-off a direct-hire since it is easy to end a contractor’s assignment.
Contract staffing services allow organizations to reduce their overall staffing costs and increase their staffing flexibility without the time-consuming administrative and financial responsibilities associated with engaging contractors or employing personnel themselves.
Contract staffing services provide hiring organizations temporary employees to fill in for staff shortages due to extended sick leave, equipment inventory and PM requirements for Joint Commission inspections, temp-to-perm hires, and special project initiatives. It also allows the employer to evaluate a potential employee for a future permanent position.
A contract staffing firm will handle all the employer headaches on behalf of the hiring organization. They handle all the payroll and employment issues, and provide an added layer of insurance protection for the hiring organization. The contract staffing company ensures a criminal background and drug screening is done on any contractor provided, as well.
Now companies and hiring managers have an alternative to handling the stress of staffing shortage and increased workloads by using contract staffing. This major shift in hiring trends is an excellent alternative in meeting the employment challenges of today.
However, there is one thing I would like to address as a concern that has come up in our business. The hiring organization needs to ensure they are working with a reputable company who has contract staffing experience and meets the legal and IRS requirements. An experienced contract staffing firm actually brings on a contractor as their employee, as the legal W-2 employer of record for contractors.
There are a few temporary staffing agencies using BMET contractors as 1099 employees rather than a W-2 employee. If a contractor is hired as a 1099 employee for an organization, it can result in significant fines and penalties, even for the organization using a temporary staffing service. The government continues to crackdown on companies who mistakenly hire or classify a worker as a 1099 independent contractor versus a W-2 employee.
Don’t get frustrated with the challenges of today’s recruitment process, whether you are an employer, HR professional, or a candidate. In this tight labor market, recruitment and retention of professionally trained biomedical equipment technicians and imaging service technicians can be painless and successful by utilizing the right resources and providing incentives to prospective employees.