How to Reduce Time-to-Hire in Healthcare
Healthcare employers need qualified people, but finding the right candidates can take time. Learning how to reduce time-to-hire in healthcare can help organizations find where hiring slows down and make it easier to connect with people who are ready for the job.
From simplifying the hiring process to preparing candidates through training, here are some practical ways healthcare employers can fill roles more efficiently.
What Is Time-to-Hire in Healthcare?
Time-to-hire generally measures how long it takes to move a candidate from entering the hiring process to accepting a job offer. It can help healthcare employers understand how quickly qualified candidates move through recruiting and hiring.
Time-to-fill looks at a broader period. It measures how long it takes to fill a position, starting when the role is opened or approved.
Time-to-Hire vs. Time-to-Fill
| Time-to-Hire | Time-to-Fill | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | A candidate’s hiring journey | The overall vacancy period |
| Starts | Candidate enters the hiring process | Position is opened or approved |
| Ends | Candidate accepts an offer | Position is filled |
| Useful for | Evaluating recruiting speed | Understanding how long positions remain open |
In simple terms, time-to-hire focuses on how quickly a candidate moves through the hiring process, while time-to-fill looks at how long the position remains open overall.
Why Does It Take So Long to Hire for Healthcare Roles?
Healthcare hiring can slow down for several reasons, and finding interested applicants is only one part of the challenge. Training requirements, competition for qualified workers, and delays within the hiring process itself can all add time.
Candidates May Not Have the Right Training
An employer may receive applications from people who are interested in the position but still need specific healthcare education or skills before they are ready for the role.
Certification and Qualification Requirements
Depending on the occupation, employer, and location, candidates may need certain education, certifications, licenses, or other qualifications before they can be considered.
Competition for Trained Workers
Healthcare organizations may be recruiting from the same pool of trained allied health workers, making it harder to find qualified candidates when positions need to be filled.
The Hiring Process Has Too Many Steps
Long applications, multiple interview rounds, delayed feedback, and unclear approval processes can keep qualified candidates waiting longer than necessary.
Recruiting Starts After the Position Is Already Open
When recruiting begins only after someone leaves, employers are starting the search with an open position and no established group of potential candidates to turn to.
Instead of relying only on people who are already trained and actively looking for work, healthcare employers can also build relationships with people who are still preparing for healthcare roles. A more consistent talent pipeline can give employers another place to look when positions become available.
Why Does It Take So Long to Hire for Healthcare Roles?
Healthcare employers can lose time at several points in the hiring process. Sometimes there aren’t enough applicants with the right training. Other times, interviews, approvals, or qualification requirements slow things down. And if recruiting doesn’t begin until a position opens, the search is already starting behind.
Candidates May Not Have the Right Training
Some applicants may be interested in the job but still need healthcare training or specific skills before they’re ready to step into the role.
Certification and Qualification Requirements
Some healthcare roles come with education, certification, licensing, or other requirements. What’s needed varies by occupation, employer, and state, and those requirements can limit the number of candidates who are ready to hire.
Competition for Trained Workers
Healthcare employers are often looking for the same types of workers. That matters as demand grows: healthcare support occupations are projected to grow 13.3% from 2025 to 2035.
The Hiring Process Has Too Many Steps
Sometimes the delay is internal. Long applications, several rounds of interviews, slow feedback, or too many people involved in approvals can stretch out the process.
Recruiting Starts After the Position Is Already Open
If recruiting starts only after an employee leaves, there may be no one ready to consider for the opening. Employers then have to find candidates, review applications, interview, and hire while the position is already vacant.
Instead of starting from zero every time a position opens, employers can build connections with people who are training for healthcare roles before they need to hire.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 and Occupational Outlook Handbook: Healthcare Occupations .
How Can Healthcare Employers Reduce Time-to-Hire?
Reducing time-to-hire isn’t just about interviewing faster. Employers can also look at which roles they hire most often, where candidates tend to get stuck, and whether training could help create a larger pool of people who are prepared for those jobs.
Identify the Roles You Hire Most Often
Start with the positions that come up again and again. If your organization regularly needs the same types of allied health workers, it may make sense to build a more consistent way of finding and preparing candidates for those roles.
Separate Required Qualifications From Preferred Ones
Look closely at what someone actually needs to qualify for the position. Education, licenses, certifications, and other required qualifications should be clearly separated from experience or skills that would simply be nice to have.
A long list of preferred qualifications can make the candidate pool smaller before the hiring process even begins.
Simplify Applications and Interviews
Look at each step a candidate has to complete and ask whether it is actually needed. Even small delays can add up when several people need to review applications, schedule interviews, or approve an offer.
- Shorten applications where possible
- Cut unnecessary interview rounds
- Decide who needs to approve a hire
- Set a timeline for interview feedback
- Tell candidates what happens next
Build a Talent Pipeline Before Positions Open
Recruiting doesn’t have to begin when someone leaves. Employers can build relationships with people who are training for healthcare careers before a position becomes available.
Use Training to Prepare Candidates
Sometimes the issue isn’t a lack of interested candidates. It’s that the people applying still need training or specific healthcare skills. For roles an organization hires regularly, training can become part of the workforce plan instead of something candidates are expected to complete on their own.
Advanced eClinical Training works with healthcare employers and workforce organizations to provide allied health education that can support workforce development and talent pipeline initiatives.
Develop Current Employees
Before looking outside the organization, consider whether someone already on the team could be trained for an additional responsibility or another opportunity. Depending on the role, additional education may help eligible employees build skills the organization already needs.
Keep Qualified Candidates Moving
Once a qualified candidate enters the hiring process, don’t let avoidable delays slow things down. Clear communication, reasonable interview timelines, prompt feedback, and knowing who makes the final decision can help keep the process moving.
The goal isn’t simply to hire as fast as possible. It’s to remove delays that don’t need to be there and give employers more ways to connect with people who are prepared for the roles they need to fill.
What Is a Train-to-Hire Program in Healthcare?
A train-to-hire program connects training with recruiting. Instead of searching only for people who already have every skill or credential needed for a job, employers can also consider eligible candidates who complete training for the roles they need to fill.
This can be useful for healthcare organizations that hire for the same positions again and again. Rather than starting the search from scratch each time, training can help prepare more people with the knowledge and skills those jobs require.
How Does Train-to-Hire Work?
The process starts with the jobs an employer needs to fill. Select each step below to see how it works.
Identify the Workforce Need
Start with the jobs your organization needs to fill. Decide what training, skills, and qualifications someone needs for those roles.
Important: Finishing a train-to-hire program does not guarantee a job. Employers still make their own hiring decisions based on available positions, job requirements, and each candidate’s qualifications.
When Might Train-to-Hire Make Sense?
Train-to-hire may be worth considering when an organization needs the same types of allied health workers on a regular basis but has trouble finding enough people who already have the right training.
- ✓ Your organization regularly hires for the same allied health positions.
- ✓ It’s difficult to find enough candidates with the training you need.
- ✓ You want to have people preparing for these roles before positions open.
- ✓ You know which skills, credentials, or qualifications the job requires.
- ✓ You work with workforce organizations that can help connect you with eligible participants.
- ✓ You want training to better match the jobs your organization needs to fill.
Employers know which roles they need to fill and what they expect from candidates. A training partner can help with the education side. Advanced eClinical Training works with healthcare employers and workforce organizations to help train people for allied health roles.
What Should Employers Measure Besides Time-to-Hire?
Hiring faster can be helpful, but speed doesn’t tell the whole story. Employers also need to know whether they’re finding qualified candidates, whether those candidates accept their offers, and what happens after they’re hired.
Time-to-Fill
Time-to-fill shows how long a position stays open overall. Looking at it alongside time-to-hire can help employers see whether delays are happening before candidates enter the hiring process or after.
Qualified Candidates
A large number of applications doesn’t necessarily mean an employer has a strong candidate pool. Track how many applicants actually have the training, skills, and qualifications needed for the job.
Offer Acceptance
Look at how often selected candidates accept job offers. If qualified candidates regularly turn offers down, that may point to an issue that hiring speed alone won’t show.
Training and Certification Completion
If training is part of your workforce strategy, track how many participants finish their programs and, where applicable, complete certification requirements. This can help show how many people make it through the training process.
New-Hire Retention
Filling a position quickly doesn’t help much if the new employee leaves soon afterward. Looking at retention alongside hiring speed gives employers a better picture of what happens after a candidate accepts the job.
The goal isn’t simply to hire faster. It’s to remove delays that don’t need to be there while continuing to find people who are prepared for the role.
How Advanced eClinical Training Can Help Build a Healthcare Talent Pipeline
When hiring slows down because candidates aren’t ready for the job, looking beyond the usual pool of already-trained workers can help. Advanced eClinical Training (ACT) works with healthcare employers and workforce organizations to help prepare people for allied health roles.
Train-to-Hire Programs
ACT can work with employers and workforce partners to provide healthcare training for eligible candidates preparing for allied health opportunities. This gives organizations another way to develop people for roles they regularly need to fill.
Employee Upskilling
Employers can also use ACT programs to help eligible current employees build additional healthcare knowledge and skills. This can be useful when an organization wants to develop people already on its team.
Related Technical Instruction for Apprenticeships
For applicable allied health apprenticeships, ACT can provide Related Technical Instruction (RTI) while the employer handles workplace learning and supervision.
Learn more about healthcare apprenticeships →Externship Partnerships
Healthcare organizations can become ACT externship sites, giving students a place to gain real-world clinical experience while employers get to work with people preparing to enter allied health careers.
Learn more about healthcare externship partnerships →Allied Health Training Options
ACT offers training across several allied health areas, giving employers and workforce partners options based on the roles they need to develop talent for.
ACT at a Glance
Here’s a quick look at ACT’s training and healthcare partner network.
Program length varies by program and learner. Certification eligibility, exam requirements, and outcomes vary. The certification exam pass rate is based on ACT-reported outcomes and should be verified against the latest ACT data before publication.
Build Your Healthcare Talent Pipeline With ACT
Whether you’re looking to prepare new candidates, train current employees, support an apprenticeship, or become an externship partner, ACT offers allied health education that can support your organization’s workforce needs.
Explore ACT Partner SolutionsFAQS about How to Reduce Time-to-Hire in Healthcare
Time-to-hire measures how long it takes a candidate to move through the hiring process, from entering the candidate pool to accepting a job offer. Healthcare employers can use it to see how quickly qualified candidates are moving through recruiting and hiring.
Time-to-hire focuses on the candidate’s journey through the hiring process. Time-to-fill looks at the bigger picture, measuring how long it takes to fill a position from the time it is opened or approved.
Healthcare hiring can take longer when employers have trouble finding candidates with the right training or qualifications. Certification or licensing requirements, multiple interview rounds, slow approvals, and waiting until a position opens to begin recruiting can also add time.
Employers can reduce time-to-hire by simplifying applications and interviews, clearly separating required and preferred qualifications, and responding to qualified candidates quickly. Building relationships with training providers, workforce organizations, externs, and apprentices before positions open can also create another source of potential candidates.
A train-to-hire program connects recruiting with healthcare training. Eligible candidates complete training for roles an employer needs to fill and may then be considered for available positions. Completing training does not guarantee employment.
Advanced eClinical Training (ACT) works with healthcare employers and workforce organizations to help prepare people for allied health roles. Employers can work with ACT on train-to-hire programs, employee upskilling, apprenticeship instruction, externship partnerships, and training for roles such as medical assistant, patient care technician, pharmacy technician, and phlebotomy technician.
Learn From Experienced Healthcare Instructors
ACT students are supported by experienced healthcare practitioners who bring clinical knowledge and real-world perspective into the learning experience.
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- One-on-one instructor support
- Virtual office hours
- Interactive case discussions
- Certification-exam preparation sessions
- Personalized feedback
- Guidance as students prepare for certification and clinical experience
- Pre-health mentorship with MD/PA advisors
