Healing the Hiring Process: How Franciscan Health Shortened Hiring by 13 Days

As one of the largest Catholic healthcare systems in the Midwest, Franciscan Health knows the pain point of rapidly hiring and retaining skilled workers all too well. In fact, their recruitment transformation story began at a critical breaking point. Following a new ATS implementation, their talent acquisition process needed a complete overhaul.

"The world was upside down in everything we knew, and we were broken," admitted Franciscan's Ellen Page, Director of Talent Acquisition during Phenom AI Day. "We needed to make our hiring process flawless before we could even attempt to be innovative and give our candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers the experience they not only deserved but were demanding at the time."

The challenges were substantial: a dysfunctional career site, lengthy application processes, and recruiters spending excessive time creating workarounds for inefficient processes. In response, Franciscan embarked on an ambitious transformation focused on leveraging AI-driven tools to enhance every aspect of their recruitment process.

Watch their full story here, or read on for the recap!

Putting Candidate Experience Center Stage

"In this new world, the candidate experience has taken center stage," Page emphasized. "We recognized early on that a great candidate experience can enhance or break our brand. And we knew this had to be the biggest part of our strategy going forward."

The transformation began with addressing candidate journey fundamentals: creating an intuitive career site and implementing a 24/7 chatbot to help job seekers navigate through thousands of job openings. "Getting back to basics was the first part of our Phenom journey," Page explained.

Embracing Innovation for Efficiency

Though initially hesitant to implement a chatbot, Franciscan's TA team quickly saw its value. It not only guides candidates smoothly through their career site and application process, but has become an invaluable resource for the recruiting team. By analyzing incoming candidate questions, Page and her team continuously gain insights to improve their strategies.

In addition to the chatbot, one of their most successful implementations was a one-way interviewing tool, initially launched for their internal travel program. "It has been the most impactful tool for recruiters," Page shared. "The one-way interviews can be quickly reviewed and decisions to interview [with stakeholders] can be made, making significant impact in reducing the time it takes to get those candidates their offers."

As Page's team drives forward with their thoughtful AI and automation strategy, their metrics tell a compelling story:

• Net Promoter Score increased from 64 to 78, "which is huge in healthcare"

• Reduced open positions by 44% (from 2,700 to 1,500)

• Decreased RN openings by 58% over 90 days

• Reduced time to fill from 72 to 59 days

• Hiring over 400 new Franciscan coworkers monthly in 2024

• Over 2,000 new coworkers hired through the chatbot alone

Franciscan Health continues to innovate, with plans to expand its chatbot capabilities and extend its one-way interviewing tool across more service lines. "Recruitment has obviously transformed significantly over the last four years," Page reflected. "Focus on creating an inclusive, efficient, and engaging recruitment process will continue to shape the future of talent acquisition for Franciscan Health and our mission."

Get more details about Franciscan Health’s journey in the full case study!

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