Nurse recruiters are people who try to match qualified nurses with job openings in hospitals, private clinics, and other settings where a licensed practical nurse (LPN) or registered nurse is needed (RN). The nurse recruiter may be employed by a specific institution in some cases. The recruiter may also provide services to a variety of clients at different times. A nurse recruiter is likely to be a registered nurse or a nurse practitioner.
The nurse recruiter’s main goal is to find qualified nursing staff for a healthcare facility. For example, the recruiter may be in charge of evaluating the credentials of recent nursing school graduates and placing a portion of those graduates in local hospitals, nursing homes, or other jobs that are compatible with their training. In this situation, the recruiter represents the institution for which he or she works and tries to secure the most highly trained and gifted recent graduates before they are hired by another.
A nurse recruiter may also specialize in some aspect of nurse placement, such as connecting travel nurses with opportunities to live and work on a contract basis in various parts of the country or even the world. The recruiter will use this application to try to match a qualified nurse with needs at a specific healthcare facility in a specific city or town. This type of recruiter is frequently not employed by a specific institution and may charge a fee in exchange for connecting the nurse with the employer.
When working for a specific institution, a nurse practitioner is often concerned with reducing nursing staff turnover as much as possible. This contributes to the institution’s overall consistency by allowing nursing staff members to develop strong working relationships over time. This effort benefits the institution because lower turnover means less money spent on training new nurses to replace those who have recently left.
There is no single job description for a nurse recruiter that applies to all situations. In order to fulfill the responsibilities associated with the position, each recruiter works within the guidelines provided by an employer or client. A recruiter may work closely with human resources personnel to screen and hire employees, or simply arrange for qualified candidates to meet with human resources to discuss potential employment opportunities. Other duties that the recruiter may perform include conducting recruitment fairs and speaking with high school students about careers in nursing.