Many nurses are currently looking for a new role, especially if they feel burned out, under-appreciated, or underpaid in their current one. When on the job hunt, a big fear is landing a new role, only for the first-day excitement to turn into dread as you realize you joined another bad workplace. How can nurses connect with hiring managers at supportive, healthy workplaces and spot the green flags during the hiring process?
We interviewed Jeannette Anselmo, the executive director at Signature Healthcare, a workplace with a low turnover rate, to answer these questions as part of our HireMe Healthcare Confessions of a Nurse series. While most interviews in this series are with nurses, such as our first interview on dealing with understaffed nursing shifts, this one is from a non-nurse perspective. Jeannette reveals the secrets to finding a workplace that appreciates and celebrates nurses–and what hiring managers in these healthy workplaces are looking for in nursing candidates.
Jeannette’s Story
Jeannette Anselmo is the executive director at Signature Healthcare in Charlotte, North Carolina. While she’s not a nurse, she’s worked in healthcare management and administration for over a decade.
As the executive director at Signature, she manages a team of nurses that team has an extremely low turnover rate and an extremely high satisfaction rate, which is why we decided to interview her. In this interview, Jeannette shares green flags to look for in a workplace and what her team looks for when hiring new nurses. You can watch the full interview below.
If you want the spark notes version, here are three green flags to look out for on the job hunt.
Green flag 1: Specific benefits listed
One of the first green flags of a supportive workplace comes from the job posting. When you’re looking at different job postings, pay attention to what benefits are listed. The more specific, the better.
For example, a job posting that says there are training and continued education opportunities might not have as much invested in training their nurses as one which states they have monthly workshops for nurses.
In the interview, Jeannette revealed some of the benefits Signature provides. These include:
Open management style
Performance bonuses
Celebrations for nurse appreciation week, birthdays, and a job well done
Uniform allowance to refresh wardrobe annually
Free food and espresso drinks
Ability to see our doctors when nurses are ill
Workshops and learning opportunities with the doctors
Investment in growing each nurse’s skillset
While the exact benefits for a dream nursing job differ from person to person, any job that is a green flag will have specific benefits listed–and hiring managers should be able to talk about these in detail during an interview.
Green flag 2: Open management style
One of those green flags Jeannette highlighted throughout the interview is an open management style. At Signature, the management team and doctors ask for feedback from their nurses–and they work to create change based on feedback.
When interviewing for different roles, don’t be afraid to ask the hiring manager about their management style. An open management style will be marked by mutual respect, management that listens to you, and opportunities to provide feedback on what is and isn’t working.
If you’re in a nursing role where your manager isn’t improving your workplace based on constructive feedback, it might be time to find a different workplace.
Jeannette did note that this is easier for smaller independent practices to do. Within a highly structured, corporate environment, an open management style is often more difficult–but can be done. If an open management style and the opportunity to improve your workplace is something to value, you may want to apply to more independently owned practices or larger hospital systems, which are known for this.
Green flag 3: Low turnover rate
A great workplace is marked by a low turnover rate and a high nurse satisfaction rate. Jeanette recommends asking about the nurse turnover rate in the first interview. It’s a great question to discuss when the hiring manager asks if you have any other questions.
But while you can discuss the turnover rate with the hiring manager, you might get a different perspective by talking to the nurses at a workplace.
Jeannette recommends talking to nurses in a workplace where you’re interviewing about:
How long they’ve worked there
What their experience is at that workplace
What they honestly think are the pros and cons of working at that practice
Jeannette also notes that the interview can’t be too long–she and many other hiring managers want to hear all your questions about the specific roles and duties in a specific nursing role.
Looking for nursing roles full of green flags in a supportive workplace? Connect with Signature Healthcare and other employers on HireMe Healthcare. The app is free, effective, and can be downloaded in less than ten minutes.