Attract future nurses by marketing to individuals already in a health care career track.
According to Heather Janiszewski Goodin, the United States is already experiencing a shortage of qualified registered nurses and is projecting a 20 percent deficit for this position by the year 2020. Even with this shortage for a job with a national median wages at $30 an hour with just a two-year degree, programs struggle to place the many qualified applicants into degree programs or to attract qualified candidates. Recruiting qualified nursing candidates to a nursing school requires marketing to the right audience and offering flexible course scheduling.
Instructions
1. Search for and identify your key audience marketing audience using the internet or telephone books to identify the adult education facilities, community and technical colleges, vocational colleges, universities and health care employment facilities in your area.
2. Contact the universities as well as community, technical and vocational colleges in your region that offer a degree or certificate in nursing science to determine the number of applicants they receive for the program and the number of new admissions they have each semester or academic year. Because many colleges have competitive enrollment options, these may be sources for recruitment if they turn away qualified applicants. According to Kathy Jacques of Central Maine Medical Center's College of Nursing and Health Professionals, "It's common knowledge that (our school) receives 270 applications each year, we accept eighty, and we enroll about sixty-eight." That means 190 students who apply for the school and go unaccepted that may turn out to be qualified for your program.
3. Create a relationship with the local health care facilities in your area. Nursing education requires clinical rotations or practice providing care while under the supervision of a professional health care practitioner. If you are crafting a new educational program, you will need to make arrangements with local health care providers to offer clinical study to your nursing students.
4. Contact the human resources department at your local hospitals and health care facilities to discuss the possibility of sharing resources. Individuals who work in a health care facility have already expressed an interest in the health care field. Certified nurse's aides, phlebotomists, medical coders and medical office administrative staff, for example, may be interested in advancing their careers. Many health care facilities offer tuition reimbursement to their employees should they choose to further their education in the field.
5. Plan to contact your marketing audience at least six months prior to the application deadline for your school, since many nursing programs require prerequisite course work in science and math, a criminal background check, official high school transcripts and letters of recommendation before acceptance. These things can take time for a student to acquire.
