Healthcare and medical staffing and recruiting in Denver, Colorado is interesting, multi-faceted, and always educational for J. Kent’s Recruiters and Staffing Managers. Since 1979, J. Kent Staffing has been providing high level Executive Assistants for the executive offices of several regional Colorado hospitals typically employing a staff of more than 1500 in the larger metro Denver areas.
Today, hospital administrators are challenged daily with the task of managing and directing the complexities of a modern patient care facility. Complex problems associated with the extensive hospital services offered, the number of staff required to provide those services and the financial demands to operate and manage within budget, account in part, for the rising cost of healthcare in the United States. According to KaiserEDU, healthcare in the U.S. accounts for more than 17% of our country’s gross domestic product, the highest among the world’s industrialized nations.
Colorado’s hospital administrators, responsible for the administration of such large healthcare facilities, also have a sizable executive staff to include: CFO, COO, CNO, EVP’s and SVP’s. The executive office itself is command central, executing 21st century hospital administrative strategies to turn a profit, many times for shareholders of publicly traded entities. Therefore, the importance of the role of the Executive Assistant and their effectiveness in supporting key executives, cannot be overstated in a healthcare,C-Level office.
In April, 2012, J. Kent’s Denver Recruiters were again engaged to find a professional Executive Assistant for a regional hospital’s executive office. The most important requirements were an A+ professional presentation, strong Microsoft Office skills, and impeccable customer service and communication skills. Progressive Executive Assistant background and excellent computer skills were a given, however, paramount in the requirements was a strong C-level culture fit, and most importantly, the ability to interact successfully with the public, patients, families, hospital executives, administrators, and staff. That was the key to a successful hire, the elusive qualities that transcend the ability to successfully work through complex calendaring, PowerPoint presentations and intricate spreadsheets.
Almost 4 years ago, J. Kent’s Recruiters had conducted a search for this same position, and Danielle was hired. Danielle has an exceptional, polished presentation, a solid work ethic, top computer skills and unsurpassed customer service skills. What our client wanted was another Danielle. However with a wedding around the corner and extensive plans to travel internationally, Danielle’s job would require a replacement. The replacement position would support the COO, a group of EVP’s and SVP’s, and the new Executive Assistant would report to the Senior Executive Assistant in “command central”. The organization’s key management elected to employ J. Kent’s Temp-to-Hire Staffing Option for this critical replacement position.
After pre-screening hundreds of applicants, J. Kent’s Denver Recruiters, identified 10 qualified candidates and selected the top 4 identified through The J. Kent Process. Upon completing extensive background and reference checks and drug testing, one of the 4 candidates, Emily was offered the Temp-to-Hire position.
Emily hails from Florida and graduated from Auburn University in 1999 with a BS in Apparel Merchandising and a minor in Business. Emily has 10 years of business experience in the retail, real estate, and hospitality industries. Her most recent position, as Assistant Director/Concierge of a Class A, Florida golf and beach resort has really honed her diplomatic people, public relations and customer service skills, so highly sought after by our client. In this capacity, Emily was responsible for managing the rental pool for 1500 individually owned resort condominiums and supported the daily needs and demands of remote property owners. The diverse, demanding, problem solving, customer focused position has made her transition from hospitality to healthcare seamless.
Emily moved to Denver from Florida in March 2012, and with the job market still very tight, she was fortunate to find a well-paying job in the growing field of healthcare within 1 month of relocating. Now Emily can join her father, a physician and her sister, a nurse at another Denver regional hospital in those 21st Century healthcare discussions.