How One Health System Is on Track for Zero Bedside RN Vacancies
Nursing vacancies don't just hurt operations. They drive up costs, strain staff, compromise patient care, and quietly erode an organization's reputation as a place worth working. For one of Hueman's healthcare partners, that reality had become unavoidable.
Open RN positions were mounting. Agency and travel nurse spending was climbing. And the recruiting function itself, fragmented, inconsistent, and without a clear employer brand, wasn't built to solve the problem on its own.
What they needed wasn't more recruiters. They needed a different model entirely.
The Challenge
When Hueman first engaged this partner, the picture was familiar to many health systems: significant nursing vacancies, no centralized recruiting processes, and a budget increasingly consumed by costly agency and travel staffing. There was no employer brand to speak of — no consistent message telling prospective nurses why this organization was worth choosing over the health system down the road.
The underlying issue wasn't effort. It was structure. Without standardized sourcing, screening, and selection processes, even well-intentioned recruiting activity produced inconsistent results.
Our Solution
Hueman embedded as a full healthcare RPO partner, not as a vendor handed a req list, but as a true TA leadership presence. We stepped into the function alongside their team and started building.
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Employer brand and recruitment marketing. We developed their employer brand from scratch and launched recruitment marketing across social channels and virtual career fairs, giving prospective nurses a compelling, consistent reason to apply.
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Process standardization. We built structured sourcing, screening, and selection workflows across the system, bringing the consistency and accountability that had been missing. Every candidate moved through a defined process. Every hiring manager worked from the same playbook.
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Sustainable talent pipelines. Rather than continuing to rely on expensive agency staffing as a gap-filler, we helped build the infrastructure to replace it. That included a nurse residency program and an international RN pipeline, both designed to deliver a steady, cost-effective flow of permanent talent.
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Traveler reduction campaigns. We developed targeted conversion campaigns to move existing travel nurses toward permanent roles, working closely with hiring managers to identify the right candidates for long-term retention.
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Entity-level recruiting model. In 2024, we shifted to a dedicated entity-based structure, giving each hospital its own recruiter who deeply understands that facility's culture, team dynamics, and specific hiring needs. This wasn't just an operational change. It was a signal to every hiring manager and nurse candidate that this organization was serious about the relationship.
Our Results
The outcomes speak to what's possible when recruiting is treated as a system-level strategy rather than a reactive function.
Their CEO's response to the trajectory? "Start the waiting list."
- Zero bedside RN vacancies projected for 2026, a milestone once considered out of reach
- Significant reduction in turnover across nursing roles
- Dramatically reduced agency dependency, lowering premium labor spend
- One of the strongest employer brands in their regional market
The trajectory isn't an accident. It's the result of building the right foundation — and committing to a partnership model that treats talent acquisition as a long-term strategic function, not a short-term staffing problem.
What This Means for Healthcare Organizations
Health systems facing RN shortages, rising traveler costs, or a TA function that hasn't kept pace with organizational demands are often closer to a solution than they realize. The gap is usually not in hiring volume; it's in infrastructure, processes, and employer brand.
Hueman's Healthcare RPO model is designed to close that gap. From full-lifecycle outsourcing to hybrid models focused on critical units, we embed the people, processes, and strategy your system needs to build a recruiting function that performs, now and over time.
Ready to reduce your RN vacancies and traveler dependency? Talk to a Hueman RPO strategist
