06Jun

Welcome back to #WeAreGreenKey, where we shine a spotlight on the people behind our powerhouse recruiting team.  

Today we sit down with Heather Branist, Executive Director on the Healthcare National team at Green Key. Originally an animal trainer in Florida, Heather transitioned to recruiting back in 2015 and found her calling. She has been at Green Key almost five years now and plans to continue growing the success of her team. 

How did you get your start in recruiting?  

Totally unrelated to recruiting, I was living in Orlando and working as an Exotic Animal trainer at SeaWorld and Disney World. I was in the animal business for 15 years. Unfortunately, after an accident, I couldn’t do such a physical role anymore. I had a friend who worked in recruiting at the time and she suggested that it might be a good fit. The agency I started with had a phenomenal training program, specifically around Healthcare, and I fell in love with it. Five years ago, I moved back to Ohio and found my home with Green Key.  

What about recruiting keeps you coming back to work every day?  

I love recruiting because it’s always a new challenge. Every day is different; whether I get the opportunity to build a new relationship with a candidate or a client, or I get to learn a new aspect of a position I haven’t worked on previously. My mind is constantly pushed. Plus, I value the importance of making the right match for our clients and our candidates. It’s extremely rewarding!  

What does the training look like in the Healthcare division?  

Once an employee understands the basics of Green Key, our systems, and recruiting – we dive specifically into different healthcare roles that we fill, clients we work with, settings we employ in, etc. Our new recruiters get partnered with Senior Recruiters during their first month to listen in to their phone calls until they feel confident running their own book of business. With everything being remote, everyone has to have the motivation to succeed and be proactive in their training. It’s definitely a different way of training now than it used to be when we could all be together in an office, but we’ve made the necessary adjustments and it seems to be working great!  

What are some of the challenges and benefits of working in the Healthcare division?  

Healthcare is a continuous need; it’s not going anywhere. There’s job security for our team, as well as our clients and candidates. The business is always going to be there, which is a huge benefit. In terms of challenges, COVID changed a lot. We have to push our clients to think outside the box and even consider which positions can be done remotely or through hybrid schedules. But the benefits certainly outweigh the challenges in healthcare. 

Why should someone want to work at Green Key?  

This is such a positive, healthy environment. Green Key treats you like an adult. They give you the tools you need to be successful without micromanaging. We all have goals and the owners really trust you to run your own book of business. Everyone encourages us to always ‘speak up’ if we have any problems or ideas; and I always feel like my thoughts are valued, that I have assistance with my challenges, and that my success is rewarded.  

What makes your team so successful?  

We’re all very driven individuals. Recruiting is competitive by nature, but we can and do celebrate each other’s successes. We all push each other to strive for the best. Our team is not afraid to re-evaluate ourselves every so often and ask each other, “What ideas do you have? What can you bring to the table? How can we change things to run this team better?” 

What are your goals for the team moving forward?  

We’re a really small team right now with a large book of business. I see so much growth potential. We have the opportunity to build something great here. I want to keep on growing the team, while also expanding to other clients and avenues of healthcare. 

Jun 6, 2023

Healthcare Again Tops the 100 Best Jobs List

The annual 100 Best Jobs list is out from U.S. News and to no one’s surprise healthcare dominates the best of the Best list.

Six of the top 10 – 7 if you include veterinarian – are healthcare jobs. Data scientist and software developer are also in the top 10, ranking 8 and 2 respectively. Completing the top of the list at 6th is statistician.

The U.S. News best jobs list has been an annual feature for years. The magazine collects those jobs with the largest number and percentage of openings over 10 years as determined by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then it factors in salary, the unemployment rate for people in those jobs, stress level, job growth rate and other data to narrow the list to the top 100.

From year-to-year the specific roles shift around, though not by much. One striking difference from previous years is the absence of registered nurse from the top 10 and top adjacent. Though the position has periodically been edged out of the top 10 by the growing number of openings for physician assistants (#3 in 2020) and nurse practitioners (#5 in 2020), this year RNs ranked 37th. Last year they were 13.

Why the dramatic drop isn’t explained by the magazine. However, one reason might be the “above average” stress rating of the profession. “Nursing can be a physically, emotionally and mentally demanding job,” says U.S.News, and that’s especially so since the start of the COVID pandemic.

Overall, healthcare jobs not only dominate the top of the list but are the most heavily represented among all 100 jobs. This year, as was true last year, medical jobs of all types account for four of every 10 positions on the list.

U.S. News breaks the healthcare sector into two groups:

  1. Healthcare: These 25 are the hands-on, patient-facing positions that in most cases require both an advanced degree and a license to practice. The category includes surgeons, dentists and nurses.
  2. Healthcare support: In this category are such jobs as dental hygienist, phlebotomist, massage therapist and home health aide. Several of the 17 positions here require extensive training though not necessarily in a degree granting program.

Technology is represented on the 100 list with 9 jobs, the most after healthcare. Besides software developer and data scientist, the other tech jobs are: IT Manager (#12), Information Security Analyst (#15), Computer Systems Analyst (#47), Network Architect (#51), Database Administrator (#55), Web Developer (#59) and Systems Administrator (#86).

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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