Recruiting for a community of care

A tough employment market

After two years of pandemic, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) found itself in a position similar to many other healthcare providers: struggling to fill essential positions on its team, especially nurses and other frontline staff. The fact that it was competing with other local world-class healthcare brands did not make recruitment any easier; neither did the need for bilingual talent to serve a large immigrant audience. When Argus took on the task of creating a campaign to boost EBNHC’s recruitment efforts, it was clear that we had our work cut out for us.

As with any recruitment campaign, our goal was not simply to bring in more candidates. We needed to attract prospects who had the right skills, the right attitude, and who understood (and appreciated) the reality of working in a community-focused healthcare network that serves a truly diverse audience. Moreover, EBNHC prided itself on employing staff who lived in the neighborhoods where they operate – something that added another wrinkle to our strategy.

Services Provided:

• Strategy
• Creative and Design
• Content
• Digital
• Advertising
• Social / Cause Marketing
• Social Media
• Research
• Internal / External Communications
• Motion / Graphics / Animation
• Website

Hitting the fundamentals

Previous recruitment efforts had highlighted EBNHC as a mission-driven healthcare provider. Formative research, however, revealed a candidate pool that was often skeptical of organizations that spoke of “jobs with meaning,” associating such claims with poor working conditions, low salaries, and a work culture that put pressure on staff to go “above and beyond.” Even though people often stated that jobs with purpose were important to them, what they really wanted was more fundamental: employers who treated them well, supported their career growth, and kept them safe in the workplace.

That’s why we based our campaign on a position that spoke to what was really in the hearts and minds of our prospective candidates: “Find your community of care.” When you’re part of a community, people treat you like someone who matters, who truly belongs, and that’s what you can expect from EBNHC. Digital and highly-targeted out-of-home executions featuring current employees spoke directly to the audience, describing a workplace that made their wellbeing a high priority. A prominent “Boston Globe Top Place to Work” badge gave credibility to the message, while a dedicated recruitment webpage made it clear why EBNHC is an employer of choice in the healthcare marketplace.