Recruiting new colleagues

Throughout 2021 about 110 vacancies remained unfilled. About 1,200 vacancies are filled each year.

Revised recruitment strategy

In 2021 we developed a revised recruitment strategy and launched the recruitment plan ‘Innovate with us at UMC Utrecht’ . In our strategy, the ‘applicant’s journey’ is central, in other words the path that potential new colleagues follow from their first contact with UMC Utrecht until the moment they apply. In our campaign, we make use of real stories from colleagues. Operation assistant Randy will for example talk about his job at the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, Tessa about working as an analyst or lab assistant, and O’Jay about his job as a data scientist . Diversity has become an explicit component of the campaign and of our vacancy communications. Because UMC Utrecht wants to be an organization that offers everyone this space. Talent as basis and diversity as a strength to achieve better results, together.

Corona flex pool

In 2021, due to COVID-19, extensive use was once again made of qualified staff. We organized this via flex pools at our 'Workshop', which is the flex-pool office at UMC Utrecht. The demand for temporary support was multiplied by three. Both from within UMC Utrecht and from outside. In view of the exceptional circumstances, for the first time we detached medical students to the National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution (LCPS) and GGD. During peaks of COVID-19, we took in many extra workers on a temporary basis in the corona flex pool as department assistants, nursing assistants, and nurses. For this, we used the subsidy scheme for ‘Corona jobs in healthcare’. From all these extra recruitments, we were also able to keep people on, both in the Workshop and directly at UMC Utrecht departments. After a period of flex working, many nurses got a permanent post at a department or training unit where they started working. The Workshop is therefore also a ‘breeding ground’ for new permanent staff.

During the last COVID peak in 2021 we also asked support from the National Healthcare Reserve . Via this initiative, nine healthcare professionals came to help UMC Utrecht provide COVID-19 care to our patients.

Recruitment of nurses

In our recruitment campaign Innovate with us at UMC Utrecht , the ‘Specialized nurses’ target group drew the most traffic with 6,000 clicks per month. The campaign kindled a feeling of pride among participating colleagues and their teams, and quickly also got spread in their own networks. For example through close collaboration with highly motivated people in charge of vacancies and colleagues from nursing departments, and by offering structural online orientation opportunities and meetings, we are increasingly able to make that first important contact with the right candidates.

Scarce/hard-to-fill jobs

In 2021 an average of 75% of the average 40,000 visitors to  our vacancy platform each month knew how to find us directly. To get the right potential candidate so far as to talk with us and come to work with us, we developed a new vacancy platform in 2021. This website includes information on training, working and orientation at UMC Utrecht. The website offers a sustainable base for recruiting new colleagues for scarce functions and will allow us in 2022 to clarify the results of our recruitment actions even better. In 2021, a total of 14,752 applicants applied to UMC Utrecht (12,713 in 2020).