13 May Healthy dose of hiring happens at NCWorks Career Center
“We have specific criteria when we’re looking for candidates,” says Chanterielle Francis, human resources generalist with WESTMED Practice Partners. “They should have a healthcare and/or customer service background to be considered. NCWorks was key in helping identify that talent.”
At an April hiring event, Francis and Sharon Adams, human resources liaison to the contact center with WESTMED, interviewed 20 pre-screened candidates and hired nine to join the WESTMED Contact Center team.
Lavonne Bell organized the event with assistance from Michael Martin and Reggie Moore. All three are career advisors with the N.C. Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Solutions and NCWorks team members at the W. Morehead Street Career Center.
Francis connected with Bell in March as she searched for community partners to identify potential candidates to increase WESTMED’s local headcount. She and Adams had positions to fill in the company’s Charlotte contact center; they sought full-time, permanent representatives with at least one year of experience to serve as liaisons for patients and physicians of WESTMED Medical Group’s practices in New York.
When Francis called, Bell quickly scheduled a meeting with the W. Morehead Street Career Center team and created a plan. “At our initial meeting with them, I told them what type of candidate I was looking for, and the amount of candidates I wanted to see,” says Francis.
Bell immediately searched NCWorks Online for job-seekers who met WESTMED’s criteria. “That’s why we tell candidates to complete their profiles and upload their resumes, so we can find them for employers,” she says. She also canvassed the NCWorks team at all three Career Centers to see if they were working with candidates suitable for WESTMED, and posted fliers at the Centers to attract job-seekers.
In the run-up to the hiring event on April 11, Bell regularly screened and sent resumes to Francis for her review. “It was very controlled – we knew exactly who we were going to see, so we didn’t spend a lot of time interviewing candidates who didn’t match the required criteria,” notes Francis.
“For me, the most value [in working with NCWorks] was the pool of applicants who were pre-screened for us,” Adams says. “It gave us the opportunity to select top-quality candidates.”
On the day of the event, Adams and Francis hosted 10 interviews each at 30-minute intervals. “I was extremely impressed with how everything worked in such an organized way. It was absolutely smooth and perfect! The NCWorks team treated us very well during our onsite. They regularly checked in to offer breaks and refreshments, and escorted candidates to us on opposite sides of the building so we were able to provide a professional experience for the interviewees,” says Adams.
And at the end of the day, the pair had made offers to the nine candidates. “We were really excited about that!” Francis says.
“NCWorks is an organization that definitely caters to what you’re looking for,” she continues. “And they help with so many other things with job-readiness for candidates, it’s a one-stop shop.”
Are you an employer who needs to staff up? Let us know how we can help!
Are you a job-seeker with customer service and/or healthcare experience who might be a good fit for WESTMED? Check the company’s listings on CareerBuilder and Indeed to apply! “We’re always accepting applications,” says Chanterielle Francis, human resources generalist.
BONUS: Job-seeker tips from NCWorks’s Lavonne Bell and WESTMED’s human resources team
- Make sure your profile in NCWorks Online is always active (it goes dormant after 90 days if there’s no activity in your account).
- Make sure the skills section of your profile is complete.
- Network with the staff in the Career Centers so they know who you are and are familiar with your skills and interests when opportunities with employers arise.
- WESTMED seeks candidates with strong customer-service skills (active listening, personable, empathetic).
- The company also looks for candidates with healthcare experience and/or licensures so they can communicate effectively with both patients and physicians.