Healthcare facilities invest valuable time and extensive resources to recruit talent. When the interview process goes smoothly and you’re just about ready to extend a job offer, sometimes the process hits the brakes. What causes institutions to pass on a good (or even great) job seeker? The reasons for putting that one back into the talent pool must be significant in today’s tight talent market.

The recruitment process is lengthy and complex. So many points must be in place and working in conjunction for it to be a success. The right applicant has to read your ad, and they must have the skills and qualifications (or very close) that you require. They must be in your geographic and salary range, and the timing must be right.

From the recruiter’s end, finding the right resume in what can often be a mountain of wrong, is a task in and of itself. The next – align interviews and scheduling to bring everyone into the process. If approved, the job comes back to you for background checks and negotiations.

When healthcare facilities invest that much time and resources into a single hire, not making an offer will need to be justified. Here are some of the best reasons to hit the brakes on that hire, no matter how much effort you made.

Bad reference check results

Whether your institution uses a third-party provider or conducts reference checks on your own, bad results can halt the hiring process quickly. In today’s litigious society, many institutions refuse to provide more than titles and dates of employment. If these are substantially different than what the candidate represented, it’s time to move on.

Remember most applicants fudge a bit on their application. They may stretch dates a bit, particularly if you use an automated application system. They may have 2 years 10 months on the job while your posting calls for three years minimum experience. Most job seekers wiggle dates a bit to make it past the first round of screenings. A few weeks or months wrong is acceptable; years are definitely not.

Misrepresented credentials

When a position requires specific licensure and credentials, their lack is immediate reason to stop the hiring process. If your posting specified exactly what current credentialing or licenses were needed, it’s a best practice to ask for verification of these at the onset of the recruitment process. There’s no reason to spend time interviewing candidates that don’t meet minimum requirements.

Education misinformation

Similar to credentialing, educational requirements are non-negotiable in most healthcare positions. Over all industries up to 33% of applicants lie about education on their resume. The difference between a BSN and an ADN is significant; candidates that misrepresent their education should not be part of your team.

Criminal history

While many states and locations prohibit asking for criminal history early in the recruitment process, that information may be critical to healthcare providers pre-hire. Information about a candidate’s criminal history should always be assessed on a case-by-case basis, but some data is too significant to ignore. A doctor with a shoplifting conviction in their distant background should not be a reason to exclude. A pharmacist with recent felony drug convictions might.

Salary disparity

While most facilities post information about salaries at the initial phase of recruitment, many candidates apply irrespective of the wages offered. If a background check reveals an applicant was far outside your range, it might be a reason to slow the process and ask why s/he is willing to take such a significant pay cut. There may be ample reasons:  less responsibility, location, flexible working conditions, better work/life balance. But before you move forward, it may be a good idea to find out exactly why and if candidates believe they’ll be satisfied for the long term.

Employment verification

For many employers, I-9 verification is done once a candidate is hired. Providers ask for proof of identity and eligibility to work on the first day on the job. That can make it challenging to verify identity and eligibility quickly. E-verify can establish verification for the majority of workers, but occasionally there are problems. If your facility has run into this issue frequently, asking for verification earlier in the process is a best practice.

Finding talent in the face of shortages across all aspects of the healthcare market can be challenging at best. When providers fail to extend an offer of employment, there is generally a very good reason for doing so. If these red flags pop up, it’s a better practice to cut your losses now and restart the hiring process. The problems you avoid may be well worth the extra time and effort.