Healthcare is an industry that’s expanding rapidly and is just going to become bigger as time goes on. And that means hospitals and medical facilities will be fighting harder and harder for the best possible candidates, posting on every job board they can find. But what defines the best healthcare job boards? We analyzed 25 of them to find common factors.

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Prominent Search And Categories

The most prominent feature, by far, was the fact that job seekers could immediately punch in their data and start searching. You didn’t have to log in, you didn’t have to jump through any hoops, you just had to be curious about what was available. Generally, there were specific topics under or next to the search field to allow those with a more narrow focus to find jobs without having to search.

Still, it was pretty clear what the appeal was; the homepage is designed to shunt you straight to the jobs you’re interested in.

Clear Results

So what happens if you just type in “physical therapist” or “cardiologist” and jump right in? Most of the sites we looked at had clear and simple tools to narrow results and generally offer you more specific and relevant results. But each board also had a very consistent layout for each job: You can see the title, city and state, and employer at a glance; some allowed logos, and some didn’t, but each made it clear who was hiring.

A well designed board will allow job seekers to simply scan the results and keep going, adding or ruling out jobs as they go down the list. It’s good for the job seeker, but it does mean that you’re going to have to work to stand out, especially with competitive roles.

Detailed Postings

So, what happens when you click on a posting? Surprisingly consistently across each site, it led straight to a detailed posting that reiterated search result information on the top and then allowed the employee to get into more detail. The highest ranked sites tended to break out the information into subcategories, such as qualifications and experience. But one and all, they gave room for interested candidates to read about the role.

A “Frictionless” Application Process

Another consistent factor, as we went through, was a fairly simple application process. Most sites had an “apply here” button at both the top and the bottom of the page, large and clearly visible. Clicking on it would either take you through the site’s application process or send you directly to the employer’s website.

The most popular sites made applying for the job as simple as uploading your resume, double-checking the information, and clicking a button. But all of them had a fairly simple process that made applying easy.

Room To Improve

If we have a criticism of these sites that was also uniform, it’s that their mobile optimization is genuinely terrible across the board. Sites were hard to read, formatting became ugly, and applying was much more complicated and annoying. So, keep an eye out for the site that realizes mobile traffic is important; they’re likely going to be the job board that has the most success.