High-volume recruiting in healthcare: challenges and AI-driven solutions for 2024 and beyond

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Healthcare recruiting in the UK is facing an increasingly daunting task. As talent shortages worsen and compliance demands grow more complex, organisations are tasked with the challenge of attracting, screening, and hiring top-tier talent to meet the needs of patients. This is no easy feat, especially when combined with the pressure to maintain stringent regulatory standards. Yet, as we look toward 2024 and beyond, technology, and particularly AI-driven solutions, can offer a much-needed lifeline.

In this article, we’ll explore the unique challenges of healthcare recruiting in today’s climate and how AI tools like Popp AI are helping organisations streamline processes, improve efficiency, and stay ahead of recruitment demands.

The State of Healthcare Recruiting in the UK: An Unprecedented Challenge

The demand for healthcare professionals in the UK has never been higher. According to the latest figures from the NHS Workforce Statistics, the UK is grappling with a shortage of more than 120,000 healthcare workers. This includes nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals. The situation is further exacerbated by an aging population that requires more care, and the increasing number of workers retiring or leaving the profession. To meet these demands, healthcare organisations are relying on high-volume recruitment to fill these critical roles.

However, high-volume recruiting in healthcare brings with it a series of unique challenges:

  1. Talent Shortage: With the growing gap between supply and demand, the competition for top talent is fiercer than ever.
  2. Time-Consuming Compliance Requirements: Healthcare recruitment is heavily regulated, with rigorous background checks, licensing verifications, and adherence to national health and safety standards. These steps, while necessary, can slow down the hiring process significantly.
  3. Recruitment Fatigue: With large volumes of candidates to review and engage, recruiters can easily become overwhelmed, leading to burnout and inefficiencies.
  4. Retention Issues: Even after recruiting talent, ensuring that these professionals remain in the workforce is a separate challenge—one that hinges on a well-structured onboarding and engagement strategy.

The Role of AI in Streamlining Healthcare Recruitment

As recruitment demands rise, organisations are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to automate and simplify their hiring processes. In particular, AI solutions like Popp AI are revolutionising how healthcare organisations manage high-volume recruitment, addressing some of the most pressing challenges head-on.

Here’s a look at the ways AI can support healthcare recruiters:

1. Automated Candidate Screening

AI-driven tools can quickly sift through large pools of applicants, analysing resumes and applications against key criteria such as qualifications, experience, and relevant certifications. By using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms, AI systems like Popp AI can identify the best-fit candidates in a fraction of the time it would take a human recruiter. This reduces the time spent manually reviewing CVs and allows recruiters to focus on engaging with top-tier candidates.

According to HRDive, automating just the initial stages of the recruitment process can reduce the time spent on screening by up to 80%. This efficiency is a game-changer in high-volume recruitment, where time and precision are critical.

2. Improved Compliance Tracking

One of the biggest hurdles in healthcare recruitment is ensuring compliance with various standards, from criminal background checks to verifying healthcare credentials. AI can automate many of these tasks, ensuring that each candidate is thoroughly vetted in line with regulatory requirements. For example, Popp AI integrates with nearly all ATS systems to streamline the document collection process. This in turn speeds up the verification of qualifications, licenses, and background checks, drastically reducing the risk of errors and compliance issues.

Studies show that recruiters spend more than 50% of their time on administrative tasks related to compliance. Automating these steps can free up valuable time and resources, enabling recruiters to focus on more strategic aspects of the hiring process, such as candidate engagement and retention strategies.

3. Enhanced Candidate Engagement

High-volume recruitment often leads to candidates feeling disengaged or frustrated by slow response times. AI-powered chatbots can be employed to maintain constant communication with applicants, answering questions, updating them on their application status, and even conducting preliminary interviews. This not only speeds up the process but also ensures candidates feel valued and informed.

With AI, you can provide candidates with a personalised experience by automatically tailoring communications based on their interests, skills, and application progress. This builds a more positive relationship between the candidate and the employer, which is crucial in a competitive hiring landscape.

4. Predictive Analytics for Better Hiring Decisions

AI tools don’t just help you fill vacancies—they can also predict which candidates will be the best cultural and operational fits for your organisation. By analysing historical data and identifying trends, AI systems can recommend candidates who are more likely to stay long-term and contribute to the organisation’s success.

This type of predictive hiring helps organisations make data-backed decisions and reduce turnover, a crucial consideration in an industry where the cost of recruitment and training is significant.

The Business Case for AI in Healthcare Recruitment

The benefits of AI-driven recruitment in healthcare go beyond just improved efficiency. The financial savings are equally compelling.

  1. Reduced Recruitment Costs: According to a LinkedIn report, companies that use AI in their hiring processes can reduce recruitment costs by up to 30%. This is largely due to the reduction in manual administrative work and the ability to make faster, data-driven hiring decisions.
  2. Faster Time-to-Hire: With AI handling much of the administrative and screening workload, the time to hire can be dramatically shortened. For example, Popp AI has been shown to reduce time-to-hire by 40%, allowing organisations to fill critical healthcare roles more quickly.
  3. Improved Retention: AI-driven insights into candidate engagement and cultural fit can improve retention rates, reducing the costs associated with rehiring and retraining new staff. Harvard Business Review highlights that improved candidate matching can lower turnover rates by as much as 25%.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Healthcare Recruitment

As we move into 2024 and beyond, the role of AI in healthcare recruitment will only continue to grow. The UK’s healthcare sector will need to adapt quickly to evolving workforce needs and regulatory environments. Those organisations that invest in AI-driven recruitment solutions will be better positioned to handle high-volume hiring, reduce administrative burdens, and attract the right talent in a competitive market.

The ability to recruit efficiently and at scale is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. By embracing AI tools like Popp AI, healthcare organisations can tackle the challenges of talent shortages, compliance, and recruitment fatigue head-on, ensuring that they are prepared to meet the needs of patients both now and in the future.

At Popp AI, we understand the demands facing healthcare recruiters today. Let us help you streamline your hiring process, cut through the noise, and ensure that the right people are in the right roles, when you need them most.

Sources:

  • NHS Workforce Statistics, NHS Digital
  • HRDive, "How AI is Transforming Healthcare Recruitment"
  • LinkedIn, "AI in Recruitment: Cost and Efficiency Gains"
  • Harvard Business Review, "How AI Can Improve Employee Retention"

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25 Feb
2025
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5 min read

Popp Wins Breakthrough Culture Award, Recognised for Championing a People-First Workplace

Headshot of James Cochrane-Dyet smiling in a professional setting
James Cochrane-Dyet
Chief Operating Officer

Popp is proud to announce that it has been named a winner of the Breakthrough Culture Awards 2024, an honour that recognises the greatest companies to work for in the UK. This award celebrates organisations that are redefining workplace culture by putting people first, building environments where employees truly thrive.

The Breakthrough Culture Awards spotlight the top 100 growing companies across the UK, showcasing the evolving cultures they’ve built and the people behind them. Unlike traditional workplace rankings, these awards dive deep—beyond the surface perks and policies—to reveal what it truly means to work inside a company that cares about its people.

This year, the awards reviewed thousands of companies of all sizes and interviewed over 20,000 employees to identify workplaces where people feel valued, inspired, and fulfilled. Popp’s commitment to fostering a progressive, people-centric culture earned it a spot among the elite.

“At Popp, we’ve always believed that work should be meaningful—that it’s not just about what you do, but who you do it with. Winning the Breakthrough Culture Award isn’t just an achievement; it’s a testament to the incredible team that makes Popp what it is. We’re not building a company; we’re building a community where people are empowered to grow, challenge the status quo, and find purpose in their work. We’re honoured to be recognised among companies that are reshaping the workplace for the better.”

Sam Dhesi, Co-founder & CEO of Popp

The Breakthrough Culture Award winners are redefining what it means to be an exceptional workplace—where culture isn’t just a buzzword but a commitment. Popp is proud to be part of this movement, championing a better way to work.

About Popp
Popp is revolutionising talent acquisition through AI-driven recruitment solutions designed to make hiring faster, fairer, and more human. By focusing on building meaningful connections between organisations and candidates, Popp is changing the way companies grow—one hire at a time.

About the Breakthrough Culture Awards
The Breakthrough Culture Awards recognise and celebrate the greatest companies to work for in the UK, honouring those that are building progressive, people-first workplaces. The awards explore the ever-evolving cultures of the UK’s top 100 growing companies, bringing to life what it truly means to work inside organisations that prioritise their people.

24 Feb
2025
·
5 min read

AI in Hiring: A Fairer Future for Recruitment?

Headshot of James Cochrane-Dyet smiling in a professional setting
James Cochrane-Dyet
Chief Operating Officer

AI is transforming recruitment, from resume screening to candidate shortlisting to interview analysis. By automating these processes, recruitment tech platforms enable hiring teams to focus on building relationships rather than getting bogged down in admin. But beyond efficiency, AI brings another major advantage: it can help make hiring fairer than traditional, human-led processes.

The Reality of Bias in Human Hiring

Bias in hiring isn’t new, and it’s not unique to AI. Studies have consistently shown that human recruiters and hiring managers make biased decisions, often without realizing it.

  • Resume name bias: A famous 2003 study found that identical resumes with names commonly associated with white applicants received 50% more callbacks than those with names commonly associated with Black applicants.
  • Age bias: Older candidates are often overlooked, with research showing that resumes indicating longer experience receive fewer interview invitations.
  • Affinity bias: Humans tend to favor candidates who remind them of themselves, whether through shared backgrounds, hobbies, or alma maters.

These biases happen subconsciously, making them hard to prevent through training alone. AI, when properly designed and monitored, offers a way to reduce these biases and make hiring more objective.

How AI Can Improve Fairness in Hiring

AI has the potential to be a powerful tool for fairer hiring, but only if it’s built and used responsibly. Here’s how AI can outperform human decision-making when it comes to fairness:

✅ AI focuses on skills and qualifications, not irrelevant personal factors.
While human recruiters might be swayed by a candidate’s name, accent, or background (or how they feel before or after lunch), AI can be designed to assess only the data that matters for the job: work experience, skills, and competencies.

✅ AI can be audited and improved over time.
Unlike human decision-making, which is inconsistent and difficult to track, AI hiring tools can be regularly audited to ensure they are working fairly. AI bias audits can measure and correct disparities in hiring outcomes, something that isn’t possible with human judgment alone.

✅ AI can analyze hiring patterns and flag unfair trends.
AI can process vast amounts of hiring data to identify patterns that might indicate bias—such as a hiring process disproportionately favoring one demographic group over another. This allows recruitment teams to adjust their processes proactively.

Ensuring AI Hiring is Truly Fair

Of course, AI is only as fair as the data it learns from. If trained on biased hiring data, AI can replicate those biases. This is why responsible AI assurance is critical.

To ensure AI is a force for fairness in hiring, recruitment tech providers and hiring teams should:

  • Use diverse training data to reduce historical biases.
  • Regularly audit AI models to detect and correct bias.
  • Ensure transparency by making AI-driven decisions explainable.
  • Maintain human oversight at key decision points.

One example of regulatory oversight on AI hiring is NYC Local Law 144, which requires companies using AI-driven hiring tools to conduct annual bias audits and share the results. This regulation sets a precedent for fairness and transparency in AI hiring. As similar laws emerge in other regions, recruitment platforms will need to adopt AI bias auditing as a best practice - not just for compliance, but to build trust with candidates and employers.

Conclusion

The debate over AI in hiring shouldn’t be about whether AI is biased, it should be about whether it’s less biased than humans. AI, when built and monitored correctly, has the potential to make hiring fairer, more consistent, and more objective than traditional human decision-making. The key is to approach AI hiring with responsibility and transparency, ensuring that technology reduces bias rather than reinforcing it.

With the right safeguards in place, AI can be more than a tool for efficiency, it can be a tool for fairer hiring.

About Warden AI

Warden AI is the specialist AI auditor for HR Tech. Their AI assurance platform continuously monitors for bias, and audits protected characteristics using proprietary datasets. They work with leading talent platforms like Popp to ensure their AI solutions are fair, transparent, and compliant with regulations like NYC Local Law 144 and EU AI Act.

19 Feb
2025
·
5 min read

Navigating the Agentic Revolution: Popp’s Talent Acquisition Event Recap

Headshot of James Cochrane-Dyet smiling in a professional setting
James Cochrane-Dyet
Chief Operating Officer

Last night, Popp hosted a fireside chat that didn’t just discuss the future of hiring—it challenged it. In a room buzzing with curiosity and conviction, Talent Acquisition (TA) leaders and visionaries gathered to confront the agentic revolution head-on. At the heart of the conversation was a question that could define the future of work: How do we navigate the rise of AI in recruitment with purpose, clarity, and care?

Against a backdrop of free beer, wine, and pizza, the evening unfolded with candor and insight. The lineup was as impressive as the conversation itself:

  • Dave Owen: Former Head of Talent Acquisition at Dyson and TA Advisor to the BBC
  • James Langham: Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at ASOS
  • Aaron Beider: Head of Talent Acquisition at Vertical Aerospace
  • Lisa Maclaran: Head of Talent Acquisition at Williams Racing
  • Ryan Broad: Head of Growth EMEA at Robert Walters
  • Moderated by Sam Dhesi: Co-founder & CEO at Popp

Together, they peeled back the layers on what hiring in 2025 might look like, exploring how to keep recruitment human in an increasingly automated world.

The Key Takeaways: Grounded in Purpose, Driven by Possibility

1. AI Is Reshaping the Hiring Funnel—But Humans Still Lead the Way
The impact of AI on sourcing, screening, and interviewing is seismic. It’s not just about implementing new tools; it’s about rethinking recruitment itself. This isn’t automation for the sake of efficiency—it’s about enabling recruiters to focus on what truly matters: human connection, critical thinking, and strategic decision-making.

2. Reinventing Recruitment Through a Data-Driven Lens
AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a mindset shift. To navigate this new landscape, TA professionals must embrace data—not just to make decisions faster but to make them better. This is about working smarter, not harder, and challenging the status quo of recruitment practices.

3. The Role of the Recruiter Is Evolving—Critical Thinking Is Key
The modern recruiter is more than a brand ambassador. They’re strategic thinkers and quality guardians. As AI takes on more administrative tasks, recruiters must focus on making thoughtful assessments about candidates’ skills, ensuring that technology enhances rather than diminishes human judgment.

4. Transparency Is Non-Negotiable
If AI is to be trusted, candidates must understand how it’s being used—especially when it comes to reducing bias. The room was divided on one key question: Should companies publicly disclose how AI is used in their hiring process? There were no easy answers, but the consensus was clear: transparency builds trust.

5. AI and Inclusivity: A Balancing Act
With an aging workforce and a growing focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, AI must be designed to work for everyone. It must be accessible, fair, and inclusive—never inadvertently excluding talent. In this revolution, inclusivity isn’t an afterthought; it’s the cornerstone.

6. The AI Interview Debate: Where Do We Draw the Line?
One of the most spirited debates of the evening was about AI’s role in interviews. How much is too much? While some argued for a fully data-driven approach, others insisted that human intuition and empathy are irreplaceable. The takeaway? Balance is key—both candidates and hiring managers deserve a process that feels fair and human.

7. The Privacy and Reliability Dilemma
AI raises complex questions about privacy, data security, and the reliability of language models. Can we trust an algorithm to make unbiased decisions? How transparent should screening decisions be? These questions aren’t just theoretical—they’re ethical imperatives that will shape the future of work.

8. Patience and Prudence in Tech Adoption
For large enterprises, embedding AI tech isn’t a quick win. It can take 9–12 months to fully integrate these systems. The advice from the panel was clear: Do your due diligence. Not every platform will stand the test of time, so choose wisely and strategically.

The Future of Hiring: Human at Its Core

The agentic revolution is here, but last night’s event proved one thing: the future of hiring is human. As AI continues to reshape talent acquisition, it’s up to us to ensure that the process remains empathetic, inclusive, and transparent.

Leaving the event, attendees didn’t just walk away with practical strategies for integrating AI—they left inspired, ready to champion a better way to hire. The conversation was provocative, the ideas were bold, and the purpose was clear: to push the conversation forward, sensibly and meaningfully.

Popp created a space where no question was too controversial and no answer was absolute. It wasn’t just about predicting the future; it was about shaping it.

The revolution is here. Let’s make sure it’s for the better.

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