Most organisations kick off recruitment the same way.
Someone hands in their notice, a manager asks for a replacement, and a vacancy request is triggered in your ATS.
But that autopilot reaction skips the single most valuable step in recruitment transformation: asking why.
In a sector like healthcare, where vacancies can ripple through patient care, budgets, and team morale, “identifying the need” isn’t a soft HR exercise. It’s a strategic decision that can save thousands, protect service quality, and build stronger teams.
The Habit of Replacement Hiring
Recruitment often defaults to replacement. It’s quick, familiar, and feels productive. But it can also be costly.
Research shows a bad hire can drain up to 30% of that employee’s first-year earnings, and in the UK health sector, replacing a specialist role can cost as much as 200% of salary once you factor in agency cover, onboarding, and lost productivity.
In social care, replacing a single care worker costs over £1,000. Multiply that across high-turnover roles, with the adult social care sector losing around 25% of its workforce each year, and the numbers climb fast.
The issue isn’t always recruitment. Sometimes it’s that we’re recruiting for the wrong thing.
The Vacancy Diagnosis
So before you post the job ad, pause and interrogate the vacancy.
Ask the hard questions:
- Is this truly a replacement, or has the need changed?
- Could someone internally step into this role?
- What’s shifted in the team, service, or workload since the last time this role was filled?
- Are we still using the same job description written ten years ago, and if so, does it still reflect the skills and behaviours we actually need today?
- Putting skills and experience to one side, what kind of person would be a good fit for your team?
Spending time unpacking these questions, can sometimes lead to several “urgent” vacancies being covered by internal development or redistributing responsibilities. The result? Faster hires, better morale, and lower costs.
It’s the first step towards smarter, more sustainable hiring. Treat it like a mini health check for every vacancy.
From Vacancy to Opportunity
Every vacancy is an opportunity to rethink.
Organisations with strong internal mobility programmes are 64% more likely to retain employees for three years or more, according to LinkedIn research. In healthcare, where stability directly affects continuity of care, that’s not just a nice-to-have, it’s critical.
Asking why before who shifts recruitment from reactive firefighting to strategic planning.
You stop filling holes and start building strength.
Don’t accept ‘the way it is’, it’s our job to inspire change
In many case we do the same thing over and over again because its either easier or because its just the way we do things.
There are lots of people out there who are desperate for a job so using the same old vacancy request template, same old job description will probably attract lots of applications, too many applications BUT are they from the right people?
Finding the right people for your team, for your organisation, people who want to work for your organisation, looking after the people in your services has never got easier. But you can be more effective by simply understanding ‘why’
Action Steps
Ask “why” before “who”
Before raising a vacancy request, interrogate the purpose of the role and the change that created it.
Treat each hire as a strategic opportunity.
Look for ways to reshape roles, redistribute tasks, promote internally or add value to the team.
Keep job descriptions alive.
Review and refresh them regularly so they reflect today’s needs, not yesterday’s.
Measure the impact.
Track which hires were genuine replacements, which were redefined, and how those differences affected retention and performance.
Recruitment transformation doesn’t start with a campaign or a new platform.
It starts with a question: Why are we hiring?
Answer that honestly, and you don’t just fill vacancies, you future-proof your workforce.
Part of “The Tools of Recruitment Transformation” Series
This article forms part of The Tools of Recruitment Transformation, a practical guide created by Rowan Marriott and AudienceLink to help recruitment and talent leaders rethink every stage of the hiring journey.
If this stage of the process feels familiar or you’re tackling similar challenges in your own organisation, our team is always happy to share insight or practical advice.
Keep an eye out for the next article in the series, where we’ll explore Shaping the Role.
