Knowledge & tools
In a nationwide survey, around 12,700 nursing staff were asked what would have to be in place for them to return to the profession or increase their hours. Not what they think about their job, but what specifically would have to be different. That is the same question a job ad has to answer.
Click a row to see what it means for a job ad. 4 of the ten can be answered verifiably in an ad; the other six are culture.
The single most important condition, and no ad can prove it. “A collegial team” appears in almost every ad and says nothing. What you can do instead: name the things that can be checked. They are the proof of the same claim.
A job ad can claim this, but not prove it.
Also unprovable. If you still want to say it, give the name and direct line of the director of nursing: a manager who can be contacted is a statement. An adjective is not.
A job ad can claim this, but not prove it.
Culture. The verifiable counterpart to this condition is the staffing ratio: anyone who states it says something about workload that can be counted.
A job ad can claim this, but not prove it.
This follows from staffing and cannot be promised separately from it. Promising time without naming the staffing level promises nothing.
A job ad can claim this, but not prove it.
Rarely seen in an ad, but possible: which system is in use and whether documentation happens at the bedside is a fact, not a promise.
A job ad can claim this, but not prove it.
Culture, with a verifiable side to it: anyone who involves nursing staff in ward rounds, handovers or case discussions can say so.
A job ad can claim this, but not prove it.
Six of the ten are culture. Flip the switch to see what a job ad can actually decide.
Counter-intuitive
People writing a nursing job ad often reach for exactly the levers that pull the least.
Ruling out night and weekend shifts is the least important factor in the entire ranking, both for those who have left the profession and for part-time staff. What matters is not when the work happens, but whether the roster holds.
Of all the topic areas, training and career matters least for returning to the profession or increasing hours. With exactly one exception, and it sits at number 10 of 67: that it is reflected in the salary.
Return-to-work bonuses and open days for interested candidates score low. Considerably more important, and high up in the overall ranking: a structured, well-organised induction led by a manager or practice mentor, and support from a colleague.
The order was tested for 25 subgroups: those who have left and part-time staff, acute and long-term care, gender, state of health. With one small exception, it is the same everywhere.
The term ranks second and is the one mentioned most often in the free-text answers. The survey itself breaks it down, in this order:
Plus, from the same free-text answers: more lead time in the rostering, consideration of individual needs, and absence cover that does not rely on someone coming in on a day off.
If you work in nursing
Staffing ratio, roster lead time, being called in on days off and what a specialist qualification does to your pay: these are not immodest questions, they are the four details that decide how satisfied you will be. With us they are mandatory in every ad, before you apply.
If you recruit nursing staff
The 4 verifiable conditions are missing from almost every job ad. That is exactly why they stand out: anyone who states the staffing ratio says something the ad next to it does not. Our check rates your existing ad free of charge against exactly these rankings.
Source
„Ich pflege wieder, wenn …“. Potenzialanalyse zur Berufsrückkehr und Arbeitszeitaufstockung von Pflegefachkräften. Nationwide survey, published by the Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen, around 12,700 participants (roughly a quarter who had left the profession, three quarters part-time nursing staff). Depending on the question, the percentages are based on 6,344 to 7,741 answers. Summary as PDF.
The column „can a job ad answer this“ is our own assessment and not part of the survey. Everything else on this page comes from the study and has not been rounded by us.