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Dynamic recruitment
helps upgrade care
Catherine Laganière first sensed there was something
special about the Jewish General Hospital
when she met last year with JGH recruiters and
realized she was involved not so much in a job interview
as a pleasant conversation.
“When I arrived, I felt nervous, because this kind of interview
can make a big difference to your career,” she recalls. “But the more
we talked, the more comfortable they made me feel. Their attitude
put me at ease and allowed me to describe myself naturally.” Which
is how Ms. Laganière became Brachytherapy Coordinator in the
Division of Radiation Oncology in spring 2010.
Mission accomplished, says Maria Monaco, who leads the
recruitment push for the JGH Department of Human Resources.
“One of the most important things we do is make the candidates
feel comfortable,” she explains. “We represent the image of the
hospital, so we want that comfort level to stay with the applicants
after they begin working here.”
Far from being just a bureaucratic strategy, this approach makes
a practical difference to care at the JGH, says Ms. Monaco. “The
bottom line is that our patients receive treatment of high quality
because some of the best young professionals are being recruited.
That’s important especially now, when there’s stiff competition to
attract the best and the brightest.”
Ms. Laganière, 26, had already spent about four years in Radiation
Oncology at Notre-Dame Hospital, when she heard about the
opening at the JGH through her professional association. She saw
the position of Brachytherapy Coordinator as a chance to use her
skills to their greatest potential—an ambition that has now been
realized. “This job is a great combination of direct contact with
patients and administration,” she says. “It’s just what I was hoping
for.”
Ms. Monaco says the JGH has been steadily upgrading its recruitment
efforts for about three years, with stronger links to regional
schools, universities and job fairs. This year she hopes the hospital
will have a presence at job fairs as far afield as Sherbrooke, Trois-
Rivières, Quebec City and the Saguenay region.
Members of her team are on the lookout for candidates in a broad
array of fields—for instance, respiratory therapy, social services,
diagnostic medicine and physiotherapy, as well as certain types of
Worth bookmarking
Thinning out your home library? Why not
donate unwanted English or French books
to the JGH Auxiliary. Through its sales of
used books in the Book Nooks (Côte-des-
Neiges lobby and Légaré entrance), The
Auxiliary raises tens of thousands of dollars
a year to buy much-needed medical equipment
for the JGH. For more information and
to find out where to drop off your books,
please phone 514-340-8216.
30 spriNG 2011
Care for all.
Catherine Laganière (right) tells Maria Monaco about her first year as
Brachytherapy Coordinator in the Division of Radiation Oncology.
support staff. Excluded are doctors and nurses whose recruitment
is handled by other JGH departments.
“The job fairs are especially important,” says recruitment officer
Kamil Luna, “because when you go farther out, you realize that
people don’t automatically think of the Jewish General Hospital for
employment. We remind them that this is a fully bilingual hospital
where there is ample opportunity to grow professionally.”
Mr. Luna and fellow recruitment officer Patrizia Capri have also
been involved in arranging for students to tour parts of the JGH.
Last year tours of the Test Centre and the main laboratory of the
Department of Diagnostic Medicine attracted about 60 students
from such insitutions as Dawson College and Collège de Rosemont,
resulting in the hiring of seven lab technologists.
Roll up your sleeve
Give from the heart at
The Auxiliary’s blood donor clinic
May 16
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Samuel S. Cohen Auditorium
Pavilion A