Building a Workforce Pipeline from Career Awareness to Advancement
At Halifax Health, I helped develop a portfolio of connected workforce initiatives designed to help people discover healthcare careers, gain relevant experience, enter the organization, and understand how to advance once they were there.
Rather than treating recruitment, education, career awareness, and internal mobility as separate challenges, the organization began building multiple entry and advancement points across the workforce pipeline.
The Challenge
Like many healthcare organizations, Halifax Health faced workforce needs that could not be solved through traditional recruiting alone.
Students and prospective applicants often thought of healthcare primarily in terms of doctors and nurses, with limited awareness of the many clinical, technical, administrative, and operational careers available within a health system. Those interested in healthcare also needed practical ways to explore careers, gain experience, complete required education, and transition into employment.
Within the organization, employees sometimes left because they did not see sufficient earning or advancement potential, even when leaders could envision numerous opportunities for them to grow. The challenge was to make those possibilities more visible, accessible, and actionable.
The Solution
As Director of Organizational Development & Learning, I helped identify, design, and coordinate several initiatives that addressed different points along the workforce pipeline. My role often began with an idea or unmet need and continued through leadership approval, program design, cross-functional coordination, implementation, and expansion.
Registered Apprenticeships
After learning more about Registered Apprenticeship Programs, I recognized that Halifax Health was already providing many elements of apprenticeship without formally defining the experience that way.
Formalizing the model created opportunities to combine employment, education, structured learning, mentorship, and hands-on experience. It could also provide participants with a nationally recognized Certificate of Completion, expand access to education assistance, and open opportunities for grant funding.
I developed the initial concept, presented it to HR and executive leadership, and led the work required to establish Florida’s first Registered Apprenticeship Program for Registered Nurses. The framework was subsequently expanded to seven additional programs across clinical and nonclinical occupations.
The apprenticeship infrastructure also supported approximately $250,000 in competitive grant funding for training equipment and materials.
Nonclinical Internships
To increase awareness of careers beyond direct patient care, I helped create an unpaid internship model for college students, recent graduates, and others seeking professional experience in departments such as Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing, Engineering, Supply Chain, Revenue Cycle, and Information Technology.
Creating the program required coordination with Auxiliary Services, Legal, IT, and participating departments to address orientation, liability, documentation, system access, confidentiality, and meaningful project design.
I worked with managers to identify assignments that provided genuine learning and contribution opportunities for individuals who did not yet have the qualifications expected of new employees. A supplemental activity log helped ensure that interns received meaningful experiences while documenting work that could support future employment references.
Summer Scrubs Career Camp
Summer Scrubs was created as an immersive career exploration experience for 15- to 18-year-old children and grandchildren of Halifax Health Team Members.
Using the Clinical Training Lab as a home base, the one-week program introduced students to a broad range of healthcare careers through presentations, tours, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. More than 40 departments participated, along with operational partners who helped address safety, HIPAA, documentation, meals, communication, and logistics.
The first two cohorts served a total of 38 students. Participants completed Stop the Bleed and basic CPR training, explored careers they had not previously considered, and celebrated their completion at a graduation ceremony attended by their families. Several participants from the first cohort later applied for Halifax Health jobs or volunteer opportunities.
Revenue Cycle Career Pathways
I also partnered with Revenue Cycle leadership to translate less-visible advancement opportunities into clearer career pathways.
Together, we identified criteria that could distinguish entry-level, intermediate, advanced, and lead positions. These included relevant experience, education, professional certifications, voluntary development courses, performance measures, and mastery of increasingly complex assignments.
The resulting framework gave employees a more concrete blueprint for growth and helped managers have clearer conversations about advancement. It also connected career expectations with available resources such as education assistance, certification reimbursement, and specialized learning opportunities.
Selected Results
Together, these initiatives created multiple points of entry and advancement:
- Two Summer Scrubs cohorts served 38 high school students.
- More than 40 departments contributed to career exploration activities.
- A coordinated internship process gave emerging professionals meaningful nonclinical experience.
- Halifax Health established Florida’s first Registered Apprenticeship Program for Registered Nurses.
- The apprenticeship model expanded to seven additional occupations.
- Approximately $250,000 in competitive grant funding supported training equipment and resources.
- Employees received clearer guidance about the experience, education, credentials, learning, and performance needed for advancement.
- Managers became better equipped to create developmental assignments and discuss career growth.
What This Demonstrates
This work demonstrates my ability to see workforce challenges as an interconnected system rather than a collection of isolated vacancies.
I can recognize promising ideas, adapt them to an organization’s needs, build leadership support, and coordinate the operational details required to move from concept to implementation. I can also connect career awareness, experiential learning, education, employment, professional development, and internal mobility into practical pathways that serve both individuals and the organization.
Most importantly, I can help turn possibilities that leaders can see into structures that other people can understand, access, and use.