When Crystal Kohanke and Jamie Wiggins arrived at Arkansas Children’s in 2021, they immediately faced daunting workforce challenges: dwindling pipelines, rising turnover, and a pandemic that had pushed staffing models to the brink.
“There wasn’t much of a national recruiting strategy,” said Kohanke, now senior vice president and chief people officer. “The assumption was that people would line up at the door for jobs. That wasn’t the case anymore. We had to think differently — and act fast.”
Wiggins, executive vice president and chief operating officer, recalled those early conversations. “We didn’t believe we had all the answers. What we wanted was to listen, to experiment, and to treat every challenge as a chance to build something stronger,” he said.
Together, the pair led Arkansas Children’s through a period of rapid growth — expanding the workforce by more than 20% in just three years — and redefined how a children’s hospital can attract, retain, and develop talent.
Rethinking recruitment
One of the team’s first steps was to overhaul recruitment. Outdated ads and generic job postings were replaced with campaigns that highlighted the hospital’s unique mission. Every flyer and social post featured children, families, and staff at work. Videos gave a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the work environment.
“We wanted people to see right away that this is a place unlike anywhere else,” Kohanke said.
They also embraced new tools. AI-driven scheduling software reduced the time from application to interview from weeks to hours.
“Anything that causes friction has to go,” said Wiggins. “If a candidate gets stuck in the process, they look elsewhere. We needed to make it seamless.”
Mining its own data, the hospital revisited “silver medalists” — qualified candidates who weren’t hired the first time. By tapping into thousands of prior applicants, they quickly built pools of strong prospects.
Reaching new grads
In 2021, Arkansas Children’s brought on just 60 new graduates. By 2023, that number had soared to nearly 200.
At first, the hospital piloted a rotation approach, allowing new hires to rotate between units before being matched with one. Feedback revealed that while the process worked well for those who landed their top choices, others felt dissatisfied. The next year, leaders shifted to direct unit hiring, giving new nurses a clear path from day one.
Panel interviews also replaced the traditional one-on-one gauntlet. Three leaders now meet with each candidate at once, condensing 100 hours of interviews to 20.
Using a standard evaluation tool sped up decisions, leading to immediate job offers, sometimes months before graduation.
“We had to recognize that the next generation of nurses expect different things,” Kohanke said. “Video interviews, fast responses, and clarity about growth opportunities are all part of that.”
Seasonal staffing: a creative alternative
Like most hospitals, Arkansas Children’s leaned on expensive travel nurses to fill gaps. But leaders saw an opportunity to pilot a different model.
In 2024, they launched seasonal contracts — 12 to 22 weeks long — with completion bonuses and centralized oversight. The approach not only lowered costs but also converted half of those seasonal hires into permanent staff.
The program expanded in 2025 to include specialty units, radiology, and respiratory therapy, with positions quickly filling in both Little Rock and Springdale.
“It gave us flexibility while building relationships that turned short-term staff into long-term colleagues,” Wiggins said.
Building the pipeline
Long-term solutions required looking upstream. Arkansas Children’s invested in workforce academies in local high schools, offering students job shadowing and pathways to apprenticeships. More than 150 students participated in 2025.
The hospital also partnered with regional universities, offered nursing scholarships, and developed apprenticeships in fields ranging from behavioral health to pharmacy tech.
Summer internships grew, too, hiring more than 20 non-clinical interns in 2025.
“These programs aren’t just about filling jobs,” said Kohanke. “They’re about showing young people in Arkansas there’s a future for them here, in health care, in service of children.”
Measuring success
By almost every metric, the changes are paying off:
- Applicant volume grew from 29,000 in 2022 to more than 42,000 in 2024.
- External hires held steady above 1,400 annually.
- Time to fill dropped from 70 to 53 days, even as the system grew larger.
The gains came with growing pains. Nearly half of current employees have been with the organization for less than three years, creating a constant need to reinforce culture, safety practices, and onboarding.
“We’ve made mistakes, and we’ve started over more than once,” Wiggins said. “But each time we learn, and we get better.”
“The workforce challenge isn’t something you solve once,” Kohanke added. “It’s something you work at every day — with creativity, humility, and a focus on what makes children’s hospitals special.”
This article is based on a presentation from the Children’s Hospital Association’s Annual Leadership Conference.
