#252 - Nurse Turnover Costs $61,000 per Replacement: Infirmary Health's Ivy Singley on Hiring in 2026

Featuring Ivy Singley, Director of Employment Services and Workforce Development, Infirmary Health Replacing one bedside nurse ran just over $61,000 last year. Every single percentage point of RN turnover swings the average hospital's bottom line by roughly $290,000 a year. Treating that as a pipeline problem misses what happens inside the walls every day, and Ivy Singley has spent almost 30 years in those walls. 🚫 Retire the Word "Resilience" Naming resilience as a core trait tells candidates they will work in chaos. Boomers hear grit. This generation hears sunup to sundown and passes. HR Risk: your job postings may be screening out the people you most want. 🤖 AI Belongs on the Front End, Not the Final Call Ivy uses AI for screening, sourcing, and executive summaries that let HR hold its own in a strategy conversation. She draws the line at choosing. A resume written by AI reads beautifully until the candidate cannot explain the procedure they claimed. Key Takeaway: screen with the tool, decide with a human. ⏱️ 95% of the Recruiting Cycle Is Waiting Luke reverse-engineered a system hiring 10,000 people a year with 20 recruiters. Screening to pre-boarding averages 18 days industry-wide, and only about 5% of that is actual work. The rest is a nurse applying at 10pm Saturday and nobody touching it until Monday. Action: attack the queue, not the headcount. No number of recruiters closes that gap. 👥 Same-Day, Multi-Layer Interviews Infirmary Health interviews with the hiring manager, runs a tour, and puts the candidate in front of a peer panel, often in one day. Candidates behave for the manager and open up with peers, and the hire becomes a collective decision instead of one manager's guess. Careers: infirmaryhealth.org/careers You cannot hire your way out of a waiting problem, and you cannot automate your way out of a judgment one. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. Support the show