HOLMDEL, N.J. — Long-term and post-acute care provider Signature HealthCARE has seen a 52% surge in nursing applicants and cut candidate application times to under a minute after dismantling a cumbersome, seven-vendor recruiting stack in favor of a unified hiring platform.
The healthcare network—which operates 67 skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and home health facilities across five states—partnered with talent acquisition software provider iCIMS to overhaul its recruitment operations. The findings, detailed in a newly released case study, highlight how consolidating fragmented HR technology can dramatically improve hiring velocity during a persistent nationwide healthcare labor shortage.
Cutting Friction for Frontline Clinical Staff
Before replacing its legacy applicant tracking system (ATS) in February 2024, Signature HealthCARE relied on a patchwork of seven disconnected point solutions. The disjointed setup created administrative bottlenecks for recruiters and friction for job seekers applying for high-demand frontline roles, including registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nursing assistants (CNAs).
With roughly 6,000 vacancies to fill annually, the healthcare provider needed a centralized system capable of supporting high-volume hiring. After evaluating competitors including Workday, Jobvite, and Greenhouse, the organization expanded its existing partnership with iCIMS—initially adopted for candidate text messaging in 2020—by rolling out the iCIMS ATS, automated interview scheduling, and integrated onboarding.
The transition simplified the front-end candidate experience, reducing mobile and desktop application completion times to under 60 seconds.
Key Results Across the Talent Pipeline
Since deploying the unified platform, Signature HealthCARE has reported measurable gains across every stage of its hiring funnel:
- Applicant Volume: A 52% increase in nursing applicants and a 47% increase in overall completed applications.
- Hiring Output: A 17.5% increase in nursing hires specifically, alongside a 17% lift in total organizational hires.
- Recruiter Velocity: A 50% increase in completed recruiter screens and interviews, coupled with a 21% boost in formal job offers.
- Speed to Hire: An average time-to-hire compressed to just 11 days, operating at a 6.1% applicant-to-hire conversion rate.
Beyond operational metrics, the overhaul contributed to a sharp rise in candidate perception. Between February 2024 and February 2025, Signature HealthCARE’s employer ranking in the skilled nursing sector on Glassdoor surged from 4,500th to 165th.
Automation Frees Recruiters to Focus on Care
A major driver of the efficiency gains was workflow automation. Routine administrative steps—such as triggering status updates, generating IT equipment requisitions, coordinating accommodations, and scheduling interviews—were shifted away from manual tracking spreadsheets.
Additionally, consolidated onboarding workflows gave recruitment teams real-time visibility into post-offer credentialing and paperwork without requiring manual queries into separate HR information systems (HRIS).
“For a healthcare organization like Signature HealthCARE, having the right people in the right roles at the right time is essential to the business and the communities it serves,” said Marc Thompson, CEO of iCIMS. “Their results show what happens when you connect the hiring process, reduce friction and give talent teams the visibility they need to make better decisions.”
According to Signature HealthCARE leadership, modernizing the core infrastructure allowed the talent acquisition division to shift from administrative triage to strategic growth—subsequently rolling out structured volunteer recruitment programs and faster credentialing pipelines over the two and a half years following go-live.
