When we sat down with Bridget Weber, CEO of CrossMed, and asked her to describe how the agency used to distribute new candidates to recruiters before partnering with us, she said with a laugh: "Do I have to tell you? It was a mess."

Like many healthcare staffing firms, CrossMed was making do with unreliable, manual lead distribution. It was riddled with redundancies and bottlenecks and left the team in the dark about the efficacy of their sourcing efforts. 

And it wasn't just a pain for the CrossMed team – it was slowing down their entire recruiting process. It wasn't keeping up with the needs of today's candidates, who want an agency that can move at the speed of light – or at least the speed of AI.

CrossMed isn't alone in trying to grow while facing these kinds of inefficiencies and breakdowns. Until recently, there simply wasn't a streamlined, reliable way to automate lead distribution, and most agencies are still feeling that pain. 

Read on to see how CrossMed used the power of AI and automation to tackle their problem, connect with leads faster, and gain better insight into their entire recruiting cycle.

CrossMed's old system of distributing candidates was built out of necessity. They used the only tools available to them over the years: email and spreadsheets. While the old system was a testament to their ingenuity and adaptability, it was increasingly ineffective, slowing their otherwise tight recruitment process.

Cecilia Merrill
Director of Operations
at CrossMed

The system also involved checking a spreadsheet to determine how to forward leads, which further complicated and slowed the process. These days, any workflow that requires checking a spreadsheet is one that's begging for an upgrade.

This manual process didn't have defined oversight, which led to lost leads. Merrill said that once, a candidate pipeline was disconnected for two weeks before the error was noticed. Because no one had a clear line of sight into the entire undertaking, it was tricky to assess breakdowns, identify missed opportunities, and clear roadblocks.

CrossMed knew they needed a new system, one that could automate the process of getting the right candidates into the right hands, prevent bottlenecks, address oversight issues, and ultimately help them move with the speed of today's candidates.

To solve this problem, CrossMed brought in Staffing Engine's powerful Engine AI Distribution tool. By integrating AI with their existing tech stack, they were able to automatically funnel all leads into Bullhorn and respond faster by sending instant lead notifications to the best recruiter or sales rep in MS Teams.

Here's how Staffing Engine AI Distribution works for CrossMed:

• Intelligently parses all inbound leads and data
• Uses the parsed data to do a lookup in Bullhorn
• Dynamically routes leads in real-time 
• Sends instant notifications to MS Teams
• The CrossMed team can then click-to-claim 
• Automatically adds or updates all leads into Bullhorn
• Updates lead ownership and the time of follow-up

With Staffing Engine AI plugged into all of CrossMed's lead channels, the difference was night and day.

Bridget Weber
CEO at
CrossMed Healthcare

In fact, in the first 90 days of using Staffing Engine AI Distribution, CrossMed saw 26 new placements. Instead of being funneled through multiple inboxes and languishing between spam messages, new candidates are now instantly routed and acted on.

With leads automatically entered into Bullhorn, CrossMed gained clear insight into their entire lead universe. They can better understand the ROI of all their lead channels and avoid missing out on key opportunities.

Bridget Weber
CEO at
CrossMed Healthcare

"The fact that we know we're not losing the money we're spending on leads is huge," added Weber.

New hires can also quickly build pipelines by jumping on leads that come through MS Teams, and leaders can identify top performers quickly. One new hire, Kassandra McKinney, was quickly able to adopt the intuitive lead system. She started blowing it out of the water from the get-go by seizing opportunities.

With transparency into the entire lead distribution process, leaders can also jump in and prevent roadblocks when recruiters are underperforming. They can reassign leads, assess workloads, and otherwise ensure best-fit between recruiter and leads. All of this has led to improved efficiency, which allows CrossMed to serve their candidates more quickly and grow their bottom line.

You can learn more about Staffing Engine AI Distribution here.

Cecilia Merrill
Director of Operations
at CrossMed

About CrossMed

As a boutique firm offering specialized, personalized, and consultative recruiting services for healthcare professionals, CrossMed is large enough to offer all the same opportunities, pay, benefits, and perks of the mega-corporations while still treating and appreciating you like a member of our family. We are humble and take a servant-leadership approach to what we do. We are relentless in finding the right assignments for our travelers and pride ourselves on being accountable to deliver results. Proudly owned and operated by women.

About Bridget Weber

Bridget Weber, CEO of CrossMed Healthcare, has been a leader in cutting-edge innovation and technology in the healthcare staffing industry for nearly two decades now. Bridget got her start in the industry as an account manager right after graduating from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Within three years, she was asked to start and manage the company’s Cath Lab Division. She later moved to Fusion, which experienced exponential growth while she served as a Director of their Cath Lab Division and ultimately as their Executive Director of Operations. In her three years since starting as CEO of CrossMed, her emphasis on technology and automation has propelled the company forward rapidly, including 300% growth in 2022.

Bridget holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration. She and her husband, Kevin, have two children which keep them both very busy.

About Cecilia Merrill

Cecilia Merrill has been in healthcare staffing for 7.5 years beginning her career as a recruiter and then moving to a sales manager. She came to CrossMed a year ago as the Director of Operations. Her goal is to create efficiencies for the internal teams at CrossMed with sales as a focus and priority in making change.

She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and human resource management. She has 3 young kids with her husband Dirk that keep her busy.