When a position cannot be filled with a job ad
Bispebjerg Hospital faced a familiar problem: a vacant position as an intensive care nurse and a candidate pool that barely existed. Working with Capax Healthcare, they changed strategy — and filled the position in 6 weeks with a qualified candidate who would never have applied on their own.
One of Denmark's busiest emergency hospitals
Bispebjerg Hospital is one of the Capital Region of Denmark's central emergency hospitals with specialised intensive care units that place high professional demands on nursing staff. Staffing these units requires nurses with a very specific competence profile — and that is exactly the profile that is hardest to attract in a pressured labour market.
A candidate pool that barely existed
Bispebjerg tried to recruit through the usual channels. The applications did not come. This is a familiar challenge: experienced intensive care nurses are among the most sought-after profiles in healthcare — and many have chosen temp agencies, Norway or Greenland over permanent positions. Freedom, pay and the opportunity to try something new are attractive.
Traditional recruitment channels — job ads, Instagram, Facebook and professional publications — reach the marginal group, but not the best-qualified candidates, who rarely search actively. They are already working somewhere else.
Many experienced intensive care nurses work in temporary roles — in Denmark, Norway or Greenland. They do not search for permanent jobs. They need to be approached.
Nurses in the public sector are not primarily motivated by marginal salary improvements. Professional development, environment and culture matter more.
All hospitals are looking for the same candidates. Bispebjerg needed to stand out — not only as a workplace, but as a professional home.
The freedom of temp work is real. To attract the right candidates, Bispebjerg had to offer something a permanent role can provide — and a temp role cannot.
Five disciplines that worked when classic recruitment did not
We mapped the temp market and identified intensive care nurses in temp agencies, acute home care functions and recent graduates from relevant nursing programmes with the right professional foundation.
Bispebjerg offers what temp work cannot: a strong professional community, a training and course programme and a working environment the department is proud of. This became the focal point in our dialogue with candidates.
The best candidates do not take an unsolicited approach for granted. We invested time in understanding their situation — and presented Bispebjerg as a real professional alternative, not a standard job opportunity.
The dialogue with candidates was not about money. It was about what competence development, permanent colleagues and a high professional standard can mean in the long term — and when it is the right time in a career to choose that.
We did not search for one candidate. We built a field — so Bispebjerg could not only fill the role, but also stand stronger next time.
"Capax succeeded in building an entire candidate pool of qualified nurses for our intensive care unit. It was a valuable process that made us look at our approach from a completely new angle. This is a field with tough competition and few active applicants, but through our collaboration with Capax we learned the value of passive candidates. They were good at selling the role and the further training opportunities that came with it. Overall, it was an effective process with a good result. We are very satisfied."
Position filled in 6 weeks — with a candidate who had never applied
Bispebjerg got the intensive care nurse they were looking for — within 6 weeks and with 8 qualified candidates to choose from. Just as importantly, they gained a new approach to recruitment in a market that will not become easier. Understanding the value of passive candidates — and knowing what actually motivates them — is a competence that extends beyond one hire.
Learn from our most recurring discoveries
Positions are advertised — but the right candidates rarely apply actively.
The best profiles are already working — you need to activate them, not wait for them.
Geographical barriers are real, but manageable for candidates who are the right match.
Time invested in candidate dialogue always pays off — it changes the direction.
Passive candidates take longer to reach — but produce much stronger results.
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