BuscaSalud is a personal project: a web app that focuses on job opportunities for healthcare professionals in Colombia. The idea? To become a specialized job board with high-quality listings and guaranteed follow-up, while also verifying user profiles through Colombia’s official health talent registry (Registro Único Nacional de Talento Humano en Salud). The goal? To give both professionals and recruiters a trustworthy, useful tool to support the hiring process.
Chances are you’ve heard that before, right? It’s time-consuming, it takes effort, and online applications often feel like they go nowhere.
Now imagine working in a field where word of mouth* is the most common way to find a job. Why? Because without verified credentials or references, no one’s willing to take the risk of hiring you.
That’s exactly what healthcare professionals in Colombia face (among many other issues in the system… but that’s another conversation).
Surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues who are doctors, I realized there’s a huge problem when they try to find a new job: digital tools (like the ones you and I use) don’t feel trustworthy—for them or for recruiters.
*Recruitment and selection processes in healthcare organizations: Villavicencio Case - Colombia
But wait—was this just my personal bias? Time to validate.
I ran qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals and recruiters in different cities across Colombia to understand what both groups actually need, their job-seeking or hiring journeys, and the main pain points they face.
What came out of it?
Using an affinity map, I uncovered that medical professionals don’t really trust online platforms like job boards or LinkedIn for three main insights: