How to Bring a Physician to Your Hospital

     A hospital recruiter’s toughest job is to bring physicians into the community. I have found the oldest rule in the book applies: People work with people they like. Doctors are no different. Yes they are enticed by the latest technology, good schools, and attractive locations but what ultimately seals the deal is the recruiter working with them. Just think about when you are trying to choose between competitors. Would you not pick the person who makes you feel more important? Physicians are no different. Engaging them in conversation, discussing their interests, and making them feel like they are needed at a hospital go a long way. I have found the most engaging recruiters to be the most successful. Here are some tips to help attract the best physicians.

     Tip #1 – Be enthusiastic – When speaking with a potential candidate always be enthusiastic about the facility and the people working there. A recruiter is the first impression a potential candidate has of a facility; therefore it should be a good one.

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     Tip #2 – Focus on interests – When speaking with a potential candidate, take the time to find out what they are interested in. If their hobby is biking, make sure and focus on what bike paths are in the area. If they have children make sure to let them know about schools in the area. Acknowledging what is important to a candidate before they tell you, shows you truly care about their wants and needs.

     Tip #3 – Send a thank you card – After speaking with a candidate or after a site visit, send the physician a handwritten card thanking them for their time. Personal notes go a long way.

     Tip #4 – Follow up – Always follow up with the provider after a call or a site visit. Continue to do so every few months as well. Just because they may not have been interested in the opportunity at first, situations always change and you want to be the person they think of when theirs changes.

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NEWSFLASH FOR HOSPITALS: Physicians are Interviewing YOU-Not the Other Way Around (Part 2)

     In our last post, we discussed how it is a buyer’s market for physicians, and it is in the hospital’s best interest to respond accordingly by making recruitment an easier process. This starts with Fidelis Partners, where we take great pride in representing our clients in the most professional and most polite way possible. Our behavior reflects our clients’ recruitment goals, and we take that role very seriously. Once a candidate is submitted to a hospital, the clock starts ticking and every moment counts. There is a small window of momentum and enthusiasm where a candidate is excited about a job. If we do not act quickly during this window, the chances of securing that physician diminish greatly.

     Ideally, it should not take more than two months to secure a candidate. In a perfect world, this would be the most effective recruitment process in 5 easy steps:

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1. Fidelis Partners finds a physician candidate, submits to hospital/physician recruiter
2. Candidate is contacted by organization within 48 hours, and phone interview scheduled with the
appropriate decision maker within one week
3. If phone interview is successful, candidate is brought out for an interview within 2-4 weeks, with the spouse (spouse is mandatory)
4. Candidate interviews, and leaves the job interview with a template contract or Letter of Intent
    * I must expound upon this step since this is the most crucial one. Physicians should leave a job interview with an Letter of Intent in hand, or the expectation that one will follow within the week. A personal interview should not happen unless the hospital wants to hire that physician. Let me repeat: Before the candidate interviews, the hospital should already want to hire that person. There are many gatekeepers along the path towards a personal interview – Fidelis Partners, in-house physician recruiter, hospital CEO, Director of Medical Group, etc. – the interview should be used to confirm what everyone already wants: To hire that physician!
5. Candidate has a two week deadline to accept or deny the offer

     However, these steps do not matter if each moment along the way, the hospital does not put forth the strongest effort to attract the candidate. There are too many job options out there for physicians, so each moment counts when working with a candidate. The goal is to get the physician to want your job so badly that now you, the hospital, are in the buyer’s seat.
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Lori Vickers is a Senior Search Consultant at Fidelis Partners.
Connect with Lori:
LinkedIn
Email
Biography 

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NEWSFLASH FOR HOSPITALS: Physicians are Interviewing YOU-Not the Other Way Around (Part 1)

     This may come as a surprise to many healthcare organizations, but in the land of physician recruitment, most often it is the physician candidate in the driver’s seat, NOT the hospital. This is a very subtle shift in physician attitudes towards hospitals, but it is a mind shift nonetheless. It has slowly crept up over the past decade, and now it is being exercised in full force, and I see it happen on a daily basis. Everyone knows there is a physician shortage, but how are hospitals responding to the shortage?

     Surprisingly, they are responding by making it more difficult to get a job, which is the exact opposite of what is needed in order to attract and retain top tier talent. Hospitals are responding by taking four weeks to build a contract and get an offer letter out to a candidate. Hospitals are responding by making physicians pay for their own travel. Hospitals are responding by adding layer upon layer of bureaucratic gatekeepers. Hospitals are responding by drastically limiting their candidate pool (“I will only look at someone whose name starts with the letter ‘J’, etc.”) … Admittedly, I’ve never had that request, but you get my point. In a day and age where there is ONE physician for every TEN job openings, why are hospitals playing so hard to get?

     At Fidelis Partners, the search consultants are more than just CV sourcers. We each have an average of over five years of recruitment experience, and we enjoy advising our clients to be the best they can possibly be in order to attract the finest physicians in the market place. It is not our desire to make wholesale changes to any hospital’s recruitment efforts, but since we talk to 50+ physicians a day, we might know a thing or two about the marketplace and what physicians want. And right now, it is definitely a buyer’s market for physicians, and it is in the best interest of healthcare organizations to respond accordingly.

     What is the best reaction to this type of recruiting climate? Simply put, hospitals need to put their best foot forward, every moment of every day. We need to cater to the physicians … we need to be accommodating to the physicians … and yes, we need to seduce the physicians …


How can hospitals make recruitment easier on them? Stay tuned to find out ….
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Lori Vickers is a Senior Search Consultant at Fidelis Partners.
Connect with Lori:
LinkedIn
Email
Biography
   

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