By: Allison McCarthy | amccarthy@barlowmccarthy.com
One of the basic tenets of sales is to know our product. In physician recruitment, product includes:
- Geographic location
- Hospital/Health System/Group Practice
- Practice opportunity including the details most important to that specialty
Most physician recruiters have mastered the first two pieces – which are vitally important in our promotion of practice opportunities. Studies show that physicians, particularly those new to practice, consider geographic location as a key initial search criteria. Plus, we know that those hospitals, health systems, or physician groups with brand recognition, or in highly desirable geographic locations, have to do more to screen out than to pull leads in.
But geographic and organizational knowledge is just the superficial level. To actually engage a physician, across all the specialties, we have to know the details of the practice offering. That includes information around:
- Patient/procedure mix
- Schedule
- Equipment
- Referral base
- Compensation and benefits
There is more depending upon the specialty and the opportunity. If we are lucky enough to capture attention based on geography and a vague practice description, what are we able to talk about that will further engage the interest of the physician recruit?
Consider the following situations.
- Geographic region is highly competitive with many other organizations in the market also looking for the same specialists – hospitalists, primary care and psychiatry come to mind.
- We need to recruit a subspecialist and have targeted the current fellowship trained group. Think of the specialties in cardiology, neurosciences and orthopedic surgery as examples.
- Our opening is unique – it doesn’t fit the traditional practice description for the specialty. (A client is recruiting OBG emergency physicians that won’t do any deliveries or surgery). Or, we may need the most general aspects of the specialty area – true general surgery, neurology, or others – for which there is limited interest anymore to practice.
Sadly, in-house recruiters have become so overwhelmed with workload that the time crunch has hindered the ability to learn the specifics of their practice offerings and the specialties involved. We capture as much information as the leadership provides and post the position online. These posting descriptions elaborate on the geographic and hospital/health system/group offerings, but say very little about the clinical aspects of the position.
Today this makes me wonder what differentiates the in-house recruiter from an external search firm? If we are only able to have a superficial conversation with a candidate about a practice opportunity, we run the risk of communicating at the same cursory level as an outsider. We continue to claim that we are the preferred resource for physicians looking for a new practice opportunity. Are we? Without good product knowledge and the ability to converse fully with each specialty we need to recruit, I’m not so sure.