By: Mitzi Kent, RN, BSN | mkent@barlowmccarthy.com
As leaders in recruitment, we’ve all experienced challenges motivating our provider recruitment teams. The struggle is real, and with the physician shortage and provider needs post-pandemic, we need to think about changing our approach to stay ahead of the curve. There is no better time than the beginning of a quarter to evaluate your provider recruitment process to ensure you are meeting your hospital’s needs.
Here are four easy ways to “jumpstart” your next quarter and provide your team with what they need to succeed.
- Review your Medical Staff Development Plan. Is your team aligned with the hospital’s strategic plan? What strategies need strong physician support? Which service lines need to be maintained, and where would physician turnover be detrimental to a service line. Review your team’s recruitment priorities so your team and service line leaders are on the same page.
- Examine Your Team Structure. Reviewing your team’s structure to see how it will best serve your organization is essential to its efficiency. Look at ways to improve the sourcing process. Do I need sourcing specialists so that the recruiters can stay engaged with candidates? Based on search volume, is there a way to balance the workload so recruiters don’t get burned out? Are we using an outside organization as a gap strategy when the volume becomes too much for the team? Whichever structure you decide on, your team must understand the structure and stay focused on their priorities.
- Create Solid Sourcing Plans. A priority plan on how you will attack each specialty helps your team be effective and efficient. Assign a “tiered approach” to your searches. Set deadlines for each sourcing approach; for example, post to job boards to get an immediate reaction to the opportunity. If, after two weeks, you have a low response, begin cold calling potential candidates to learn about what they are looking for in an opportunity, use that data to create compelling email blasts focused on what makes your opportunity different.
- Review Your Recruiting Process and Procedures. Recently I led a discussion with a group of recruiters from NC and SC. Each member felt there were opportunities to shorten their recruitment process. Spend some time evaluating each step of your internal process. Where are delays or breakdowns in the process? For example, are the departments taking too much time to respond to the recruiter regarding the candidate? Having a standard procedure with interview templates can help busy leaders determine if this is a candidate they want to move forward with.
Sometimes it’s the simple tweaks that will launch your team to success. Spend time talking with your team to find out what will help them be more efficient so that they can spend their time finding the best providers for your hospital.
I love talking recruiting and would welcome a conversation! Use the link below to schedule a 30-minute chat where we can discuss your specific challenges and I can offer some suggestions. Schedule 30 minutes with me: https://calendly.com/mkent-barlowmccarthy/complimentary-conversation.