Physician Recruitment: How to Capture Attention with Job Postings

By: Mitzi Kent, RN, BSN | mkent@barlowmccarthy.com

If you have worked in recruitment long you know that many stages of provider recruitment follow a consistent timeline. Typically, this is the time of year when organizations refresh their medical staff development plan to determine recruitment needs for the new year. When recruiters get the green light to continue recruiting for those open opportunities, one of the top “to-do’s” should be to refresh job postings. Creating that perfect job post with compelling highlights of the job and your organization requires careful planning and a measured approach.

Here are a few must-haves to ensure you get noticed:

1. Job Title Header: First impressions count! It’s the first thing that grabs your candidate’s attention and makes physicians want to click for more information. Remember to keep it short and use key descriptive words. Action terms like “newly renovated operation room” or “market expansion to reach more patients,” gives the candidate the impression of growth and strong positioning.
2. Job Description: The better you can paint the picture of a typical workday, the more likely you will attract the ideal candidates. Think about key details such as the number of providers and support staff in the group and how they work together. This will give the candidate some understanding of workflow.
3. Company Description: Equally crucial to clinical fit is cultural fit; you aren’t just trying to get qualified candidates to apply, you want candidates that share your organization’s mission and vision. Share what makes you unique; for example, most recently, how your organization has cared for the community during the pandemic.
4. Call to Action: Many candidates tell me that if the process to apply is complicated, meaning too many steps, they will move on to the next opportunity. If your postings are on your website, make sure it is easy to upload their CV, and it will pre-populate the fields. Give it a try yourself to be sure the bugs are worked out. If you are posting on job boards, make sure you include both your email and cell number so they can contact you either way.

A refresh to your 2020 postings can be just the thing you need for finding the right candidates in 2021. Give them something to get excited about!

We would love to share more on this topic and examples of best-practice postings. Send a note to schedule a complimentary virtual session. You can reach me at mkent@barlowmccarthy.com.

Virtual recruiter team training is also available. If you’d like a sample outline of the training topics just let me know.