This is the second in an ongoing series summarizing the findings in a recent white paper published by the President of Jackson Physician Search, Tony Stajduhar. To read “Physician Recruitment: The Cost to Hire and Return on Investment” in its entirety, find it here.
In our first white paper summary, we highlighted how much vacancies are costing healthcare organizations. Now, let’s focus on how much it costs you to recruit and fill those physician vacancies. As if healthcare organizations don’t lose enough revenue by having lingering vacancies in their physician ranks, having an inefficient recruitment process not only wastes time and money, it also keeps the vacancy open longer.
In thinking about your organization’s recruitment process answer this simple two-part question, ‘Are we measuring key recruitment metrics, and if so, are we acting on the data?’ If you answered no to either of the above, then your recruitment process is in dire need of attention. Here are a few key indicators you should be measuring:
- Time to Fill – Team Satisfaction Scores
- # of Interviews to Hire
- # of New and Returning Patients
- Acceptance Rate percentage
- Three- and Five-year retention rates
- Physician Satisfaction Scores
Benchmarking your recruitment process from top to bottom allows you to reveal inefficiencies and make the necessary corrections for improvement. No matter how successful your recruitment process may have been in the past, as times change and the candidate profiles change, what worked yesterday doesn’t necessarily work today.
A recent survey found that 95% of physicians want to receive job information by email, but the volume of contacts they receive are watering down the effectiveness of solicitation. Over 39% of physicians report multiple job solicitations each week. Compounding the issue is that doctors are finding that they are receiving relevant information less than 10% of the time. It is critical for organizations to do a deeper dive into creating targeted emails that resonate with the recipients. Refining the email content to be more relevant can be achieved if you are collecting the data and acting upon the results.
An effective way to engage physicians who may be interested in a career move, is through social media, as a surprising 87% of physicians between the ages of 26 and 55 are using social media platforms. The key for savvy healthcare organizations is to attract passive candidates by producing fresh, interesting content that sets you apart from your competitors. If physicians are drawn to your content because it piques their interest, you are essentially recruiting them before they even know it.
If you feel that your recruitment process is suffering from the same old, same old and your vacancies aren’t being filled in a reasonable timeframe, it may be time for a total recruitment makeover. Check out our ‘Guide to Developing a Strategic Physician Recruitment Plan’, or contact a Jackson Physician Search recruitment professional today.
