While most health care systems have in-house recruitment departments, the shortage of available physicians and the difficulty in reaching passive candidates have administrators bolstering their recruitment efforts with the services of an outside recruitment partner. Once a relationship is established with a trusted physician search firm, there are several things that can be done to support your in-house recruiting team while getting the most out of your recruitment partner.
Foster an environment of trust. If you speak with the front-line recruiters from outside physician search firms, one of the first challenges they tend to mention is that the in-house recruitment team sometimes view them as a threat to their job. While this is as much human nature as anything, nothing could be farther from the truth. Administrators can ease any initial concerns by discussing the reasons why the search partner has been contracted. The external team is not there because someone wasn’t performing, but more as a response to the competitiveness of the hiring environment. Portraying the search partner as an extension of the team, with the same goal of finding the best candidates for the organization, goes a long way to set the foundation for a successful relationship.
Clearly define roles to create success. When you are contracting with a search partner, you can utilize their expertise at finding the right candidates while your in-house team focuses on other important components of a successful search. In most cases, the in-house recruitment team is already stretched pretty thin, and in addition to finding candidates, they are probably involved in many other aspects of the process. Using a search partner can be the ideal way to ensure that your in-house team is “nailing” all of the aspects of a physician hire, including managing the interview process, planning and attending the site visit meetings, assisting with contract negotiations, reference checks, credentialing, and onboarding.
“My most successful client relationships are ones where the organization truly sees me as an extension of the team. It works well when they allow me to do the ‘heavy lifting’ on the back end or behind the scenes while the in-house staff focuses on the important front-end candidate management activities.” ~T. O., Director of Recruiting
Success comes with a sense of urgency. One of the most important aspects of a successful physician search is having a process that is conducive to moving quickly. It is extremely important to understand that most candidates are going to be choosing from multiple offers. This is another area where your external partner can help you keep things moving. The key is to ensure that before any search, all of the individuals who have a say in the hiring process are already on-board and recognize the urgency of the situation. Things to include are ensuring that presented candidates are acted upon quickly, in most cases, the first contact should be within 24 to 48 hours. Build momentum by quickly setting up interviews and prepare a winning site visit. Another way to feed that momentum is by having the basics of a contract already laid out and approved by key decision-makers. The most disappointing aspect of any physician search is missing out on the perfect candidate because of an avoidable bottleneck.
“I’ve had situations where there has been a 3-week gap in between contact and scheduling an interview. Needless to say, most of those candidates chose other opportunities.” ~H.F., Recruiter
Lean on your search partner’s expertise. When you have established a great relationship with your search partner, it is important to know that they can be relied upon in a variety of ways. The successful relationship has abundant two-way communication and allows you to lean on the external recruiters to help you close the deal with your desired candidate. You can always rely on your recruitment partner to confirm availability for interviews, insights into planning the perfect site visit, and even act as a liaison through the negotiation process when appropriate.
“When we are engaged as an extension of the team and there is open communication and transparency, the relationship is seamless. We can customize our own process to meet the needs of the client, making it a true collaboration where we all have the same goals.” ~C.C., Senior Director of Recruiting
If your organization is looking for an experienced, trusted partner to help your recruitment operations, contact the professionals at Jackson Physician Search today.
