5 Tips for Jumpstarting Fall Physician Recruitment Efforts

The fall is a busy time for physician recruiters. With many healthcare organizations finalizing their budgets for the following year and even more physicians seeking out new opportunities, fall physician recruitment efforts can make or break a healthcare organization’s ability to meet their recruitment goals.

But with so many organizations competing for the limited pool of candidates, it’s crucial for physician recruiters to revise their physician recruitment strategy and determine the best way to fill their open needs. Below are five quick tips for physician recruiters seeking to boost their fall physician recruitment efforts and increase their chances of meeting their recruitment goals.

1. Reach Out to Residency and Fellowship Directors

While many graduating physician candidates start their job searches in the summer before they complete their training, plenty of others begin their search in the fall. But reaching these residents and fellows has become increasingly difficult as more healthcare organizations are actively recruiting new grads. In order to get your position in front of these graduating physicians, it’s crucial to develop relationships with program directors and coordinators. These program heads have a keen interest in helping their graduating physicians find a great opportunity and are happy to share information on opportunities with healthcare organizations that they have good relationships with.

2. Get On The Ground At Career Fairs

While the majority of attendees at healthcare industry career fairs are graduating physicians, other practicing physicians attend as well. Career fairs offer a great opportunity for physician recruiters to connect with job seekers who may not be actively searching multiple job boards online, but are still in the market for a new opportunity. By maintaining a presence at the many physician specific career fairs that occur in the fall, recruiters can reach candidates they may not have otherwise found. Additionally, many of these fairs provide exhibitors with attendee lists containing contact information for all the physicians that attend. This will allow physician recruiters to market their opportunities to them directly throughout the year.

3. Remind Employees of Your Referral Program

Employees are one of the best resources physician recruiters have. Healthcare providers often have large networks of physicians and advanced practice providers that they can refer to your organization should they be looking for a new opportunity. As existing employees, they can act as ambassadors for your organization, extolling the virtues of joining their team.

Additionally, many of your existing employees attend a variety of conferences and events in the fall where they will be able to network with other physicians and spread the word about any positions you may be recruiting for.

4. Ramp Up Your Email & Direct Mail Efforts

Part of every good recruiter’s physician recruitment strategy is a robust email and direct mail strategy. The fall is a great time to ramp up these efforts – with so many physicians beginning their job search in the fall, it’s the perfect time to spread the word about any positions you may have available. But recruiters will face stiff competition as most other organizations are recruiting during this time as well, making it crucial that they follow best practices to ensure their email campaigns and direct mail efforts are seen by candidates.

5. Boost Your Job Board Postings

Just as the fall is an important time for a robust email and direct mail strategy, it’s also the time to make sure your job board postings are getting the traction you need. Begin reviewing your job board postings and job descriptions, updating them to follow best practices and refreshing the job copy. Additionally, because so many healthcare organizations are utilizing job boards this time of year to source candidates, it’s one of the best times to boost your job board postings. This will ensure that candidates will see your opportunity and keep your positions form getting buried among all of the others.

Key Take Aways:

• The fall is the ideal time to target graduating physicians. Working with program directors, promoting your employee referral program, and participating in career fairs can all help you reach in-demand graduating physician candidates.
• With so many physicians seeking new positions in the fall, it’s the perfect time to ramp up your marketing efforts. Email, direct mail, and job board postings are crucial during this time to helping recruiters source the candidates they need.