7 Personal Touches on Candidate Site Visits That Can Close the Deal

When done the right way, candidate site visits can help close the deal and convince a candidate to join your organization over the competition. Some recruiters and organizations focus on putting up the candidate in upscale hotels and taking them to expensive dinners in order to help seal the deal. But what many of them know is that while wining and dining a candidate is great, it’s really the small touches that can push a candidate over the edge and onto your team.

Below is a list of seven simple personal touches that can help take your candidate site visits to another level and improve the placement rate of your physician recruitment efforts.

1. The Welcome Basket

Don’t count out the power of the welcome basket. A carefully chosen basket, preferably one filled with local products, can make candidates feel at home when arriving in your community. Having the basket waiting for them when they arrive at their hotel room lets them know that the site visit will be all about them. Additionally, if they are bringing their families and have children, including some toys and puzzles can please everyone involved.

2. Laying Out the Red Carpet

Some practices literally lay out the red carpet for candidate site visits. While that might not be necessary, it is a nice touch that can make candidates feel like VIPs. Using a welcome banner at the practice’s entrance can make the candidate feel welcome before they even set foot in the practice and sets a positive tone for the visit.

3. Meet the Families

When a physician will be relocating from another area, you want to make sure that they feel at home by providing a sense of community. Organizing a “spouse’s dinner” for the candidate, practice physician, and all of their spouses can be a great way for them to get to know each other in an informal setting and create a sense of friendship.

If the candidate is bringing along their children, you can also organize a bar-b-q or picnic with the other physician’s families, giving the adults a chance to socialize and the children to make friends. This will help the whole family feel more comfortable with the idea of relocating to a new community.

4. Play Dates and School Visits

When your physician candidate has children, their comfort and needs often take priority. Make sure to schedule tours of local schools for the family so that they can see where their children would be going. You can also schedule play dates with the children of other physicians while the candidate is interviewing, giving the children a chance to make new friends and providing the candidate with the knowledge that their children are being well taken care of.

5.Customized Activities

Do you know what your physician candidate’s interests are? Do they enjoy golfing, music festivals, or going to professional sporting events? If you know what the candidate’s interests are, scheduling an outing or two that falls in line with them can help a candidate picture themselves enjoying a life and career in your town. Make sure to ask them about these interests during the candidate screening process in order to help you organize these activities down the road.

6. Create a Connection

Some recruiters focus all of their attention on the spouse that wants to move (whether the candidate themselves or their partner), rather than the one that doesn’t. But often it is the spouse that doesn’t want to move that will be your biggest roadblock to successfully placing a candidate. One was to help a hesitant partner feel comfortable is by fostering a connection with an employee or member of the community that is from the same area they are from. By creating this connection you can help them see how they would adjust to life in your community, as well as helping them forge a relationship with someone already there.

7. Make it Seamless

One of the best things a recruiter can do to convince a candidate to join their team is to make their visit as convenient and comfortable as possible. Having a carefully planned itinerary, arranging for babysitting or transportation, and even programming locations of interest in the rental car’s GPS can all help a candidate enjoy the site visit as much as possible and leave them with a positive feeling once they leave.

Key Take Aways:

• Don’t just think about the candidate – think about their family as well! Make the site visit enjoyable for the whole family to help get everyone on board with the move.
• Get to know your candidate before the site visit and figure out what they enjoy outside the office. This can help you plan little events and details that can make them feel at home and help them picture themselves living in your community.
• Create a sense of community by planning company events, cookouts, and social gatherings that can help the candidate get to know your organization and the people they will be working with better.