7 Ways Candidate Surveys Can Improve Your Physician Recruitment Process

Plenty of healthcare organizations use patient satisfaction surveys to help them improve patient care and delivery, but few organizations use it as part of their physician recruitment process. While some may not see the point in conducting these survey (especially to physicians who’ve decided not to join the organization), these surveys can actually provide recruiters and the organization as a whole with valuable insight into how to improve their physician recruitment process.

Below are five ways candidate surveys can help you more effectively recruit physician candidates.

1. Spot the holes in your recruitment process

If multiple candidates point out a long and silent gap of time between any two stages in the recruitment process, it’s a clue that something is not quite right. Whether it’s waiting months to hear back from the hiring organization, large gaps between positive phone interviews and site visits, or not getting an offer soon after the site visits, these gaps in the recruitment process can leave candidates underwhelmed and dampen their interest in a position with your organization.

2. Get feedback on decision-makers & interviewers

Sometimes one of the decision-makers or existing physicians is uncommunicative or difficult. If after these individuals get involved, candidates begin losing interest, it is important to have a discussion regarding the detrimental effects these physician recruitment roadblocks have on your organization’s ability to hire someone new.

3. Learn why your offers are losing out

Many physicians are hesitant to provide this information on the phone, but an anonymous survey is a different matter. Is there a particular part of your offer that is off putting (such as a very restrictive non-compete)? Or maybe it’s something that your offer is missing – such as loan forgiveness or a CME allowance – that is giving other organizations an edge? Whatever the case may be, candidate surveys can help you find out why you’re losing out to these candidates in the offer stage so you can look into fixing the problem.

4. Make sure your site visits are spectacular

A poorly executed site visit can be disastrous to the successful recruitment of a candidate. If the visit and schedule are disorganized, the candidate is likely to notice. They’ll also notice if little effort was put into wooing them. With the competition for qualified physicians out there being fierce, you know the competition is likely rolling out the red carpet. Make sure that you add personal touches, avoid the biggest mistakes, and find out from the candidates what worked and didn’t work.

5. Learn which competitors are doing it better

Did you lose a candidate to the competition? If the candidate declined your offer or withdrew their interest in the middle of the physician recruitment process, the the answer is probably yes. But the more important question here is “why?” Knowing what your competitors are using to entice candidates away from you can give you a competitive advantage in the recruitment field. Make sure to survey candidates on whether they accepted another offer, with which practice, and why.

6. Find out what you did right

While finding out what mistakes your making in the recruitment process is important, it’s also important to find out what you did right. Whether it was a particularly engaging interviewer, a smooth and speedy process, or a visit that really wowed a candidate, knowing what went well can help you do more of it – and combining it with the information gleaned from your competitors can make you unstoppable.

7. Provide support when speaking with supervisors

There are times you know exactly why a certain position has been filled. Being an experienced physician recruiter with your ear to the ground, you can probably tell if an opportunity isn’t particularly attractive. Whether it’s the compensation, location, or practice specifics, telling supervisors that the unappealing aspect to the job is a challenge will often fall on deaf ears. However, if candidates provide this as the reason for not joining your organization, your supervisors will likely be more amenable to making the change.

Key Take Aways:

• Feedback from candidates after they exist the recruitment process can provide valuable insights to recruiters
• Positive and negative feedback can help inform recruiters as to what should stay the same, and what needs to change