6 Tips for Recruiting Physicians During the Age of COVID-19

6 Tips for Recruiting Physicians During the Age of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly changed how healthcare employers are attracting and recruiting new candidates. Without the ability to conduct on-site visits and in-person interviews, or attend medical conferences to source candidates, it’s more important than ever to shift your focus to online recruitment strategies. Here are a few tips for sourcing and recruiting physicians right now.

1. Conduct virtual meetings and interviews.

Virtual meetings and remote work have become the new norm. Virtual meetings may not be as personal as one-on-one, in-person interviews, but online interviews can still help you discover if a candidate is a good fit. In fact, the format of these interviews may help you assess more candidates than your schedule would normally allow. You may already be using a video tool, but a few examples include: Cisco WebEx, JoinMe, and GoToMeetings. Zoom has also emerged as one of the leading tools to keep businesses up and running and people connected (per Forbes Magazine).

2. Replace site visits with a video that highlights your culture and community.

If you don’t have a video that markets you or your facility, the time to create one is now. A video is the next-best thing to on-site visits and can give you a strong advantage during these tough times. What’s more, there’s actually science behind why videos work: Videos undeniably attract attention, and they’re processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than text. Humans are also hard-wired to avoid cognitive strain, so video is more enjoyable for viewers because it’s easier to absorb information when it’s in that format compared to any other (per Vidyard). Need some inspiration? Here’s a great video about the culture at Maple Grove Hospital in Minnesota.

3. Stay in contact with your candidates.

Connecting with the right physicians at the wrong time is NOT a lost opportunity. A candidate may not be interested in a position you have open right now, but if you have another opportunity – or when they’re ready for a new position – you want them to remember you! Relationship recruiting means capturing candidates whether they’re employed or unemployed and continually engaging them until the time and opportunity is right. Circle back and keep engaging with doctors in your pipeline, and it will pay off in the long run. Keep checking in with unresponsive candidates, too. If there’s a job where persistence pays off, it’s recruiting.

4. Consider a candidate in a different specialty.

Because hospitals now have an even greater need for specialized staff, some hospital administrators are training physicians like anesthesiologists, hospitalists, and nurses to help care for patients on ventilators (per Becker’s Hospital Review). So, you might consider exploring candidates in various specialties that you wouldn’t normally recruit for specific positions during this COVID-19 crisis.

5. Consider offering locum tenens positions.

Having difficulty finding candidates to fill long-term contracts during the age of COVID-19? It might be worth offering  locum tenens positions. Locums providers can fill immediate openings and work under short contracts. In fact, Staff Care reports that 94% of healthcare facility managers have reported using locum tenens to help fill open clinical positions.

6. Take advantage of the power of Kaye/Bassman’s Recruitment Resources 

Recognized as a leading healthcare recruiter, the Kaye/Bassman Academic Medicine Physician & Leadership Practice is a great resource to access hundreds of thousands of job-seeking candidates. As the COVID-19 pandemic expands across the U.S., we know there has been an increased demand for both short-term and long-term positions in the healthcare industry, and our goal is to help you fill those immediate needs.

Our #1 priority is to be here to support your urgent staffing needs during these times. Now, more than ever, our country is in need of matching doctors to the right opportunities, and our team of expert recruiters is working around the clock to keep our database up-to-date and job targeting algorithms optimized to ensure our clients utilize these tools to the fullest. To hear more tips about how you can use our tools and technology in your recruitment process, contact us directly at academicmedicine@kbic.com .

Source: Doximity

Image by marionbrun from Pixabay

 

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