Personalize Your Recruitment Strategy

There will always be an uneven distribution of physicians, says Lori Schutte, president of St. Louis-based Cejka Search, a physician and healthcare executive search organization. "Everyone wants San Diego and Miami. No one wants to be in Decatur, IL, or Sullivan, MO. Locale is the No. 1 issue: Physicians want to be where they want."

Physician practices may not be able to change their location, but tailoring recruitment packages to individual physician needs and offering competitive compensation can make the difference and bring docs on board.

The top three recruitment strategies most frequently cited by medical groups as important are all financially focused, as shown in the following survey findings from AMGA and Cejka Search:

• Market-based compensation: 65%
• Income guarantee: 61%
• Signing bonus: 42%

"You have to offer a competitive compensation package. But what competitive means can vary from place to place, and laws of supply and demand are forces even with human capital such as physicians," says Schutte. "We've had clients in major metro areas that don't need to offer the same compensation as someone in a rural setting."

New era of recruitment

The compensation data out today are two years old, says Schutte. Organizations need to make sure that what they are offering is competitive in their market. For example, three years ago, half of Cejka's clients offered a signing bonus. Today a signing bonus is expected, says Schutte. "What used to be, in the past, an incentive-the carrot-has now become the norm. People are looking for more and more different ways to distinguish themselves."

The industry has also come to terms with the knowledge that there really is a physician shortage, so medical group practices are being much more flexible with candidates, says David Nyman, manager of physician recruitment at Marshfield (WI) Clinic, a nearly 800-physician multispecialty group practice. "Ten years ago, if someone said, 'I want to be a part-time,' the answer would have been no," Nyman says. "Now if someone says that, we'll do anything we can to make any sort of option work for the individual."

Organizations are also offering many more incentives, such as student loan assistance or recruitment incentives. "People are coming out with $200,000 in student loan assistance," says Nyman.

Organizations need to be proactive. Nyman asks his more recently trained physicians to contact their program or colleagues about job opportunities at Marshfield.

"There are surveys of how candidates find jobs, and usually No. 1 or No. 2 is referral from colleague," he says, adding that the referring physicians also receive a small monetary incentive.

Another trend is hiring people further out. "We are targeting first-year residents," Nyman says. "We are willing to sign them now and pay them a small stipend while they are training." It's not a lot of money, but an extra $1,000 per month for residents on a tight budget makes their lives easier, he says.

"It is a way to distinguish yourself, and you may offer that [stipend] in replacement of a signing bonus or offer less of a signing bonus and a stipend," says Schutte. "It says to the candidate-you are committed to us. There is something about signing a piece of paper."

Recent family medicine graduate Amy Muminovic, DO, says that student loan assistance, sign-on bonuses, flexible scheduling, housing stipends, and comprehensive tours are all effective tools for recruitment. However, "new grads often find that some of the most lucrative offers may be compensating for a burnout lifestyle," Muminovic says.

Tailor your plan to the doc

As the saying goes: What one physician wants, one physician wants. For example, a doctor who is 10 years from retirement may want to relocate to be closer to family and may be willing to trade some compensation for more flexible hours. On the other hand, a physician who is only a few years out of school is in his or her peak work years and will probably prefer a productivity model.

It is important to know what is driving physician candidates and be able to adapt your model to that situation, says Schutte. In today's environment, "the more progressive groups realize that's what they have to do."

Tracy Geiger, MD, a family medicine doc who recently finished his residency and will start practicing in Phillips, WI, in August, looked first and foremost at the guaranteed salary along with the sign-on bonus when interviewing physician practices. "I weighted these higher because my school loan is less than half the average these days for other residents, and I would rather have the freedom to use benefits as I see fit instead of being locked into something like a housing or school repayment loan," Geiger says, adding that he was impressed when practices had flexibility in what they could offer. Flexible scheduling was less of a concern for Geiger, who is "raring to go," but he is happy to know it is an option for the future.

"Loan burdens are substantial, so repayment packages are often the most persuasive financial incentive," says Muminovic, a mother of two who is starting her medical career by relocating from Phoenix to a small town in Wisconsin. "Our profession demands time away from family and personal recreation, and reclaiming this time in the form of continuing medical education, vacation, limited call, and flexible scheduling can sweeten a small salary."

Recruiting a primary care physician today is becoming less about the money and more about humanistic rewards. "Most people do not rush into primary care to get rich, but to have a rich life," she says.

The interview experience matters

Having a red carpet interview process is essential, says Schutte, explaining that even the little things in a candidate's visit can have a huge impact. For example, making a candidate wait in the lobby for half an hour without being greeted will not create the best first impression-especially when another practice may greet that same candidate right away, provide an escort to show him or her around, and answer questions.

Geiger says when he was touring practices and meeting with potential coworkers, he was looking to fit in. He was more comfortable on tours when the individuals appeared to be speaking from personal experience and not from a brochure or preapproved speech.

Geiger also preferred the tours where the focus was more on learning about the practice, and not vice versa. "I liked this as I felt it was not me being interviewed but me interviewing them," he says.

Geiger appreciated the opportunity to speak with everyone in all levels of the practice. "This made the practice tour feel very genuine, as in 'nothing to hide here.'"

Likewise, Muminovic paid special attention to the ancillary staff during her interviews. "I won't be spending all my time with the CEO, even if he or she is a great person," she says. Muminovic also wanted to see whether there was an investment in facility and equipment maintenance.

"A complete tour is very important. It was nice to have contact information for other physicians in the practice to ask questions at a later time," she says.

Additionally, Muminovic appreciated when groups showed an interest in her family and made sure they were involved in the interview process. "Having a community liaison or Realtor to tour the town and schools was a big help in making a decision about moving to a new state," she says.

Geiger admits that location is a huge factor and advises practices that aren't in ideal locations not to shy away from this fact. "Acknowledge this up front and give multiple options and suggestions for the candidate to deal with this," he says.

Recruitment advice

Medical groups can improve their chances of successfully recruiting physicians by heeding the following advice: