After a decade of study and dealing with hundreds of hospital executives, my company’s direct experience is hospitals are not internalizing the behavior and expectations of web savvy jobseekers and making adaptations for their recruiting, and statistics across the board are showing higher expenses, extremely poor statistics, and record use of third party recruiters to fill advanced-practitioner jobs. I offer my analysis and a proven solution for stability, accountability, and improvement.
Today’s Jobseekers have little in common with hospital/company leadership:
AT WORK, today’s target hospital jobseeker does not sit at their desk and stare at a desktop PC or attend meetings during their work day like the EVPs, hospital CEOs and Senior HR Executives who make decisions on the processes and tools used to recruit them. Physicians are now trained on ipads and carry them from patient to patient. Employer campuses and locations are Wi-Fi.
AT HOME, the only thing the same about the home environment of a physician, advanced medical practitioner, or a 24 year-old recent graduate from a NP program vs. a decade ago is that they drink coffee in the morning. Today’s higher-end medical practitioner has an iPad and a smart phone. They take their tablets from room to room to watch TV, Skype with friends, read the newspaper, and pay their bills and bank online. They check the news and all communications on their wireless devices – NOT their desktop, if they even have one. They text instead of email. When they email it’s on Facebook. They shop for food to cars to real estate online. And when they leave the house there is a seamless transition to their smart phone or tablet.
- The best professionals that hospitals want to hire are “wireless” – “unattached” and empowered by social media platforms to explore and communicate in the world. The Internet is now about people engaging it – not merely reading it one dimensionally like a newspaper like in the 1990s, or watching streaming, cliche-filled recruiting videos on it passively – like a TV, in the 2000s, but now being involved in it and expressing oneself and being a part of the content. The Internet is now as real as life.
Consciously committing to internalizing this lifestyle and how practitioners use technology tools and the Internet is integral to maximizing recruiting because with this appreciation comes the understanding that traditional recruiting is no longer effective and my company has seen proof that hospitals have dropped the ball.
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Bad hospital stats and observations; there’s plenty.
- In a decade I have never met a hospital that has a 50% closing record of visiting physician candidates before we agree to do business.
- I have never met a hospital recruiter, or a corporate recruiting director for that matter, with an accomplished professional sales career – or even training, from a F500 to a F100 company in more than a decade in this business.
- A major community hospital company in America we have dealt with has less than a 50% retention rate with physicians after 36 months.
- In a decade I have never seen a single hospital show me a sophisticated retention program.
- Another major community hospital company based in Florida has an entire team and network of “physician recruiters” set up, but when you speak to the affiliate CEOs literally “more than 9 of 10 candidates” they get are from third party recruiters and not their own company’s.
- One regional physician recruiter for a major hospital company merely screens resumes he gets from third party recruiters – he does absolutely no cold calling or selling of any kind to possible candidates – this is the norm.
- All one has to do is look at the connections of any particularly community hospital CEO on LinkedIn – that they have numerous third party recruiters on their lists is all you need to know about the confidence they have in their hospital or from their company to recruit doctors.
- I have witnessed recruiting directors tell me their hospitals have had to pile on incentives and guarantees to close deals, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars – selling the doctor purely on the financials – not on the hospital or its area; I am convinced this is NOT due to the shortage of candidates but slow reactions to the job seeker culture, poor selling skills, poor tools, and a malaise about the recruiting staff not wanting to engage the process and proactively impact their results.
- I have met a person in charge of physician recruiting at a regional hospital in western Arizona who is “technology averse” and doesn’t own a smart phone. She doesn’t text either. She has never had a sales job yet she directs physician recruiting. Her HR Director claims to be “anti-Internet” and these two women are in charge of recruiting at this community hospital – the only one in their town.
- I have met CMOs in hospitals on the recruiting staffs who claim “I don’t believe in selling.”
- Many community hospitals start with grandiose ideas about their ideal candidates but end up not only lowering their standards and raising the income offer, but hiring a lesser candidate, such as a J-1; sometimes these physicians are good but the problem is they often leave after getting their green card.
The Advisory Board Co, Inc. of Washington warned hospitals in its May, 2008 report (that’s approaching 4 years) of the need to become web savvy and amend their efforts around using the Internet to attract jobseekers. ABC’s research showed hospitals lose $100,000 every month primary care physician jobs are unfilled (Merritt-Hawkins came out with a similar number two years prior) – in specialties that is far greater; however, because this is “opportunity loss” and not a direct line item red number, hospitals still don’t take an alarmist view that some physician openings take a year to fill and with deals that disfavor the hospital in many ways, including the hiring of less-than-stellar candidates with a 50% chance of never setting roots in these service areas where they could join partnerships, invest in their areas and do many things to make their communities stronger. The numbers lost are uncountable specifically because hospitals aren’t crafting world-class recruiting protocols with tools that optimize their brand, the delivery of their message to jobseekers while maximizing their competitiveness.
We’re in 2012 and a major community hospital company is now seeing the need to do something about their awful retention problems, clearly in REACTION to terrible numbers. Decision makers and SVPs are obviously generally aware “the Internet is changing” but when is the alarm going to go off before they see their approach, staff, and tools need upgrades?
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CEOs agree with my assessment.
Frankly, everything I have written here a hospital executive who makes decisions on recruiting would likely agree with, and the facts bear out that their hospitals have simply not made adjustments to adapt their recruiting process and tools to the new jobseeker and how the Internet has changed everything.
- I have watched for a decade how decision makers at hospitals and their corporations have dismissed their target market with an unwillingness to adapt to the new online consumer lifestyle and its direct impact on the career search culture – because physician jobs eventually get filled; many for-profits take pride in the expense of it, including having numerous corporate staff recruiters that evidence indicates do almost no recruiting but merely “process” the candidates who are provided by third parties.
The bottom line is this inaction/unawareness/delay/sweeping it under the rug has cost hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted expenses and lost opportunities – and lives, as there is no doubt that poor recruiting has led to unfilled jobs as well as the hiring of lesser practitioners (my father died as a result of a mistake made during an outpatient surgical procedure and I take this issue seriously).
While major hospital companies proudly publish physician recruiting expenses to shareholders as though they are bragging, behind the scenes they worry to hospital CEOs and have more meetings about their 50% or worse retention rate with doctors after 36 months. At the local level, recruiting still seems to be a “put the fire out” protocol administered by people professionally untrained who would rather be doing something else and outwardly express an aversion to “selling” in what is a terribly expensive and competitive market.
While this has created an opportunity for my company to offer our patented Online Job Tour® as a solution to reaching the new jobseeker as well as a more efficient and economical approach to recruiting, we still see untrained staff placed in charge of very important searches with frustrated administrators who are busy and faced with anxiously closing deals almost solely on “what’s it gonna take?” financials – which may end a search but doesn’t assure a long-term placement or stability, but only “kicks the can down the road.”
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Why aren’t hospitals improving?
The refusal by hospitals to address the limitations of traditional recruiting continues to be profound and ultimately hurts the bottom line and disrupts patient care – and is responsible for the boom of third party recruiters who now dominate the Internet search engines when candidates get online and look for career options. Hospitals know all these stats. They might quibble with me over some of them but they are legitimate.
The bottom line relates to not having key people with proven selling experience making key strategy decisions regarding recruiting strategy and tools – when online content is key, marketing people, who are often in charge of it but are hired to promote the hospitals services and for PR – don’t have recruiting experience and they aren’t technically sales, and web makers don’t have recruiting or selling experience. The recruiters don’t have technology or professional sales experience or training – neither do local CEOs.
Hospitals don’t have the time to deal with candidates they need to, they don’t have the money to educate and host them for extended periods to solidify candidacies or rule them out, and they cannot hire $100,000+ sales professionals who have the wherewithal and know how to close deals and set up sophisticated, track-able local recruiting protocols that measure results and build on successes.
In larger-sized companies they cannot act quickly enough and by the time a new idea is fleshed out after numerous meetings, the product decided upon is often already obsolete.
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What is the answer for hospitals to offset these shortcomings and improve their recruiting?
The answer is already revealed in how hospital administrators are seeking third party recruiters – they need help in the form of leveraging better resources than their own. However, there is baggage that comes with contingency searches and there is a “need to know” discomfort by both sides. At the end of the day hospital administrators also know the relationship between a physician and that recruiter doesn’t magically end after the placement. The bottom line is third party recruiters are a crutch used due to corporate, support and onsite shortcomings.
The best immediate help for a hospital would be an advanced tool that reaches today’s jobseekers and has a selling component for the hospital – a tool to offset the time, expense, and professional staff limitations of hospital recruiting. The tool should be made available by a specialty company that can move quickly and offer additional services that keep their hospital clients ahead in the game and efficient. Moreover, the “fresh perspective” from outside-the-box partner with entrepreneur/executives with experience and insight vs. inexperienced employees who “react” to market and technology changes, is a prudent to have in such a competitive industry as hospital recruiting.
- And in order to be a valuable addition to support hospital recruiting, the recruiting tool needs to be a) fully viewable on computer devices while b) the needed information is seamlessly and efficiently delivered while it c) maximizes the hospital’s competitiveness vs. other employers.
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The easiest and most important thing that can not only have an immediate impact but offset the shortcomings of the others, is to have a world-class recruiting tool.
Is there a tool that makes jobs more attractive and reaches today’s modern jobseekers while maximizing efficiency and competitiveness? Online Job Tour® is a patented recruiting system proven in test market and preferred by surveyed physician jobseekers.
Based on my success in technology sales and sales consulting and born from a passion to recruit physicians after my father died in an outpatient procedure, I invented Online Job Tour to offset what I found were the financial and professional limitations of hospital recruiting, but also for the better in-house recruiters who recognize they can only speak in linear terms on the phone one prospect at a time, and they can’t be in 50 places at once or working 24/7. I also hired a staff that understands the changing nature of technology and its impact on career search.
I invented Online Job Tour® to essentially replicate the interview visit experience but in the form of a now patented system that sets up elements necessary for recruiting and informing relocating jobseekers.
In brief, Online Job Tour is ideal for today’s jobseeker who wants to immerse himself in web content – the product makes the important emotional sales connection online while it provided a thesis-like review of every key subject jobseekers must understand before making real commitments. Understanding sales, we know how to position the information to maximize the marketability of the client.
Today jobseekers can take a better “virtual interview visit” to our clients and their service area – profound when you consider this can be provided to every prospect and their entire families vs. the relative few who take the real trip for traditional recruiting.
- Online Job Tours are more than 10G in size with 2000 original images as well as interviews and features and testimonials of more than 50 people from all walks of life that will be the jobseekers future neighbor – on our latest Online Job Tour there are more than 50 videos and 2 hours of video time.
- Technologically, we designed the world’s first video player embedded into the Online Job Tour that plays with almost no delay or buffering even with a less-than-great signal.
- We have a mobile version of Online Job Tour – our prototype was released in fall of 2006 before the iPhone.
- After a seven year test market with community hospitals in 14 states while waiting to receive the patent we now have an expert staff that can provide additional technology/support solutions for clients relating to improving ad response, candidate acquisition from the Internet, better results from job fairs and we are always focused on improvement.
- We estimate being at least two years ahead of the hospital market with our approach and the technology we have harnessed, added to the patent which gives Online Job Tour or its concept federal protection from being copied which gives our clients a competitive advantage.
- Based on our surveys hospitals save over $47,000 per physician and advanced practitioner placement using Online Job Tour.
Without getting more detailed, we have set up our support system to help clients monitor results and feedback from all candidates and we have developed a recruiting host program to improve retention by promoting a smoother relocation via newly-met neighbors before the new employee even moves to the area.
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In summary, Online Job Tour was invented for and has proven to be a tool that offsets the inherent limitations of hospital recruiting for hospitals with serious problems to those who want to take their results to another level, including positively impacting candidate quality and retention as well as providing a means to measure and improve recruiting statistics.
For more information please visit my team’s website at http://www.onlinejobtour.com
or call me at our studio – 813-855-5185.
Carl Brickman 