How Tech Impacts the Physician Job Search

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Physician recruitment today may share a few things with how it was done a generation ago, but technology has had a measurable effect on the recruitment process. The most accomplished professionals, including physicians, want to be able to evaluate job possibilities conveniently, often on a mobile device. Employers, many of whom have to compete harder than they’ve had to in the past, have to know how to reach today’s top job candidates, and they must be prepared to act swiftly when they discover a job candidate that looks like a good fit.

For the most part, digital technology improves the recruiting process, making it faster and less expensive. However, it’s important that both job candidates and recruiters know how to use digital technology to their greatest advantage.

The Physician Job Candidate’s Point of View

Residents searching for their first full-time, permanent position are likely to apply to jobs using mobile technology, and it is often their mobile devices that inform them that they’ve made the short list. Finding out from a mobile notification that you’re being considered for a job while you’re scrambling to check on hospital patients is a much different experience than finding out when picking up the mail at the end of the day.

Doctors participating in the physician recruitment process have to strike a balance between acting fast to show interest in a position and delivering the professionalism that lets employers know they would be a great addition to the staff. Responding via mobile may be fast, but that doesn’t mean job candidates should leave professionalism behind. A response email, text, or message should use a professional tone, avoid abbreviations (and eliminate emojis entirely) and read as a business letter on stationery would read.

You’re likelier to reach your next physician partner on a smartphone than you are with traditional advertising.

The Employer’s Point of View

Physician recruitment in today’s world requires that employers use both art and science to win over the best job candidates. They must evaluate the data that shows them where they will get the best response, and they must know how to market open positions so that recruitment ads can capture job seekers’ attention amid the flood of information that comes across most people’s connected devices each day.

Employers must also be prepared to check credentials and evaluate job candidates quickly because they won’t wait around for potential employers who appear to be dragging their feet. At the same time, they must understand talent trends in their market so they can tailor physician recruitment ads to reach the right people through precisely the right channel.

Professionalism Never Goes Out of Style

Even though many of the “nuts and bolts” of the physician recruitment process have changed significantly over the past decade, that’s no reason for either physician job candidate or employer to cut corners or forget about professionalism. Job candidates who reply to offers with a text written in the style they’d use with their best friend when meeting for happy hour are unlikely to make a great impression. Likewise, the employer who tries too hard to be down with the Millennial crowd will come across as silly at best, and desperate at worst. Neither is beneficial to the physician recruitment process. Erring on the side of professionalism is best.

In many ways, there has never been a better time to conduct professional recruitment. Yes, there are physician shortages in many places, but never have employers had so many fast, powerful recruiting tools at their disposal. For physician job candidates, finding a job in a particular region or with a particular type of employer is easier now too, due to the extensive research that can be done online.