RSS FeedPhysician Recruiting “More Difficult”, Sourcing Qualified Candidates Most Challenging
17 August 20102010 Survey of Staff Physician Recruiters
Each year The Medicus Firm surveys staff physician recruiters (recruiters who are employed by a hospital as opposed to working for a recruiting agency) regarding their experiences and perspectives on physician recruitment over the past year. The latest results from the 2010 surveywere revealed this week at the annual ASPR convention in San Antonio, TX, as the survey respondents were also members of the ASPR.
Many of the trends that were observed in last year’s survey were continued into this year. For example, successfully recruiting physicians and meeting physician recruiting goals is becoming increasingly difficult, according to the survey. 73% of respondents agreed that physician recruiting has become “more difficult” over the past year, which is a 4% increase over last year’s results.
Most of the recruiters surveyed (61%) felt that the additional challenges in recruiting physicians have been due to the increased demand in relation to the supply of candidates, as well as the economic recession (16.4%).
How Hospital/Staff Recruiters Source Physician Candidates:
When asked to identify the greatest challenge facing them as physician recruiters, 31% felt that not being able to “source enough qualified candidates” is one of the biggest hurdles. Competing with other practice opportunities was also a top choice, with 27% selecting that as their greatest challenge. A lack of responsiveness by the administration was the third greatest challenge in recruiting physicians, with 21.6% selecting that answer.
How do they source physician candidates? Internet job boards are again a favorite resource this year, with 51% selecting that as their “most effective” method for sourcing candidates. “Working with physician recruiting firms” was the second most popular choice; 20% selected recruiting firms as their most effective source of physician candidates. Identifying candidates via networking and referrals from existing physician staff was a close third with 17% response.
Utilization of Search Firms:
91% of staff physician recruiters surveyed utilize contingent recruiting firms, up from 83% last year. 42% of all respondents also use retained firms, up from about 38% last year. About half of all respondents utilize locum tenens staffing firms, which was down a few percentage points from last year.
Those who utilize contingent firms do so primarily due to the no-risk fee structure, which was overwhelmingly selected as the characteristic liked most about contingent firms (72.5%). However, 0.0% of respondents indicated that they like the “market insight” or “level of accountability” or “proven search process” of contingent firms.
Respondents who utilize retained firms most like the “thorough search process/candidate screening” (24.3%) and the “quality of candidates” (12.9%). 33% of respondents indicated that the fee structure of retained search firms is what they like least about such firms.
Which Firm to Use? Ultimate Deciding Factor…
When asked how they decide upon a search firm, 37% of respondents rely first upon “positive recommendations/referrals from other clients”. ”Proven search process / success rate” was a close second with 35.7%. Only 15% of respondents indicated that “cost per placement” is the most important factor when deciding upon a firm to hire.
Overall, physician recruiting remains challenging, as always, and many predict it will continue to get more competitive, and more difficult in the future as demand increases and the population grows and ages. Therefore, hospital recruiters and physician executives are doing the right thing by valuing results over price when considering search firms, to ultimately meet their physician staffing needs, which are vital to the financial stability and success of the hospital.
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