Physician Recruiting Tips: Preparing for Candidates’ Visits

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In the physician recruitment process, as in life, first impressions matter. To make the best first impression possible with potential candidates, you should plan on-site interviews and site visits strategically. You should also prepare for site visits as part of your overall strategic recruiting plan. Successful site visits allow both parties to more accurately assess whether the physician is a good fit, and vice versa. Follow the tips below to help ensure your next site visit is a success.

Assemble the Site Visit Team

The group who will host the candidate and his or her spouse during a site visit should include peers of the candidate in terms of profession, age and interests. Whoever conducted the candidate’s phone interview should be a core member of the site visit team, since the interviewer has likely established the most rapport with the candidate and perhaps the spouse. The team should have prior knowledge about the candidate and spouse to tailor the site visit to match their interests. In addition, the team should have a good understanding of the practice and the community.

Don’t Ignore the Spouse and Family

Although you are hiring a physician for a job and not his or her family, remember that the family will play a key role in the final decision to locate to the community. After interviewing the candidate, take time to interview any spouse or significant other to learn the things of importance to them when evaluating the opportunity. This conversation can help tailor the site visit as well as frame how you present your practice.

Schedule the Visit

  • If the phone interview is successful and the candidate appears to match the qualities and qualifications required by your practice, do not delay in scheduling an on-site interview.
  • Make all arrangements for airfare or other travel, transportation, hotel accommodations and meals.
  • Coordinate a casual get-together or dinner for socializing with other physicians, staff and community members.
  • Ideally, the visit should be at least two days, with a business day as one of them. With less time the candidate is more likely to leave with an incomplete picture of the practice and community.
  • Customize the itinerary according to the candidate’s and spouse’s interests, balancing professional and personal venues as well as allowing for time to explore on their own.
  • One goal of the visit is to help the candidate and his or her spouse get a sense of what it would be like living in the community.

Factors That Candidates Consider

Remember that the candidate is also interviewing you and the community. The candidate’s decision to practice in your community will likely depend in part on how the candidate, spouse and immediate family feel about the community. How you present your practice and community, then, can be critical. Always be honest in all of your communications, and resist the urge to gloss over negative aspects. Do emphasize positive attributes, particularly those that are of importance to the candidate. Surveys reveal the following are important factors that candidates’ spouses consider:

  • Housing market
  • Employment opportunities for the spouse
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Schools for the children (curriculum, facilities, parent-school interaction, available programs)
  • Weather
  • Shopping opportunities

For assistance in connecting with the right candidates, contact Adaptive Medical Partners, professional physician recruiters. We help you find recruits who fit, and in turn, we help talent find you.

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