Physician Recruiters: How to use them to your advantage?
In my last post, we discussed the various conflicts of interest involving the physician recruiters, the physician employee and the physician candidate. But you should not completely cut them out of your job search strategy. Physician recruiters many times do have access to some great opportunities. If you are able to partner with a good recruiter, job search can be slightly easier.
There are certain rules I used, when I had to deal with physician recruiters. It helped me avoid unnecessary interview trips, sidestep unwanted physician jobs and prevent pesky calls from them at work.
1) What do you want?
As discussed in our post before, develop the criteria of an ideal job. List the must haves and never ever deviate from them.
2) ‘Call me’ preferences.
Let the physician recruiter know in the beginning when and how you would like to be contacted.
3) Push the pushy recruiter.
If the recruiter is too pushy and comes strong onto you, then dump him. If a physician recruiter is trying to dictate which job you should take or which interview you should go to, then he probably has a conflict of interest involved.
4) Don’t please him, they should please you.
Physician recruiters are like real estate agents. The are supposed to find the candidates for the physician jobs and a suitable job for you. Giving them too much say in deciding what you should do will not help. They cannot hire you. They can forward your application in the right or wrong direction.
5) They are not the only one.
Do not forget other ways of physician job hunting. Do not depend on recruiters solely.
6) Ask for a change.
A physician recruitment company may have several agents. If you do believe that the company has a better job opening but your agent is not presenting them to you, then ask for a change. Ask to speak to their supervisor and request a change of agent. Otherwise no matter which way you try to approach them, you will end with the same guy as “he is handling your case”
Dont forget to read the physician recruiters vocabulary guide:)
5 Responses to “Physician Recruiters: How to use them to your advantage?”
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These are good tips for working with a physician recruiter. As a recruiter myself, I’d also like to add the following: 1) Make sure you are working with a Board Certified Physician Recruiter. This will give you a level of assure that (a) they have been doing this for awhile and (b) plan to continue therefore their reputation means much more to them. 2) Make sure your recruiter has a complete and accurate picture of your qualifications, experience, and career goals, and 2) Give the recruiter timely feedback about interviews and progress. We cannot accurately represent you if we do not know what you’re thinking after an interview. Your recruiter should make your job search easier, but they can only do so when they have sufficient, accurate and timely information.
Bob has brought up an excellent viewpoint from the physician recruiters perspective. For them to be able to locate the right physician job opportunity, the physician candidates have to give them a clear picture of their criteria of an ideal job. To be able to do that you need to have some defined criteria to judge physician opportunity with. It could be location, population, salary, schools quality, cost of living, academic center nearby or something that is important to you. And I agree with Bob, we need to present it to the recruiters in a straightforward manner.
How to use recruiters to your advantage?
By not taking their calls, by not answering their emails. The best use for recrutiers is IGNORING THEM.
Recruiters make money by placing you in the less desirable jobs and taking a chunk of your salary for doing it.
Please see my blog "A Physician on Job Search" for a very extensive discussion on why recruiters are bad for you and how to do it right.
The best ways to find a job is by
1. Networking
2. Mailing your CV and cover letter to every physician in your specialty in the area where you want to work.
In the age of computers and internet, recruiters do not have a place in medicine anymore – no mattter what they might say.
Dr Muenzer,
All I can say is wow! You really must have been burned bad by a recruiter to have such a low regard for us. Of course, I am sorry that you had such a bad experience, but I assure you that the 17 physicians I placed last year are very happy with my services. I have had only one physician leave within my guarantee period in the last three years since I started my practice and that was more related to the spouse being unhappy than the physician.
Bob Eskridge
http://www.eskridge-associates.com