Health Care Professional Jobs: A Day in the Life of a Healthcare Recruiter

By Rick Fromme

Health care recruiters are responsible for searching for and indentifying qualified candidates for specific job openings in the medical field.  Recruiters pre-qualify candidates based on their experience, credentials, education, licensing and assist with coordinating the interview process. Usually the pre-qualification process involves reviewing many CVs and résumés, then following up with phone or web conference interviews to determine the most qualified applicants.  

Recruiters may function as a corporate or “in-house” recruiter. That is, they are employed by a health care agency or hospital, and serve primarily to fill internal positions for that given entity.  These may be either long-range hiring projects, particularly if searching for top-level positions such as physicians, department managers, administrative executives, etc., or clinical positions such as nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, sonographer, etc.

In-house recruiters have varied responsibilities; among them are sourcing candidates and screening

candidates (via telephone, web conferencing, in-person and via email correspondence).  A recruiter may also serve as “tour guide” of sorts, introducing the candidate to various clinical and administrative personnel within the facility (and possibly its satellite services), and, as may be the case when fulfilling a physician other top-level position, showing the candidates some of the highlights of the city/area where she or he may be relocating.

Furthermore, once a candidate is chosen and if both parties agree there’s a mutual fit, recruiters may often engage in contract negotiations as it relates to their employer and/or affiliation within the health care network. Here the recruiter is evaluating and balancing two perspectives in that s/he is assessing whether or not a candidate would be a good professional and cultural fit for their organization, but concurrently selling their organization/facility, and even promoting the surrounding community to the candidate as well. 

"Recruiters may often engage in contract negotiations ..."

Recruiters may work for an independent recruiting firm or agency.  These recruiters typically manage a number of searches for various entities on a third-party or contract basis. The recruiters receive a commission from that particular organization or facility when an ideal candidate is hired. 

Recruiters may also work in-house for a health care or locum tenens physician staffing firm.  In this scenario, recruiters search for a variety of health care clinicians or physicians who’re interested in being employed by the staffing firm itself.  Then they’re contracted out for temporary assignments in a variety health care settings and environments.

Health Care Recruiters Can Post & Find Applicants on MedMasters.com

Typical Work Schedule

A clock with a 24-hour dial. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many health recruiting jobs require a flexible work schedule that oftentimes exceeds a typical 40-hour work week.  Because many health care empolyees have different shifts within a 24/7 work week, some candidates aren’t available for phone or web-based, real-time interviews during typical weekday “office hours.”  Also, some candidates’ visits include dinner or luncheon meetings with executives or managers, which were arranged by the recruiter, who’s sometimes expected to attend. Additionally, many in-house medical recruiting positions also require weekend work, entertaining candidates and their families during visits, particularly if it’s a top-level candidate who traveled to the interview from another location.  

Job Requirements and Skills

At the very minimum, strong candidates should have bachelor’s degree, preferably in a discipline such as business, business management, human resources, business psychology, etc.  Having a clinical background could also be highly advantageous, such as a BSN, especially in terms of understanding the clinical components of the position(s) for which you’re recruiting. 

Typically, when hiring health care recruiters, employers seek a candidate that has prior experience or knowledge in the health care industry. As mentioned above, having some type of clinical experience is certainly helpful, but recruiters may also have a solid background in medical sales, or other non-clinical or health care industry experience. If you have a strong track record in recruiting, but in a non-health care-related field, you’ll need to prove you can attain the requisite medical knowledge quickly.

Recruiters must have excellent written and especially strong verbal communication skills, due to the fact they’re frequently on the on the phone conducting interviews and pre-qualifying potential candidates. Attentive listening skills are also critical. Strong presentation and negotiating skills are also important. Recruiters usually spend several hours per day doing administrative work such as posting jobs, searching job boards, reviewing résumés and CVs, conducting background checks, contacting references, emailing candidates, creating travel and meeting itineraries, keeping up candidates’ licensure, credentials, certifications and more. Recruiting also requires the ability to multitask, as they’re often working on several job openings simultaneously.

Since, according to numerous key studies, many health care jobs will be in demand for the next several decades, consequently so is the need for qualified, talented recruiters. Recruiters that focus primarily on higher-level professionals such physicians, medical executives, department managers typically have a long, more in-depth search/recruitment process, but concomitantly earn a higher fee once the candidate is hired (unless you’re salaried employee of a health care facility). Recruiters that primarily focus on health care clinicians and providers (i.e., nurses, allied health personnel such as sonographers, PTs, OTs, etc.) typically can place these candidates faster, although the commission is less.  

In particular, physician recruitment emerged as a niche service about 25 years ago and since then,

has become an integral part of health care industry.  The need for recruiting services in the 1990s was accelerated by managed care and its emphasis on primary gatekeepers.  Whereas once recruiters focused primarily on searching for physicians for second-tier and rural areas that had limited access to residents, today recruitment has become a priority for urban facilities competing for managed care contracts, large medical groups, and corporate systems that often have their own recruitment arms.

There are a handful of large, national recruitment firms. Additionally, there are hundreds of local and regional recruitment companies and thousands of in-house physician recruiters working for hospitals, health networks, practice management companies and HMOs.  It’s estimated there are nearly 5,000 physician recruiters throughout the US, more than one for every four final-year medical students.

In this article, I discussed the various types of health care recruitment positions, and provided an overview of their oftentimes highly varied responsibilities (both interpersonal and administrative), preferred educational background and professional skills, job outlook, etc. I also briefly discussed the changes that have recently occurred concerning physician recruitment.  If you found this article useful, or have an opinion you’d like to share, please leave a comment below. Also, please feel free to share and repost it.  

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective help provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You can also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Youtube. 

Related articles

• The Health Care Jobs to Watch in 2014
• How do hospitals feel about locum tenens?
• Hiring a Staffing Agency or a Recruiter - Why do it?
• Retained Vs. Contingency Recruiting
• A Guide To Fast Products In Healthcare Staffing
• Immediate Systems Of Healthcare Recruitment Agency Around The Usa
• Unprecedented Demand For Family Docs, Nurse Practitioners As Obamacare Emerges
• Health care recruiting and sta...

Topmost Tips for Terrific Telephony

Phone interviews are as important as in-person appointments; here’s how to be prepared.

By Rick Fromme

An early 20th century candlestick phone being used for a phone call.                   (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just as in-person interviewing is a craft and skill that would-be applicants can hone, so too is the ability to conduct a compelling telephone interview. Unlike being in-person interview, a telephone interview – without video conferencing – doesn’t allow you to read an interviewer’s facial expression or body language, which it can help both candidates and interviewers better understand each other.  But a well-prepared candidate can make a positively indelible impression over the phone as well as face-to-face. Says American entrepreneur, author, and humanitarian activist, Dan Pallota, “… Open yourself up to the possibility a phone call offers. Discover this remarkable device called the telephone. It will give you a serious competitive edge.”  

It’s important to regard the telephone interview as crucially as an in-person meeting. Often, a medical sales company or major medical facility has numerous candidates across the nation or a region vying for the same position. Conducting phone interviews with the top tier of candidates allows decision makers to cull the field down to its final few, and then invite its top choices for an in-person interview, thus saving time and money on travel expenses. If a candidate passes muster during the phone interview, it also facilitates setting up meetings with multiple decision makers that may need to meet individually with a promising candidate – hopefully you -- while she or he is on site. 

What’s On First?

At the outset, ask the interviewer how much time the interview should take. This will help you pace the conversation, and ensure you’ve covered your talking points during the conversation.

Also at the beginning of the conversation, show you’ve done your homework, but also seek out more information about the position. You might say something like, “I’ve read the position description, but I’d like to hear in your words what you’re [or, what the company is] looking for in an ideal candidate.”  Though  most phone interviewers have a set roster questions they intend to ask, they won’t be looking askance at this question, if it’s worded correctly and expressed with sincerity. 

Google Calendar 2006-11-26 (Photo credit: Arthaey)

If the call arrives unexpectedly, politely request a time in the near future to reschedule. You never want to be caught unprepared for this all-important conversation. You won’t sound   disinterested, but concerned about being prepared and ready for the interview. While this brief conversation isn’t an interview per se, the caller is still evaluating your sense of professionalism and your communication skills. 

Ensure you have created a quiet environment for your interview. This means dealing with any possible distractions in advance such as family members, pets, neighbors or even other phone calls coming into your call waiting queue. Not only will it be distractive, making you more nervous and less able to focus, but it also sends and unintentional message to the interviewer you’re not serious about the interview process and the job itself. Unless you know it’s an absolute emergency, don’t answer your call waiting queue.

Suit Yourself

Unless you’re skilled at communicating professionally over the phone, some career search specialists advise you to dress for success, even if you’re interviewing in the privacy of your own home. Donning your best interviewing attire helps put you in a business mindset and increase your confidence. Your entire demeanor — including your intonation, the verbiage you choose, and attitude you exude — will be positively affected. Of course, if using any type of video conferencing, you want to dress in conservative business attire. 

Another good practice is to shoot a test video of yourself in advance of your appointment time. This will allow you to playback the video to ensure the lighting is sufficient and that any items that might appear on-camera in the background aren’t in any way distracting or be perceived as possibly offensive.

Desirous Papyrus

My Reference Files (Photo credit: Tim Morgan)

At hand should be your résumé, your brag book with Condition/Action/Benefit vignettes. Los Angeles executive and career coach David Couper, author of  “Outsiders on the Inside: How to Create a Winning Career … Even When You Don’t Fit In!” recommends having a written list of five to ten short vignettes about yourself that illustrate your accomplishments. “If you say you managed a department with five people, you need to have a story about that,” Couper, who used to work in human resources at now-defunct consulting giant, Arthur Andersen says.  Additionally, you should also have a list of professional and civic awards, the cover letter you may have previously sent, a list of professional testimonials that others have written about you if you’ve received them; the job description, questions you’ve prepared to ask, and any other pertinent information (the research you’ve done about the company, etc.). Let’s face it: interviewing can be somewhat disquieting if not extremely distressing.  Having the above mentioned documents at the ready helps you recall — and importantly to recount — critical information and helps you stay focused.

Some pundits recommend standing up and walking around in the workplace you’ve created for conducting the interview. Doing so, they say, gives off a confident and energetic vibe. The one caveat is if you’re using a cell phone, moving around, even a couple of feet away from your desk, may cause a very embarrassing loss of signal or drop out. It's been known to happen. Just don't let it occur during your interview. 

English: Charger connectors of different mobile phones (from the left: Samsung E900, Motorola V3, Nokia 6101, Sony Ericsson K750)Motorola V3, Nokia 6101及 Sony Ericsson K750 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One way to prevent this is if you still have a land line, use that for your interview. Many also recommend telling the interviewer at the outset you’re on a cell phone in case the signal drops out or if the connection is altogether lost, it’s not totally unexpected. No matter what type of phone you’re using, ensure it’s fully charged or the battery has plenty of juice.

#E.T., Phone Home (Extra Tips for Your Phone @ Home)

Make certain you have the correct date and time for your appointment. Especially if the company or recruiter is located in another time zone, adjust your calendar accordingly so you’ll be punctual. This may mean having to get up early or work late to accommodate for East and West coast time differences, but do what you have to be on point at the allotted time.

English: "E.T Phonehome" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ensure your phone’s outgoing greeting is professional sounding. Sure, having funny messages is great for your personal network — and there are some hilarious ones out there — but if you’re at all in the job hunt mode, re-record a more professional sounding one until you land a new position.

If another person is answering your phone, remind them to take a detailed message that includes the caller’s name, company, date, and why they’re calling. If you have little children at home, especially during business hours, it’s probably best not to have them answer incoming calls. 

  

Smile. It will improve your attitude and your enthusiasm will enhance the tone of your voice. Remember, the interviewer can’t see you, so like a great narrator of an audiobook or radio announcer, you’ll have to solely use your voice to portray your confidence and acumen. Some professional phone sales representatives have been known to hang mirrors at their workstations to periodically check to see they’re maintaining a facial expression that’s positive and upbeat when they’re on the phone.

Use the same etiquette as an in-person interview. Be certain to thank the interviewer for his or her time and express that you’re looking forward to that next round, in-person meeting.  You may also want to inquire what will be the next step in the interview/evaluation process.

“A well-prepared candidate can make a positively indelible 
impression over the phone as well as face-to-face.”

Listen attentively. Remember interviews are conversations, not interrogations. Take note of the questions the interviewer asks. These will become helpful when writing a compelling thank-you note after concluding the interview.  

Have a glass of water handy, but not too near important documents where normal interview jitters may cause

you to inadvertently spill it. Closed containers are best.

If you’re interviewing with several different people simultaneously, try to find out their names, titles and brief job functions in advance.

Don’t talk too much. “We have two ears and one mouth. Many people act as if it was the opposite,” Dr. Stephen Covey sagaciously quips. Watch the clock and don’t talk for more than one minute or 90 seconds at one stretch. Then pause at ask if more details would be useful.

Practical Practice

Consider practicing phone interviews in advance with friends or family members. If you have the ability to record the conversation, do so. There’s nothing more telling than listening to a playback of your mock interview.

Big Mouth (Photo credit: UpChuck_Norris)

Ensure you’re enunciating well and using good diction. For many Americans, it’s the consonants, now called plosives, which prove problematic, such as /d/, /t/, /b/, and /p/.  How to improve? One way is to try to emulate professional narrators and broadcasters. Be careful, however; you want to sound natural and not overly stiff. Another way is to recite tongue twisters such as, “Billy blows big blue bubbles that billow brightly in breeze.” Or, “Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.” For sibilants (/s/ and /f/) try: “Susan Simpson strolled sedately in solitary since, stifling sobs, suppressing sighs,” and “Fresh fried fish, fish fresh fried, fried fish fresh, fish fried fresh.” Here’s a great website of tongue twisters: www.esl4kids.net/tongue.html. Before the interview, to warm up your voice, mouth and throat muscles, and tongue before the all-important phone call, say a few of these aloud. Even better, memorize or invent your own to recite regularly. After all, preeminent pundits posit proper practice promotes professional proficiency.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

Related Articles

• Telephone interviews: do's and don'ts
• Saving the Lost Art of Conversation
• Connect Recruitment and Training London: Telephone Interviews
• Phone Interview Tips
• Surviving your first phone interview
• Be ready for phone interviews - ABQ Journal