3 tips for reducing time to hire in physician searches

 

The time it takes to find and hire a physician can be staggering. For some specialties, searches can take up to nine months to complete.

Reducing time to hire is a mission-critical goal because the longer positions remain vacant, the more revenue an organization loses. For example, in 2013, the average orthopedic surgeon generated $2.68 million per hospital in revenue, reported Becker's Hospital Review.

Assuming it takes just six months to fill an orthopedic position, the average hospital would lose out on roughly $1.34 million in revenue from that single vacancy. Reducing time to hire by a single month would therefore recoup more than $223,000 - a significant return on investment.

Here are three ways to reduce your time to hire:

1. Focus on benefits in your job descriptions

A great way to increase the response rate of your job listings is to highlight the benefits. Your job descriptions should feature an enticing title with body text that spells out compensation, unique benefits, such as dental plans, vision, 401(k) options and the like.

HR Zone explained that benefit-heavy descriptions tend to receive more notice and therefore more responses. This gives you a larger initial pool of candidates which you can then narrow down to your top picks.

2. Never let a search go stagnant

Eliminating obstacles in the decision-making process will help reduce overall time to hire. Jumpstart HR reported that indecision is one of the biggest time wasters in the recruitment process.

If you have a selection of promising candidates, don't wait to schedule interviews. In fact, you'll gain momentum by scheduling phone interviews, in-person chats, background checks and calls to references simultaneously. Like a shark that must move to survive, a search that stalls for too long may be dead in the water.

3. Make active job seekers a priority

Searches can get bogged down when recruiters pursue too many applicants. Too often, conversations with applicants who never actually intended on taking the position become a distraction from the main goal: filling the position.

By using a one-stop-shop, you can still reach passive job seekers while focusing your efforts on candidates who are actively seeking new positions. When you utilize multiple channels, such as job boards, print journals and medical news apps, you can cast a wide net while simultaneously following up on the most promising applicants.

According to the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters, the average recruiter conducts 22 searches per year. Using these tips to reduce time to hire may help you increase the total number of searches you perform annually.

Ready to give your searches a speed boost? Learn more at myHealthTalent.com today! The time it takes to find and hire a physician can be staggering. For some specialties, searches can take up to nine months to complete.