Medical practitioners are a special lot – they are selfless, compassionate, and give so much of themselves to others every day. No wonder they’re the first people we think of at the slightest hint of a health issue. These qualities, however, make it a significant challenge for recruitment professionals to match the right person to the right job. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it but it is a bespoke search and it takes time.
Unlike any other industry, finding a reasonable or approximate fit doesn’t cut it – we need an exact fit, so everyone is happy. It’s almost the same as finding the right pair of sneakers. If it’s not right, you’ll soon know.
Finding the best healthcare staff is a challenging but immoveable goal. Even with the acute shortage of candidates, employers cannot afford to compromise on their demands. No one wants to settle for an average healthcare professional – everyone wants the best candidate for their institution. Patients deserve the best too.
True, experience helps gain knowledge and skill. But you cannot always rely on experience to find a suitable candidate – you need so much more. The client is keen for their positions to be filled as soon as possible. To survive in the industry, healthcare recruiters must get into the heart of the matter right from the start.
There’s no dearth of qualified medical practitioners. But many of them are not suited for every culture or community that employers represent. It’s no use lining up interview candidates just to make up the numbers. We never do this as we know each institution is unique.
Often, we don’t get enough input from the client. The brief is simple and doesn’t go beyond – ‘we need an emergency medicine physician,’ or ‘we need a Chief Operations Officer who can initiate new projects and take over the existing ones.’
At the outset, this seems like a straightforward request. But to find the right match, we must know what goes on behind the scenes. We must understand what the client does, what they represent, and the institution’s overall philosophy. It is about getting to know the people behind the organization. We always take the time to do this.
From what we have learned from our 14 years of experience in healthcare, we know a vast database isn’t sufficient to find the right people. You need more than a staffing database to solve the client’s problem.
Every client has an unique requirement and an unique difficulty to overcome. Having someone with the proper credentials isn’t necessarily going to help them.
At PX3, we separate the recruitment process into different stages. At the initial stage, we focus on meeting their exact criteria, even if it is stringent. For instance, are they looking for that one-percenter? Would you not settle for anyone inferior? It’s only at the later stages that we delve into their personalities.
While we do our best to help organizations manage healthcare issues, it is also important for employers to prevent employee burnout. We can find the right candidates, but employers managing the post-hiring process is of equal importance.
If you need to fill healthcare vacancies, we would be delighted to assist you as we have successfully helped other organizations. Do please give us a confidential call to start the discussion