Survey shows high satisfaction with work-life balance, while average salary reaches four-year low

The Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR) has released its 2024 Recruitment Team Professional Compensation Benchmarking Report, highlighting detailed profile and compensation information on internal physician and provider recruitment professionals.

Among key findings in the report, nearly three quarters of recruitment professionals are somewhat or completely satisfied with their current position and role, and 70 percent reported “Good” or “Excellent” work/life balance. However, respondents’ satisfaction with their compensation decreased from 67 percent in 2019 to 55 percent in 2023.

“The benchmarking data shows that while flexibility and work/life balance are improving in the recruitment profession, workplace stress is still high across the board and compensation remains unsatisfactory for many in our field,” said Carey Goryl, CEO of AAPPR. “The average salary in this year’s report is the lowest since 2019 and down 4 percent since last year. Amid the national physician shortage, we need to ensure that organizations recognize recruitment professionals’ important and challenging work, and their contributions to organizations’ ability to deliver quality care in their communities.”

The report includes two chapters highlighting survey results related to physician recruitment profiles and compensation levels. The first chapter, “Internal Physician and Provider Recruiter Profile Statistics,” provides data on demographic information, including recruitment professionals’ roles, education levels and responsibilities. A total of 545 physician recruitment professionals from 104 organizations participated in this survey.

The second chapter, “Internal Physician and Provider Recruiter Compensation,” examines compensation levels of recruitment professionals by their role, experience, education level, etc. This survey had participation from 95 organizations and collected data from 476 recruiters.

Some notable findings include:

• More than 80 percent of recruiters can work from home, with the likelihood of working from home increasing with the size of the organization.
• Recruitment professionals were asked to describe the most challenging aspects of their work. Common themes were challenges with leadership, time management and communication difficulties.
• Though the degree of stress is high across the board, the percentage of recruitment professionals citing a high degree of stress decreased from 75 percent in 2019 to 66 percent in 2023.
• Recruitment professionals reporting a high level of personal fulfillment declined from 81 percent in 2019 to 70 percent in 2023.
• The typical recruiter’s salary decreased 4 percent in 2023.The average compensation in 2023 was $88,627 and is the lowest average since 2019.
• More than half of recruitment professionals were eligible for a bonus in 2023. Bonuses were most common for higher roles, such as directors and managers.

The industry-level data in AAPPR’s benchmarking surveys helps recruitment professionals and departments establish target productivity levels, set goals and expectations and grow their teams.

Organizations that participated in the annual survey received a complimentary copy of the report and free access to AAPPR’s Benchmarking Portal, enabling them to run custom benchmark comparisons against similar organizations and departments. The Benchmarking Portal includes time to fill and compensation calculators and enables users to compare a range of data, including organizational profiles, search information, recruiter profile data, and recruiter compensation figures, helping them make more informed decisions.

The complete AAPPR 2024 Recruitment Team Professional Compensation Benchmarking Report is available for purchase at https://aappr.org/research/benchmarking/.

About The Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR)
The Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR) is a nationally recognized leader in health care provider recruitment, onboarding, and retention. For more than 30 years, AAPPR has empowered physician and advanced practice provider recruitment leaders to transform care delivery in their communities by providing best-in-class practices, up-to-date industry knowledge, and evolving innovative approaches for hiring, onboarding, and retaining exceptional clinical talent. To learn more or to become an organizational member of AAPPR, please visit https://aappr.org/join-now.