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The Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR) is redefining recruitment to retention and is the only professional organization where physician and provider recruitment leaders and others who influence recruitment, onboarding and retention can connect, learn and advance their careers.
Volunteering has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Volunteering was an expectation in my family, and those who volunteered earned the highest accolades from the matriarchs and patriarchs. My grandparents, father, and uncles were all accomplished community volunteers, and it was clear to me early on that I was supposed to volunteer. The sense of accomplishment and, let’s be honest, the recognition from my family, especially my grandmother, began to be what filled my cup. As I began researching current attitudes about volunteering, I realized that my family set me on a path of “volunteer inertia.” [i] Volunteer inertia is a concept in which volunteering becomes a habit. I have a habit of volunteering, saying “yes!” Some might say too much!
Before the pandemic, I noticed that many volunteer organizations I served struggled to engage new volunteers. We seemed to have the same few people doing the lion’s share of the work, and with the same volunteers each year, an agenda set on repeat. Even with the gift of volunteer inertia, I was becoming a bit burnt out and bored. Then COVID hit, and almost all volunteer projects stopped for over a year. Based on the US Census Bureau study, volunteer participation in the United States decreased by 23.2 percent between 2019 and 2021, the most significant decrease since they started tracking in 2002. [ii] Volunteers across America lost their volunteer inertia during that nearly two-year hiatus, and some never got it back.
AAPPR and our affiliate organizations were not immune to this disengagement. During 2021 and 2022, affiliate leaders reported a lack of interest in re-engaging leadership and committee roles. Some affiliate leaders found themselves juggling the pressures of their full-time jobs and more projects and day-to-day affiliate operations due to a lack of volunteers. Burnout was becoming a common theme among affiliate leaders and committee members, many of whom were well past their term limit and no succession in sight. AAPPR staff also noticed a degree of disengagement among committee volunteers and fewer new faces. The AAPPR Board of Directors and CEO Carey Goryl recognized that our membership’s skills, diversity, experiences, and perspectives were our most valuable resource, and we had to act fast to implement a fresh approach!
The AAPPR staff and Board launched some strategies aligned with current volunteerism research and our strategic plan, including our values of Respect, Equity, Collaboration, Responsibility, Understanding, Inclusion, and Trust (RECRUIT).
AAPPR Volunteer Pool: The AAPPR Volunteer pool focuses on the organization’s strategic plan and volunteer satisfaction. Current research shows that volunteer projects must provide a clear understanding of the project, a flexible schedule, a defined time commitment, an equitable chance to contribute, and a meaningful and gratifying experience. AAPPR’s Volunteer Pool allows members to register yearly to participate in various projects and discussions that match their availability and interests. The Pool is inclusive and accessible to all members—a perfect match for our values- RECRUIT.
To join the AAPPR Volunteer Pool, visit https://member.aappr.org/page/volunteer_pool to become a member volunteer.
Regional SIG (Shared Interest Groups): The AAPPR Board of Directors and CEO Carey Goryl recognized that the education, community, camaraderie, and resources provided by shared interest groups are essential to the AAPPR community. AAPPR has always supported regional and state affiliates to various degrees, but some affiliates needed even greater support. The AAPPR Board and CEO Carey Goryl agreed that AAPPR could help by expanding our SIG (Shared Interest Group) model to include regional/state affiliates. This model allows an affiliate to transfer the nonprofit operational duties to AAPPR and affiliate volunteers and members to focus on education and network activities through AAPPR’s resources. Preserving the affiliate’s identity has been of the utmost importance and will evolve as AAPPR members join the group as part of their AAPPR membership. Six affiliates have fully transitioned to a SIG, and several more have indicated their intent to transition in 2024 or 2025.
As life becomes full, l find myself becoming more selective about my volunteer projects and the experience I have as a volunteer. I know I’m excited to volunteer in the new AAPPR Volunteer Pool and a SIG supported by AAPPR.
Happy Volunteering!
[i] https://longevity.stanford.edu/three-reasons-why-people-dont-volunteer-and-what-can-be-done-about-it/
[ii] https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/01/volunteering-and-civic-life-in-america.html
Today’s physician and provider recruitment landscape has never been more filled with talent supply constraints, economic influencers and pressures, provider burnout, and the growing demand for our industry to be more agile and poised for success.
Just like you, I remain dedicated to advancing our mission-critical work and fueling the acceleration of transformation for our industry; but, as with each decision we make on a daily basis, we’re rooted in the guidance of data (along with some healthy intuition we’ve built over our experiences throughout the years)! Luckily, we have a trusted compass in our toolkit to help keep us on the right path – the AAPPR Benchmark Report. The 2023 survey report represents more than 150 organizations that participated in the extensive annual research study, representing more than 19,000 searches.
As a leader, I am accountable for ensuring our recruitment processes enable efficiency, high performance, and outstanding service excellence. Although a difficult journey, the benchmark report provides insightful aggregate data reported by leaders in our field to allow comparisons of our key performance indicators (KPIs) with those experienced across similar organizational types and sizes. From interview-to-hire ratios to time-to-fill, these data points play a contributing role in determining where a team’s performance gaps are and help to innovate timely solutions designed to create a competitive advantage for top talent.
AAPPR’s Benchmarking Report isn’t just about insightful numbers. It demonstrates the complex interconnectivity between strategic workforce development, timely matchmaking, and the contributions to an organization’s revenue stream. While at the same time, the report begs each of our perspectives for how best to impact the health care industry’s ability to drive care change and how to ensure a great cultural add to an organization as a whole. The report compels and empowers us to better understand the latest trends, identify creative solutions, and implement unique/demonstrated strategies that help move the population of available physicians and advanced practice providers from one practice to another across the United States.
Like a magnetized needle in a compass, the report points to best industry practices. And along that path are the experiences and the stories of the journey of this high-touch profession. While the path to our ultimate destination is never perfect, our ability to calibrate keeps us close to the right path we know will get us faster to our destination.
In today’s hustle and bustle, it’s easy to get distracted and off the path of best practices. Be sure to always calibrate your performance — check out the latest data and see how far on course you really are!
AAPPR will launch a new course geared towards new recruitment professionals in a few weeks. If you are new to the provider recruitment world, welcome! You have taken the absolute best first step by joining AAPPR to further your professional growth and development. Below are several tips for new and seasoned recruitment professionals. After all, a seasoned recruiter knows our landscape is ever-changing, so our recruitment tactics must also continuously evolve.
Five Atypical Recruitment Tactics
We’re all familiar with the adage, “Speak less, listen more.” While it may appear as a fundamental principle, it is sometimes underestimated. After all, as recruiters, we thrive on conversations! After all, we’re recruiters- we love to chat! We are in this position for a reason: to sell our organization. Listening more actually helps us better connect with and understand our candidates better. Listening more allows us time to craft our responses while we navigate the conversation eloquently.
Know what you’re up against. Setting expectations within your organization is key. Research the competing offers, know how many physicians are available for the specialty needed, and provide average days to fill data. Every organization’s recruitment processes look different, and if you’re recruiting a resident/fellow, this may be their first time interviewing. Setting expectations for the candidate is also critical so they can be prepared for the next steps, and your department can show how organized and efficient it is.
Understanding your candidate’s motivators relates to my initial tip of active listening. It’s a crucial aspect, which is why I prioritize it by making it one of my first questions during our conversation. Understanding what is important to the candidate professionally and personally should be the hub of the conversation. Knowing their interests allows you to connect and sell your community, the position, and the health system.
Quality is better than quantity. Be selective as to who you invite in for a site visit. Our 2022 AAPPR Benchmarking Report shows that 85% of provider recruiters are female, so you will appreciate my following sentiment. While shopping, you should only buy the item if it will bring you joy. Only host candidates you believe will be an excellent fit for the practice and community. Once that candidate is identified, go all out on customizing the visit based on their interests and motivators.
Once the site visit is complete, you are exhausted, and let’s face it, you’ve been away from your computer all day, and the emails have added up. Be sure to close the loop and extend an offer in a timely fashion. Furthermore, after the recruited provider has signed the contract and is preparing to relocate, maintain ongoing communication to keep them informed about the health system and the community. This commitment to communication contributes to successful physician retention. Physician retention is important, and it starts once they execute their contract.
Happy Recruiting!
With my AAPPR Board Presidency term recently ending, along with receiving a promotion into a larger leadership role at work, the concept of good leadership has been on my mind. We are all leaders in what we do to some extent – whether it’s leading cross functional teams or leading our book of work. We have a direct impact on the revenue and success of our organizations. And we seek a seat at the table to influence executives and business leaders because we are the experts in our space. In my first official manager role, I had no idea what I was doing and learned through some tough feedback that there is always opportunity for growth. Managers drive employees, while employees follow leaders. Creating a following can start at any role level.
Here are some key lessons that I’ve learned along the way…
1. A leader is only as good as the people they surround themselves with: I heard a leader say this once and it stuck. I now use it all the time with my teams. Don’t surround yourself with just “yes people.” Make a point to build a team or network of people who challenge you to think differently. Who bring different perspectives and experiences to the table. Who seek to understand, not just do. And empower your teams to be the leaders and owners of their work. A leader’s success is not theirs alone. It belongs to their team, and it is the leader’s job to empower and lift their team to do their best work.
2. Don’t be afraid to fail: The greatest opportunity we have to grow is in our most challenging moments. Be open to feedback. It’s OK to fail, but fail fast and then fix it. Nothing is ever perfect from the start, but it is in failure that we often learn how to thrive.
3. Cast a big shadow: Be purposeful in your interactions and think about how they impact others. Hold yourself to the same standards that you do others and model the behavior that you want to see in others. Good leaders are human – they are accessible and relatable, and they care about interactions at every level.
4. Leadership can be the loneliest place:As leaders we are responsible for making decisions that can have far-reaching consequences. At times, the toughest decisions we make are the ones that others cannot. We must learn how to separate the personal and emotional side of ourselves from our decision-making. Never is this truer than when you are in a position to make decisions that you know will impact the people you care about on your team.
5. When you put people first, they’ll give you their best: This is where authenticity – and even a little emotion – lives. Leading by fear only creates a team that underperforms. Have genuine concern for the well-being and development of your people – strive for meaningful relationships as you work towards a common goal. This is where you find human connection and aligned beliefs and behaviors.
In our often-unforgiving world of navigating executives and business partners while trying to meet hiring needs in a talent segment that’s facing extreme shortages – we lead strategy, we lead relationships, we lead impact. Leadership isn’t a time or point in your career. You don’t have to be in the executive suite to model leadership behavior or influence change. It’s not a title or a team that makes others value your input. It’s the mutual respect and credibility that you develop through your relationships and the demonstrated value that you bring to the table that makes you a strong leader.
Who loves a good strategic planning session? I do! The thought of heading into the war room filled with flip charts, sharpies, endless amounts of sticky notes, and everyone’s oversized coffee cup to keep them hopped up on caffeine is exciting. Your creative juices flowing, sharpening the pencil, feverishly writing down your thoughts and then feverishly scribbling it out as you come up with a better way to phrase it. All in the pursuit of creating an inspiring mission, vision, values, and action plan to carry them out.
So, what exactly is strategic planning, and how can it help you and your organization achieve your goals? According to Harvard Business School Strategic planning is defined as the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document a business’s intended direction. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.
My fellow board members and I recently completed a strategic planning session to create a new mission, vision, and values (MVV) statement for AAPPR. These statements were shared in June’s Pulse Newsletter. If you missed it don’t worry, we are planning for a bigger launch of the landscape plan and the MVV later this year.
What I loved about the planning session, and many follow-up discussions, was how everyone really participated in the process. We all strived to come up with a well-written strategic plan that will play a pivotal role in the growth and success of AAPPR. With the rapidly changing landscape and challenges in provider recruitment the board worked hard to provide clear goals and objectives for the organization. The new strategic imperatives will help position AAPPR as an industry expert, strengthen the value of membership, champion a diverse, equitable and inclusive physician and provider workforce, and diversify and grow the membership and customer base.
I want to express my deep admiration and appreciation for my fellow board members for their time and dedication in planning and paving the future of AAPPR.
Thank you,
Doug Lewis
In April, Stephanie Wright, MSA, CMPE, CPRP, Marjorie Alexander, MBA, CPRP, RMSR
(fellow board members), Christy Ricks, MHA, CPRP-DEI (AAPPR member and former Vendor Committee Chair), and I were accepted to sit on panels at Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
Becker’s Hospital Review is a well-known medical industry trade magazine and online newsletter. The audience at the Annual Meeting was over 420 hospital and health system executives. In other words, our target audience.
One of the top board imperatives is to increase the visibility of AAPPR and the profession. Part of this work includes targeting the C-Suite to create a cultural shift where they start to rely on their in-house recruitment professionals and consultants as subject matter experts and trusted advisors.
We were extremely excited to get this opportunity and a seat at the table…finally. Our panel topics included Physician Contracting Over the Next 5 years, Physician Pay in Value-Based Care, The Impact of Empathy on Burnout and Healthcare Economics. Our fellow panelists included Chief Medical Officers, Chiefs and Vice Chiefs, Clinical Officers, Chief Administrative Officers, and Medical Directors.
When I first saw the agenda, I was slapped with a heavy dose of imposter syndrome. I immediately felt like I did not deserve to sit on this panel. But this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I did not want to let myself or AAPPR down, so I forged ahead.
I am happy to report that Becker’s was a wild success, and I was left with two major takeaways.
First, the feeling of imposter syndrome is real, but you have to fake it until you make it. Because, in reality, you’re not really faking it, you’re actually doing it.
To ensure I could hold my own amongst a panel of C-Suite leaders and Executives. I over-prepared and then prepared again. I was also thoughtful about how I could speak about data from AAPPR and best practices from our profession to bring home the point that provider and physician recruiters are the subject matter experts in our space. At the end of the day, our roles give us the unique opportunity to learn about physicians’ and providers’ motivations and drives. We see the impacts that our healthcare system is having on these key clinical staff members firsthand.
After my panel discussion, I was left feeling accomplished and validated that our work makes us amazing spokespeople for offering thought leadership around the challenges that we face in healthcare today.
With that takeaway, an even more exciting realization was confirmed. We deserve a seat at the table, and this audience wants to hear what we have to say. Stephanie, Marjorie, Christy, and I were all blown away by how receptive our audiences were. Throughout our careers, many of us have felt like we have been on the hamster wheel, fighting for that seat at the table with our C-Suite and Executive leadership.
After attending Becker’s, I realized something. Rather than waiting to be invited to the table, we need to just show up and take our seats. Becker’s didn’t reach out to us, we reached out to Becker’s. We took that seat, and we were amazingly well received.
As a board, we are committed to increasing visibility for AAPPR and our profession. But at the same time, I challenge our members to look for opportunities to take their seats at the table. Don’t wait to be asked. You would not be successful in this profession if you did not know what you were talking about. Have faith in your expertise, and don’t listen to the imposter voices, because I promise you, you’ve got this!
As we enter our traditional busy summer season for Physician Recruitment, it is essential to prioritize balance while pushing ourselves and our teams to meet the high demands of our recruitment goals. Work-life balance is not just noise; it has become fundamental to achieving optimal results and fostering high-level productivity. Finding balance helps recruitment professionals avoid a reduction in productivity while remaining resilient to continue to meet the pace of our industry. Here are some ways to balance goals, avoid burnout, and build resiliency.
Setting expectations with leadership and providing information to hiring leaders and senior leadership regarding the busy summer season is vital. Leaders need to be reminded of the basics and current market conditions. Summer is a hot time for recruitment because practicing physicians are renewing their current contracts. While prospective 2024 candidates are eager to begin their job search. Leaders must understand that the team must act quickly and clearly to accept/reject candidates. It’s a seller’s market for Physician recruits, and they know it. Having the hiring goals finalized to be prepared to answer all questions and explaining any nuances related to the particulars of the position will be critical as there is little time to gather responses from the team and present them to candidates before they move to the next job for consideration.
Monitor processes to look for improvement, reviewing workflows to ensure targets are being met and how they could be addressed if there are any lags. Often during the summer vacation, schedules can impede and extend the timeframes, ensuring measures are taken to keep candidates flowing through the process quickly. Take steps to keep the momentum going even if the regular business partners are not available.
Levering Tech for productivity, in this error of Physician Recruitment, we have many advantages with full utilization of our tools. We cannot only use technology to schedule emails and text messages to be sent out when we are away from our desks but also to leverage the best practices for our specific situations. Most of us have access to one or more tools for advertising and marketing resources, for example, PracticeLink, Doximity, PracticeMatch, etc. These tools provide us with valuable advantages when it comes to accessing our recruitment data. By utilizing these tools beyond their basic functions of job posting and sending out job-related emails, we can unlock additional benefits. Leverage these tools to research what is working (email outreach, postings, etc.) provide insight to the interest of your advertisements, we can target competitors, find out how many graduates are available in our markets, etc.
Using established relationships, check in with past recruits for feedback about working at the organization. Of course, our goal is to get new leads, but we can also leverage this conversation to get ideas about how working is different (for better or worse) than expected. Holding talks with past recruits also serves as a retention checkpoint for the organization to get a feel of the current mindset of the candidate. Remember, you established the original trust with the candidate and brought them into the company, and that is all about relationship, communication, and trust.
Taking time to pause, remote work has its advantages, but it also has our teams sitting longer, working longer without a pause for mental refreshment. I encourage my team to block time in their daily schedules to step away from their work area and go into another room, breath, stroll around the block, send a gratitude text/email to a friend or co-worker, etc. The thought is to engage other parts of our brains and build flexibility into the workday to sustain our hope of positive outcomes.
We must focus on balance and resiliency to maintain our talents within this industry, as many of us suffer as we try to meet the high demands and remain high-functioning people. Turnover within Physician Recruitment is higher than ever. Retaining our talent in the industry is crucial for us to remain sustainable; we must pause and reset physically and mentally to stay effective.
Have you ever wondered how our candidates experience their interactions with us? How do we compare? We think we provide them with a WOW experience, but do we really? In general (not clinical specific), 49% of job applicants decline a job offer due to poor candidate experience. As we all know, a job search can be one of the most stressful things in life.
How does our job seeker feel about our organization as a potential employer, based on their interactions with us throughout the entire recruitment process? There are many touchpoints during the Talent Lifecycle, from job boards and conferences to conversations with sourcers, recruiters, coordinators, hiring managers, credentialers, onboarders, and trainers.
It is a good idea to review your recruitment process from beginning to end to determine if it meets your and your organization’s expectations—a good review can expose gaps that need addressing. Measuring candidate experience can be tricky. However, you can learn much through surveys, application abandonment rates, decline reasons, and referral rates.
Some best practice tips for a positive candidate experience process include:
A poor candidate experience can risk losing top talent and might harm your organization’s reputation. Poor reviews might dissuade other candidates from considering your organization.
A better candidate experience will lead to better outcomes. We all want to hire and retain top talent, but losing someone because of a poor candidate experience would be a real miss in today’s recruitment climate.
Chief of Neurology: “Well, with all due respect, I’m not confident that you will fill this search for me”
Physician Recruiter: “If in six months I’m unable to find well-qualified candidates for you to consider, I promise not to bother you again”
And that’s how my first meeting as the new Physician Recruiter ended with Dr. Karoubi, my first client. His neurology position had gone unfilled for two years and he’d never worked with a specialized recruitment professional before. Within 90 days, I presented three excellent candidates to him: he hired one, created a new position for another, and eliminated a multi-million dollar contract with a specialty group. With that, Dr. Karoubi became my first Ally!
Transforming my health care system by introducing and establishing a physician recruitment operation has been quite the journey. Having this Ally became a game changer since physician recruiters were non-existent – and not welcomed – in the beginning. While I made the ‘rounds’ championing the value of the physician recruiter, Dr. Karoubi shared his experience – and results – with fellow department heads and executive leaders. Pretty soon, I had a growing network of allies that championed me and the physician/provider recruiter role. This allowed me to focus exclusively on sourcing for top talent and providing a concierge-like experience to my clients while my Allies cleared pathways and silenced the naysayers.
Now, 14 years since that first meeting, our operation has grown from the original team of six to more than 100 projected physician/provider recruiter hires by the end of 2023. What I learned from Dr. Karoubi, and others that followed, is I did not bear this change management burden alone! I credit this network of Allies with making the physician/provider recruiter role a permanent component of our health care system. There are two simple ways I keep those Allies working for me:
Engagement – Whether I’m working on a search or just ‘checking in’, I keep in touch with my allies. An email to remind them I’m one text or IM away to deliver solutions for them, a visit to their department just to say ‘hi’ or simply connect. This strengthens our partnership and further solidifies me as the provider recruitment subject matter expert.
Enlightenment – No, not in a TedTalk kind of way. I send the latest on what’s trending in the provider market and our industry for Ally-awareness – AAPPR Benchmark Studies and White Papers, Becker’s Hospital Review, Modern Healthcare, etc. This keeps us connected even when I’m not working a search for them.
Over the years, I’ve learned to lean on my allies as key strategic partners that champion our profession, at the most critical stages of this transformational journey. I challenge you to do the same by keeping your alliances alive!
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