Physician Recruitment Marketing: Four Years, Big Difference

Shawn Kessler talks recruitment strategy with ASPR 2015 attendees.

This year I attended my fifth ASPR (Association of Staff Physician Recruiters) conference. My biggest takeaway: The physician shortage has truly become a real, living, breathing thing that, understandably, has a lot of recruiters terrified.

Rewind to 2011. Chicago. The conference was smaller with fewer attendees and vendors.  You would hear “The physician shortage is coming” and “Take these steps so your health system is prepared” or “These are the recruiters you should be using.” The term “recruitment marketing” was hardly known at that point.

Now fast-forward back to 2015. Orlando. There was a record number of attendees and 90 exhibitors—with a waiting list of 30 more! That tells me two things. First, ASPR has done a nice job evolving into a major source of knowledge. Second, health systems are feeling the heat of recruiting physicians—and are looking for solutions.

Some health systems are looking for help from outside recruiters or locum tenens—obviously, judging by the number of locum tenens exhibitors there. I can’t imagine they’ll all survive. Speaking to attendees, we heard health systems seem to be expecting magic from their recruiting departments—with some even cutting budgets and staff! Ouch.

But the biggest difference from 2011 to 2015 was the number of informed and educated recruiters who came to our booth to speak about recruitment marketing and the steps they were taking, or thanking us for helping them take those steps to brand their institutions correctly. You could tell who those recruiters were because they were calm and relaxed and enjoying the conference. They had a look that said, “Physician shortage? Got it covered.”

Focusing on recruitment marketing seems to make a lot of sense.

At AB&C, we were doing this “recruitment marketing” thing years before the 2011 conference, and we’ve only grown in our capabilities and experience. Here are a few tips we’ve put together on branding, sourcing, technology and organizational value to help you with your recruiting efforts.