Everyone, including healthcare recruiting professionals love to discover shiny new objects. We constantly crave the Next Big Thing. We get bored of stuff, even great stuff, much more quickly. If it's new, it MUST be better, faster, bigger, and cooler than whatever has been done in the past, right?

Often, "new" is equated with "new and improved." But as some companies have found, "new" is not always better. (Remember "New Coke"?)

Sometimes, an original product, or in our case, an original healthcare recruiting process is effective, and doesn't need to be re-invented. However, at times, a blend of old and new is in order. There is often a reason why a product or method has been utilized for many years, or even decades: because it works.

In the business of healthcare recruiting, the status quo has worked well for decades. Recruiting is not rocket science or brain surgery (even if you are recruiting brain surgeons), but it is grueling, hard work that requires hundreds of labor-intensive hours of interviewing candidates, reviewing CVs, posting jobs, scheduling interviews, following-up… the list of related tasks involved in filling just one position goes on and on.

There are no short-cuts in healthcare recruiting—there is no "easy button"—as much as we would love to discover one.

How Technology Has Changed Healthcare Recruiting

In the early 2000s, the internet transformed healthcare recruitment, making communication faster and more accessible. Now, social media allows recruiters to reach even more candidates, including those who may not be actively seeking jobs but are open to the right opportunity. Beyond phone calls and emails, today’s recruiters can use social platforms, text messaging, and virtual career fairs to expand their reach.

As a company, our goal at PracticeMatch is to help connect physicians with great employers and practice opportunities in the most effective and efficient way possible. We are always seeking new ways to improve the job search experience for candidates, as well as to increase our clients' success rate, efficiency, and effectiveness in all physician recruiting efforts.

For example, we researched text messaging as it relates to physician recruiting, launching a new app called TextMatch, which enables recruiters to text physicians directly about specific jobs that are a potential fit.

Also, our career fairs were so successful that we tested out virtual career fairs and found those to be successful for our clients, so we now offer those regularly as well, in addition to our onsite recruiting events nationwide.

Research Into Social Media & Healthcare Recruiting

In a recent study, PracticeMatch surveyed over 1,400 physicians to understand their social media habits and its impact on recruitment. The data revealed that physicians are active on major social platforms, but only certain channels effectively support healthcare recruitment.

Key Findings:

• Facebook and LinkedIn are the top platforms: Ninety percent of physicians surveyed use Facebook, and 70% use LinkedIn, making these platforms the most popular for both personal and professional use.
• Daily engagement is high: Seventy percent of Facebook-using physicians log on daily, and half of them use it multiple times per day. This high engagement makes Facebook a valuable recruitment channel.
• Physician-specific platforms have limited use: Sites like Doximity, Sermo, and QuantiaMD see far lower engagement, with fewer than half of physicians using them at all. Most physicians on these platforms log in only a few times a month.

Best Practices for Recruiting Physicians via Social Media

Given that Facebook and LinkedIn are widely used by physicians, focusing recruitment efforts on these platforms offers a strategic advantage. Here are some tips for maximizing engagement and reach on social media:

1. Build an Active Presence on Facebook and LinkedIn: Maintain a consistent posting schedule to stay visible to potential candidates. Use a mix of content types, from informative articles to engaging visuals, that appeal to healthcare professionals.

2. Connect Personally with Candidates: After meeting physicians at career fairs or conferences, follow up by connecting on LinkedIn. This personal connection builds trust and keeps the relationship active beyond traditional channels.

3. Implement a Social Media Policy: When recruiting on social media, ensure your organization has a clear policy to prevent any unprofessional or undesirable content from being shared with candidates. Recruiters should be aware of boundaries while still fostering a professional connection.

4. Highlight the Benefits of Your Organization: Showcase aspects that appeal to physicians, such as work-life balance, advanced technology, or supportive team environments. Visual content, like photos of your facility or testimonials from current staff, can help bring your organization’s culture to life.

5. Leverage Paid Social Media Ads: Paid advertising on Facebook and LinkedIn allows you to reach highly targeted audiences. Use these ads to promote open positions or highlight specific benefits, such as student loan assistance or relocation packages.

What These Social Media Trends Mean for Physician Employers

In sum, networking individually, and as an organization, with physicians on Facebook and LinkedIn can be highly valuable in terms of connecting with physicians. Focus your dollars and recruitment effort where engagement is highest among physicians.

• Your organization should have an active presence on Facebook and LinkedIn, as physicians are engaging here most frequently in both personal and professional capacities.
• Additionally, most of your activity on these sites as an organization, and as an individual are FREE of charge.

Ideally, your inhouse recruiting team should be connecting with physicians directly on these sites, after meeting at career fairs, conferences, or after having a phone interview. However, encouraging employees to connect online with physicians also requires you (the employer) to put a social media policy in place that would prevent any inappropriate or undesirable personal content to be shared with potential candidates.

Conclusion to Our Social Media Recruiting Study:

A well-rounded physician recruitment strategy requires a comprehensive approach. We recommend that physician recruiters implement a strategy that includes email campaigns, cold calling, direct mail, social media, as well as incorporating newer technology such as text recruitment and banner advertising.

*Originally posted on 5/6/2020. Last updated on 11/1/2024.

Laura Kleffner is the VP of Marketing Operations at PracticeMatch.

She has been with PracticeMatch since 2014. Laura is responsible for the PracticeMatch marketing strategy to reach physicians as well as healthcare organizations with a need for physician recruitment resources.