Is Facebook® is Worth Pursuing for Employers’ Recruiting Efforts?

As an advocate for employers and with the orientation toward empowering their recruiting efforts, which includes maximizing the Internet, growing their skills, and limiting their requirement to outsource, a number of hospital clients have asked me over the years if they should use Facebook in their attempt to “improve recruiting.”  After delving into this issue and spending a great deal of time on the social networking site in 2010, I have concluded the answer to be no - at least not for now.
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Currently, given the reasons why people access hospital web content, the far better strategy for hospitals is to improve upon their own websites (which prospective employees are certainly going to access), and focus more on better ways to reach and compete for jobseekers online while enhancing their own selling skills and recruiting and protocols.
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Given my decade-long relationships with hospital recruiting, marketing and HR personnel, those hospitals with a Facebook page likely did so due to their initial perception of it being “free.”  Now they have learned it is really not free but requires someone’s time to administer it which pulls them away from other tasks they are paid to do.  Hospital fan pages have few followers, their employees are reluctant to post anything on them and at the end of the day it’s a hospital – the vast majority of people visit websites of hospitals either to a) seek out specific services for themselves or family members, or b) to find a job.
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There may be some merit for Marketing purposes:  From a “branding” perspective, that is, hospitals in competitive markets who are trying to compete for business, perhaps there is some merit to having a Facebook page – but that is not my niche and I am not sure what statistics are out there that may or may not show demonstrable results from having one. 
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Facebook hasn’t changed much – its origins and orientation don’t “fit:” Ultimately we have to remember what Facebook was designed for and that its layout and design haven’t really changed much – it’s still a social networking site that “connects” people and offers them alternate ways to communicate and meet others (although the company’s policies promote networking only among people whom one personally already knows).
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That Facebook has hundreds of millions of users has promoted a “boom” of attempts to profit from using it.  One’s ability to “generate” thousands of “friends” gives account holders a free “bulletin board” or platform from which to market a product or service, or themselves – there seems to be an ever-growing number of “life coaches” and online degrees.
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Again, although it is not my specialty, it appears that a more simple “sale” of a product, like the introduction of a new shoe by NIKE, or a new record by a recording artist – I even learned that one can buy an airline ticket on DELTA’s fan page, has merit.  But for a complicated, multi-faceted career position which for jobseekers have many issues and needs, such  a linear approach would not address the many outstanding questions of those engaged in a career search – especially one that requires a physician relocation of an individual (and their family, if they have one).
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Ultimately a hospital Facebook page is a site which is awkward and at best and used by hospitals to post their events (which seems redundant if they do it on their websites’ “community calendars”).  Stand-alone or regional hospitals are more likely than corporations to have Facebook pages because large companies which usually have a top-down management of their affiliates requires a financial justification to assign someone to do it or pull someone from a traditional job responsibility.
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·         Our work generally deals with higher end jobseekers such as physicians, who are the “revenue drivers” to hospitals; I find it hard to imagine that busy medical practitioners would use Facebook this way but go directly to specific employers with whom they are familiar are interested and access their websites directly. 

·         For organizations who are actually building their business around Facebook – there may be more merit in using Facebook to “recruit” and post open jobs, but even here, it seems that the company should forward them to proprietary web content that is specific to their needs.

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Internet Searches on this Subject show Employers Use Facebook to Screen jobseekers:  Like doing a “social background check,” emerging on the Internet are articles which suggest or state how employers view individuals’ Facebook pages as a form of “screening” them – which I find fascinating for many reasons, but again it is not my immediate niche.
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Recruiting Services and Recruiters are on Facebook:  After a decade of seeing how the recruiting industry has stayed ahead of their hospital clients by better understanding SEO strategies as well as sales and marketing to harvest candidates, the same entities are using Facebook, at least for now, to bullhorn their openings to others, no different than an “email blast.”  Facebook seems like a place for them to attempt to attract the general jobseeker on Facebook and ultimately channel them to their own websites in order to “process” them – a good example of this is Career Builder www.facebook.com/CBforEmployers#!/CBforEmployers?v=wall Ultimately, it’s free advertising and a “portal” to where Career Builder wants jobseekers to go: to their website a la “bait and switch.”  Given how people “network” their ways into career positions and opportunities, I can see how recruiting companies may benefit; but again, I think Facebook is a “square peg” for hospitals given the many other ways they can improve their recruiting.
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Visit www.onlinejobtour.com to learn more about me and our work.

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Raising Dreams and Lives...Together: 4/4: Teamwork

Raising Dreams and Lives…Together
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My Four Part Series for Employer Medical Recruiters, The Final Part Four – It all comes together with Teamwork
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Employer medical recruiters and their efforts directly impact the lives of their patients and communities. It’s an incredible responsibility. Because of this, it there is a solemn and moral responsibility to be dedicated to continual improvement and professional growth. By raising the dreams of people to obtain their ideal career choice in the medical profession with your employer, your goal is also to raise the standard of care – and the lives of your patients. This series is focused on the four core components necessary for employer medical recruiters to excel and be great.
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In Part I, I made it clear that claiming “I love my employer” and your community, and showing up for work every day, and eventually filling your open jobs, is not enough! Because your work impacts lives, you owe your employer and its patients the focus on recruiting the best practitioners and not merely filling a job opening – and growing and improving in this dynamic market where there is intense competition is required, or else you are “behind” before you know it.
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Part II: This was acknowledgement that growing your marketing and selling skills and committing to being a real “sales professional” is necessary.
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In Part III I hammered you with exactly what you need to do in order to be your very best:
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You are committed to understand and then identify your “target market,” and then craft your “sales presentation.” As a sales pro you understand you are competing – you present yourself and your employer in a manner that positions you to both sell as well as outsell your competition – you are not recruiting in a vacuum. You are committed to being an expert on issues candidates need to know to promote your expertise so you are perceived as a bona fide advocate by candidates as opposed to merely an interview scheduler – a secretary can do that. You understand the importance of choreographing candidate visits (in a general sense; naturally, candidates will have different or specific needs). You need to develop a Q/A protocol that is incorporated into your position to monitor your success. All great sales pros have a sales tool – you have committed to not settling for anything but the best tool (Naturally, I recommend Online Job Tour® as the optimal approach to harnessing the Internet to achieve success).
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Before we get to Part Four – a note on acquiring/harvesting candidates. I mentioned in Part III that although this is for another blog entry, I am not a believer in the reliance on third party recruiters as the source of candidates. Employers need to understand that all jobseekers now use the Internet and there are ways to brand your employer as well as communicate with local and regional education institutions in order to obtain proprietary candidates (which are far better in most cases than those presented by contingency-based recruiters). The art of recruiting has been lost in the haste of trying to fill jobs and it can and should be focused on again – Promo Web Innovations has many solutions for our clients and is available to offer ideas to you. Nonetheless, I discuss the development of relationships with third party recruiters below.
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Now to Part Four – It all comes together with Teamwork
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Even Michael Jordan needed good teammates and everyone working together in order to win championships. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden, who won an unprecedented 10 national championships at UCLA, needed great players – and it took both years before they reached the pinnacle.
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• This is when I need to stop and remind you that greatness and the “ultimate success” will not happen overnight. Success is also elusive – your market and prospects change. But what you must have is the right motivation and mindset, developed skills, as well as tools and teamwork with others, in order to be a champion employer recruiter. At some point when you become expert, much of your work can either be put on “automatic pilot” or trained upon others.
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With our focus on your becoming a great employer recruiter, similarly, you must a good support system min the form of a staff and outside assistance – the formation of your “team,” if the budget is there, is integral to your success.
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If you are a sole recruiter (and on your own) for your employer:
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Sole employer recruiters need leverage because you are going to be so busy dealing with the logistics of communicating with candidates and your organization’s superiors. Here you need a great sales tool to “do your selling for you” and also save time if the selling tool educates, answers questions, and positions your employer to maximize your marketability and competitiveness – you have to anticipate the obvious questions and needs of your candidates and their families regarding your employer and service area.
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Again, I strongly encourage you consider our patented Online Job Tour – which is a web based system in the form of a recruitment website that does all this automatically, and our test market proves its ability to educate and compel prospective candidates while saving time and effort for both sides while helping our clients compete. Our staff is an excellent source to assist you with technical answers to your challenges up until you design proformas/offers/negotiations with physician and high end practitioners, which will likely be coordinated with your senior administrators (job offers to department directors, mid level and staff positions are often packaged by HR Directors at an employer of your size). The point here is, if your responsibility is from the point of advertising the opening through introducing a legitimate and authentically interested candidate to your employer’s key hiring personnel, then Online Job Tour can be the anchor around which your dealings with jobseekers can be coordinated along with a solidly developed recruitment protocol – which we can also assist you in crafting. For you there would be nothing better than a recruitment process that runs on optimal efficiency that you can “turnstile” easily and effectively.
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It is likely that as a sole employer recruiter you have sources from which you obtain candidates (if you are a smaller operation, then most are primary care practitioners). Due to your limited time, I appreciate your initial impulse may be to immediately turn to outside recruiting sources, but I encourage you to consider developing relationships with residency program directors in your region as well as medical academic programs, and key in on major job fair events – the former prefer to deal with you – an employer, vs. recruiters, and job fair events are great opportunities to develop and leverage relationships, talk to prospects, and get referrals. Saving the $15,000 to $30,000 “recruiter fee” would be welcomed by your employer when filling that key opening. Employers often forget to incentivize their own employees to draft prospective candidates for their open positions.
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If your employer allows for the creation/development of a recruitment team:
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Bring together different talents: Here you are a larger organization with a larger budget that includes staff, so there is the initial challenge for you to have clear responsibilities identified for your team members to promote efficiency while you can leverage what are hopefully different skills among them. For example, you may have a professional designated to deal with outside recruiting sources to help source prospective candidates as well as be responsible for your employer’s branding and proprietary recruiting efforts. You may have someone to assist you in coordinating all interview visits – a laborious task that in volume is expensive but also can be designed shrewdly to get discounts from hoteliers and other local organizations/vendors/even restaurants. Another may be a person at your employer who will work with candidates at the stage they are ready to construct offers/financial packages/incentives/benefits.
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The Selling Tools: Nonetheless, your conundrum is that jobseekers will find your job openings online – their first impression and introduction to you. And with how our culture is online and has a preference to shop there – especially the newer, younger medical jobseekers, I again recommend Online Job Tour to be your anchor tool as your first communication and continual reference point with candidates.
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• Our 2009 Survey showed our clients fill their jobs 19% faster, reduce their need for site visits by 33%, and they also reduce their use of expensive third party recruiters by 1 in 7. Among other benefits, Online Job Tour attracts the better candidates/professionals and has even served to put our hospital clients in a better negotiating position because the candidates are truly motivated and want the job vs. the employer being desperate to land them and feel the need to offer higher bonuses and guarantees.
• As an FYI, there are now studies out there which point specifically to the revenue generated by physicians and specific specialties to hospitals – your ability to fill an open physician job one month sooner can mean as much as $100,000 to your employer. So filling a key job faster with a better employee or physician can have a huge impact on your employer’s bottom line.
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Try to Curb Recruiters and their fees: And if you have a larger volume of recruiting than a 150 bed hospital or less, there should be a meaningful effort to curb third party recruiter fees, which can easily exceed $200,000 annually at your employer. I suggest learning about SEO strategies regarding marketing your openings – be on search results for Google, Yahoo and Bing for key words and phrases your target market will use when looking for jobs – Promo Web innovations has developed successful working prototypes for our clients that we can share with you. Candidates especially from contingency-based recruiters have been shopped to many places and their origins can be dubious. They are also coached in favor of the recruiter making that placement with you or anyone.
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Use the Internet Proactively: With your budget you have a great opportunity to market your employer online. There are many services out there, such as Constant Contact, which can continue dialogues with many different professionals, jobseekers – even those you do not land but may have a chance for in the future, and representatives of services. While most hospitals have a marketing department, it is usually focused on marketing the services of the hospital and there are few professional “closers” or sales pros there. Consider engaging a local PR firm to at minimum glean ideas from them as to how you can use the Internet and any other tools to grow your presence and marketability.
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Consider making vendors like recruiters feel like they are a part of your team: Because it is likely you will need to utilize vendors such as third party recruiters to source candidates, I advocate choosing professionals who demonstrate experience and an expertise that extends beyond sourcing – let’s face it, candidates pretty much come through the internet and so merely providing resumes is not an indicator of anything more than that. A vendor with prior professional selling experience who understands the art of closing a deal, and even a professional who brings skills to the table that include help with putting together offer packages can help to grow your own skills. While you generally should keep your vendors on somewhat of a need to know basis, if you have a good relationship with them and make them feel a part of your team (in a general sense), you will likely get better attention from them as well as more attention to the details of the candidates they provide.
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Your team should be a well-oiled machine where its members understand their roles, so that you can turnstile the process (at least to a reasonable degree) so that every new job opening is not “reinventing the wheel.” Those outside your inner circle (recruiters, PR groups, industry contacts, local professionals who may assist you during interviews, etc.) should be made to feel important and special to you. I am a big believer in customizing interview visits down to routes you drive them around town and people you “coincidentally” run into when out and about.
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A note about Facebook and Social Networking: Hospitals creating a Facebook page has become trendy and I am not totally convinced that the time put into it, and paying an employee to oversee a FB page, does much for recruiting. Branding itself in its service area – if there is competition, may help its business a little bit. Would employees feel obligated to post remarks on it? Probably not. What about potential problems, such as former patients posting nasty or unflattering remarks and the need to erase them, or the conundrum of leaving the posts? These things have not been though about enough; I think the fact that FB is “free” and is a social phenomenon has created this “phase.”
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• The difference with Online Job Tour, among many, with FB is that our clients have 100% control over its content and making changes to it – it cannot be compromised by outside parties.
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A note about “Retention:” I have seen some terrible figures regarding some hospital corporations and their retention numbers with physicians – some with a 50% retention rate after 36 months. With a great deal of experience and feeling as though I understand the entire recruitment spectrum and the many issues for both sides, I am convinced that the reason for poor retention among relocating medical professionals is primarily due to the hospitals focus on closing the deal and focusing on its terms and not as much focus on educating and selling their service areas and the lifestyle that relocating employees can expect – only after they relocate to the professionals learn about the communities they moved to.
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The issue is about these new employees and physicians not being fully committed to the deal – they don’t establish meaningful relationships right away and there is no connection – especially with the spouse.
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If you think about it, the hardest physicians to recruit away are those who are invested in their service areas – who have relationships, partnerships and businesses there. Our Online Job Tour has shown an incredible “transformative impact” on the recruiting process where candidates interviewing for the first time arrive with confidence and excitement vs. anxiety and unprepared – because Online Job Tour is designed to be more comprehensive than the real interview trip, which has time and money limitations, and separates spouses, among a host of other potential problems. With ultimate goal of making an ideal professional and lifestyle fit, our clients are building upon the familiarization promoted with Online Job Tour to immediately establish relationships with those community leaders featured in their Online Job Tours, as a way to start the process of getting the physicians and practitioners committed to a long term career and life with them – please contact us for more information on the work we are doing here.
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A note about Selflessness: Being a great team member or team leader means you also have a willingness to help others, cheer others on, and revel in and applaud their success. Because your job ultimately impacts lives of your patients and their families, it is important to respect all others, including your vendors, by following the “Golden Rule.” Only bad things can result when you mistreat people. I am also a believer in karma. Treat others with sincere kindness and appreciation. If you’re really good and committed, people will know and respect that you are in charge and you are important.
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Your Final Foundation Commitment:
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It’s been a long series, and I apologize for this last one being a little late – the summer and fall have been busy for me. But I am at the end of this important road with you. You are now a better recruiter for your organization.
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Your Final Commitment:.
“I understand that my work and the work of the people I include in my efforts affect lives. I will commit to seeking excellence, experience and talent to not only contribute, but make me better, when constructing a team and vendors for my purpose of being my best. I will treat others with the respect they deserve and they way I would want to be treated, in order to promote an excellent environment to exchange ideas and information, as well as to get these many influences favoring me – after all, I am in a competitive business. My commitment to being great includes how I treat and involve others in my process and thanking them when I achieve success.”
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Thank you for taking this workshop/series with me and you have my sincere best wishes as you move forward with raising lives and dreams of others. Please let me know how you are doing my contacting me through our company’s website at www.onlinejobtour.com

My Four Part Series for Employer Medical Recruiters, Part III

My Four Part Series for Employer Medical Recruiters, Part III: On getting the best possible selling tools to complement your efforts. Employer medical recruiters and their efforts directly impact the lives of their patients and communities. It’s an incredible responsibility. Because of this, it there is a solemn and moral responsibility to be dedicated to continual improvement and professional growth. This four part series is focused on the four core components required for employer medical recruiters to fulfill this responsibility and excel. . In Part I, I made it clear that claiming you love your employer and your community, and showing up for work every day, and eventually filling your open jobs, is not enough!  Because your work impacts lives, you owe your employer and its patients that you must want to be the very best you can be, and continually push yourself by growing your knowledge and skills – you have to keep growing and improving in this dynamic market where there is intense competition.  You made Foundation Commitment #1 about your career: . “I understand that my work directly impacts the lives of people. I commit to take a silent moment of reflection on this fact before I begin work every day. I acknowledge that I am passionate about my career position and this will be my guiding motivator to continually improve – acceptance of the status quo is never acceptable because it is never an excuse for our patients and their families.” . Part II:  This commitment led to your acknowledgement that growing your marketing and selling skills and committing to being a real “sales professional” is necessary.  . ·         You now know the difference between marketing and selling.  ·         You now understand the competitive component – that you must not only sell candidates, but OUTSELL your competitors.  ·         You understand that being efficient carves out tremendous waste, and actually improves your results.  Your sincere commitment to be a “pro” will lead to making Foundation commitment #2: .   “I will be a real pro and have a proactive impact on my results.  I am competing for candidates vs. other employers.  I commit to crafting marketing ideas and a selling protocol that separate my opportunities from others while maximizing time and quality.  My process will build my relationship with prospects in ‘steps’ and lead to a conclusion that is best for both sides.” . At this point, you should be motivated and want to have an impact on your job because 1) your work impacts lives – you have a moral responsibility to be your best and never settle, and 2) you have the awareness that you are competing and need to continually develop a “professional marketing and sales process” in order to maximize your results.  . Part III:  Now you must acquire and use the best possible tools to complement your efforts.  All great sales professionals have great selling tools to help promote their message and make their entire sales protocol more efficient and effective – better tools create the competitive advantages you MUST have. Like great athletes, they are always looking to get an advantage, from the equipment they invest in to how they practice and train (and all the great ones do). . What is your “target market” of prospects?  You also clearly need to make sure that you identify your target market of prospects.  If you are in a community of 50,000 residents an hour or more from a big city, then you don’t want to target practitioners who want to live in metro area.  Unless you are in the position to draft a unique cooperative agreement with a group or another provider, that is, if your hospital is seeking a family practice addition, what you are competing against are all the other hospitals and communities like you – on this you build your sales presentation against all of them. . Your First Tool:  What is your sales presentation going to be? . Before you consider any selling tools or approaches, you must first identify your strengths, weaknesses, and what you are representing – from the perspective of other hospitals of your bed size or employers of your size and specialty.  . For instance, are you a level two trauma center while other hospitals your size may be a three?  You may have two Cath Labs while others your size may have one.  You may have a pediatric unit when others may not.  What is your hospital’s reputation?  Do you have stats?  Are you part of a large corporation? Is it publically traded or non-profit?  Or are you a regional hospital in a system?  You need to be able to present the best argument and defense, of any questions regarding these and many other considerations you anticipate jobseekers have. . ·         There are the same considerations regarding your service area.  How do your schools rate in your region?  Are you a student of your economy and can you speak intelligently of employers, their plans, as well as government-sponsored growth initiatives?  Identify pluses, like having a regional airport, country clubs, and a recreational lake – not all towns your size have these.  Have you travelled to the communities of your competitors to evaluate them? ·         Remember that you have already made career “foundation commitments” now, and you are not a “community welcomer” who can only place a smile on your face, set up interview visits, and speak in clichés (you aren’t a waiter!), but you are committed to being a pro and a real sales professional – this is now the requirement of your position – people’s lives depend on YOU! ·         Preparing a “report” on your hospital and service area, and “tending to it,” are requisite to your success – because whatever tools or sales presentation you create, it will have to be one that constantly changes in order to be accurate and to keep you in command of the facts. ·         Eventually you will develop a list of survey questions which you will incorporate into your protocol as a Q/A piece that help you hone your presentation and skills.  ·         Eventually you must craft a list of local professionals and people of influence to incorporate into your presentation, particularly for onsite visits with candidates and their families.  Choreographing meetings and prepping these folks from all walks of life in your service area (business owners, teachers, economic development principals) to meet candidates, and practicing with them to “present” a thorough and compelling “sales presentation” while your competitors merely place physicians with a realtor who really has little command of the facts bona fide physician candidates need to know, and try to let the realtor do all the selling. . A great pro is ultimately an advocate for your prospective candidates:  Being in real command of facts about your hospital and service area, and acute knowledge of them and the people involved, will promote your relationship to candidates as a REAL advocate for them, and not merely being their assistant, or a “waiter” who caters to them – where they won’t confide in you; thus, you will never be in the position to close them.  . Although this kind of preparation may seem difficult to do, you have no choice because of your commitments.  Every call you make, and every doctor you are blessed to meet, requires you to be at your best, because you have to answer to families who are trusting you to get them the best possible physicians and practitioners, and not merely to fill open jobs. . ·         Developing a repeatable onsite candidate visit “protocol” that you can generally repeat is essential because it allows for you to judge yourself and measure your success.  A repeatable presentation that includes all of the information that jobseekers need allows you to relax and focus on relationship building rather than the “Chinese Fire Drill” of “what comes next,” and allows for improvisation with them and their families – this is advanced level sales where you are creating connections that will help separate you from competition. ·         Special Note:  As a former tech sales professional, sales manager, and sales consultant, as well as 8 years as Founder and President of Online Job Tour®, our team is “the pioneer” regarding reaching online jobseekers and crafting an approach to maximize recruiting medical professionals. I am available to speak to groups and recruiting organizations, as well as consulting with employers to help them craft an ideal recruiting environment. Please contact me through our website at www.onlinejobtour.com   . On Technology:  I am an admitted geek regarding technology.  My very first blog is worth reading – I posted a piece on how the Internet got started and has grown.  Most people don’t know the Internet’s history.  I remember telling friends and relatives when I was young that someday music would not be on tapes or CDs but on bits of information on computers with no moving parts.  I remember when I saw the first cell phone, which was in a satchel and looked like a briefcase, thinking “they are going to get a lot smaller.”  Five years ago I was telling clients that one day they would be driving down the street and their "handheld computer device of some sort" would beep because it was in "Real Estate mode" – and now we have smart phones. . The Internet:  As high-speed Internet was ushered into our lives through the early to late 2000s, we went from the “screeetch” of the fax sound while accessing the Internet by phone, when it took a number of minutes to download a single image, to now being frustrated when huge pages with rich content don’t load immediately.  As recruiters, we can forget that this 8 year period means today’s new physicians “grew up online.”  . For a variety of reasons not for this blog, hospitals and other healthcare employers, and many of their recruiters, have not kept pace with how the Internet has created a new kind of consumer and jobseeker – with unique behavior and expectations. . ·         Today the Internet is no longer something we passively read, like the newspaper on a computer screen.  Instead, we now interact with it.  But hospitals did not really harness the power of high speed Internet to maximize their recruiting efforts (Our company’s invention fills this void, below). . Your Sales Tool:  How are you going to “present” your sales presentation? . Clearly, you need to appreciate the Internet as the bullhorn you must use to advertise your career openings – but only a rookie would make the mistake of stopping there.  Because career search has moved to the Internet – it is the “meeting place” where many jobs come together in a competing forum, with the virtual Internet there are ways to better promote your jobs and compete in an industry where there are limited candidates in many areas.  . ·         Referenced immediately above, many local and regional healthcare recruiting directors are older and look at the Internet as a forum to observe and not participate in; in other words, they look AT the Internet like they read a newspaper.  That’s not what the Internet is anymore; instead it is a place where users “interact with web content.” ·         This leads to their policy development and recruiting that doesn’t really “use” the Internet but merely “advertises on it,” like newspaper classifieds.  ·         The result is the overwhelming majority of hospitals wait until candidates are onsite – after the expense has been committed for the trip, all the time is committed by many people, and regretfully, possible better matches have already been turned down, to begin their selling effort.   . Our organization’s unique Invention: The “Recruitment Website:” Online Job Tour®: Patented by the US Department of Patents & Trademarks, I invented the Online Job Tour system – which is a “recruitment website” for employers which harnesses the virtual Internet to allow hospitals and medical employers to present to jobseekers and their families a “onsite interview visit experience” that is more comprehensive than the real trip – allowing for the “marketing/selling” effort to start immediately. . Online Job Tour “brings the onsite visit to all jobseekers” in a phenomenal way that promotes authentic decisions of interest before any expensive interview visits are planned – in fact, your advertising is now not a newspaper ad, but a “virtual immersion experience” that attracts candidates who are already pre-qualified and motivated (unlike mere responders to ads who can only be curious because the ads don’t really provide enough information). . When I invented Online Job Tour, I knew high speed Internet was going to be pervasive – but at the time (2001) just 40-50 million people had broadband (today the estimate is close to 2 billion!).  . Why does Online Job Tour work?  During our multi-year test market with a large variety of hospitals and health employers, Online Job Tour has had a “transformative impact” of the recruitment efficiency and quality model for hospitals, offering the best for both sides: for hospitals, Online Job Tour is the ideal way to give jobseekers a “tour” that is similar to the real interview visit, covering all the “topics” that jobseekers generally need to know about, while also giving the employer the format to give the best possible sales presentation. For jobseekers, what is better than to be able to sit back on their own computer and “visit” a hospital and service area – in 30 minutes and at no real cost or major time commitment, they can learn more than if they visited over a weekend – and the entire family can experience the “virtual visit” as well by simply sharing the website address? . Demonstrable Results:  Our 2009 ROI Survey analyzed the invention’s impact on three factors: time to fill an open physician job, the number of interview visits, and use of third party recruiters.  The result was a savings of $47,000 per placement when Online Job Tour supported the recruitment of the position, as opposed to “status quo” recruiting practiced at other hospitals. . ·         Special Note:  Would you like to learn more about Online Job Tour®, see some samples, and get an overview of its benefits?  Please visit www.onlinejobtour.com and then give our staff a call if you still have questions. . Other Tools are out there – this is basically all of them:  Other tools that have been around since the Internet include streaming videos, DVDs, and some hospitals still mail brochures.  All have significant limitations, such as they generally only scratch the surface of important subject, and they get old and need to be replaced – since Online Job Tour is web-based, it can be updated so it never gets old, and we can offer the best combination of depth of content that really makes jobseekers think they have the information they need to make a decision, along with unlimited photos as well as videos and video testimonials.  While I have seen many recruitment videos, some nicer than others – the biggest issues I have is their depth of meaningful, useful information – many are made by people who don’t understand recruiting and what jobseekers need, they age very fast, and they don’t fit into the Internet anymore – what I mean by this is today’s Internet users are not passive observers who sit back and watch – they want to “interact” with web content and Online Job Tour gives them the “fix” they want, and it is a powerful “test drive” that employers can provide. . What I most disagree with, and I term “quitting,” are the hospitals who merely, passively list a handful (the more the worse) of websites – as though a web-expert physician can’t easily find them anyway, but to rummage through the websites to pick what may be relevant for their needs as a prospective new employee at the hospital.  This “practice” does not promote the hospital doing anything proactive, it leaves the “sale” in the quality and content of someone else’s website and quality standard, and there is no proof doing this is any better than doing nothing.  It would be hard for any professional who has made a sincere commitment to answer to families to accept this unfortunate approach. . ·         The employer can do a great deal more possible BEFORE any visits are planned – these trips take a lot of manpower to put together and at a great expense.  And Online Job Tour can be used with ALL prospects to give everyone a very comprehensive virtual visit vs. the very few the hospital can afford to host. ·         Online Job Tour solves the critical sales conundrum where prospects can’t make a decision simply because they don’t have enough information; in fact, classic sales studies show that “lack of information” is a larger reason consumers don’t buy products. . Special Note on “using” the Internet:  Whether or not you are in a position to invest in any of these options – you may not be the decision maker at your organization, and REGARDLESS OF YOUR AGE, you MUST find a way to get comfortable with the Internet if you are not: the biggest reason is your prospects remain the same age and get more and more web savvy, while you keep getting older.  Investing in technology tools is an important part of your business, so you really need to ditch the 5 year old cell phone and get a smart phone, and get a laptop or tablet computer – or both. . Summary:  After identifying your target market, you need to have your “sales presentation” that promotes being a real advocate for candidates – you have already committed to being more than merely an “interview scheduler” who speaks in clichés who doesn’t influence the outcome.  You aren’t a waiter. You have committed to being an expert on issues candidates need to know.  You have not only started to think of choreographing candidate visits (in a general sense; naturally, candidates will have different or specific needs), but you have identified hospital and community principals willing to contribute to their efforts and you have begun preparing them to help you.  You need to develop a Q/A protocol that is incorporated into your position with questions to ask candidates and measure your success. . You need a sales tool on which to “present” your presentation – I introduced you to Online Job Tour® as an advancement over other recruiting tools, but my greater message is you must “harness” the Internet by first finding ways to grow your comfort and skills with technology, but also because this is where your target market goes for career search – in order to be competitive in that arena. . Here’s Your Foundation Commitment #3:  “I understand the importance of crafting a ‘sales presentation’ that is competitive and commit to using the best possible tools to complement my efforts and to create efficiency, maximize quality, and continually seek competitive advantages.” . In my last part of this series, I’m going to help you put it all together with Teamwork and how to create an optimal recruiting protocol.  I look forward to sharing it with you! . For more information about me or Online Job Tour®, visit our website at www.onlinejobtour.com or call our offices at 813-855-5185. Carl Brickman

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My Four Part Series for Employer Medical Recruiters, Part II: On being a “Pro” and incorporating marketing and selling skills

. Employer medical recruiters and their efforts directly impact the lives of their patients and communities. It’s an incredible responsibility. Because of this, it there is a solemn and moral responsibility to be dedicated to continual improvement and professional growth. This four part series is focused on the four core components required for employer medical recruiters to fulfill this responsibility and excel. . In Part I, I pulled no punches regarding “commitment” to one’s position as an employer recruiter in healthcare.  You get no credit for claiming to “love” your community and going to church with, and knowing people in your service area, showing up for work every day, and eventually filling open jobs.  I have met hundreds of employer recruiters – all who claim these “feel good” abstract descriptions of their positions, almost as a defense for mediocre results – none of these pay any bills. More important, none are an excuse to provide a grief stricken family member of a patient just lost due to a mistake made by a practitioner.  I love my spouse and my Lord – the bank to whom I owe my mortgage doesn’t give a hoot. . Here is the only characteristic I care about and on it I can take a new recruiter of any talent level and make them “elite” with their results in short order:  you need to acknowledge and embrace that your work directly impacts lives because if you hold this in your heart, then it will drive you to continually push yourself by growing your knowledge and skills – necessities in this dynamic market where there is intense competition.  You are never good enough, and you must improve. Welcome to “tough love” recruiting excellence.  You must have this “solemn commitment [Foundation Commitment #1].”   . Part II:  That commitment will then motivate you to grow your marketing and selling skills and commit to the fact that you are a real “sales professional” – you also need to know the difference between marketing and selling.  You need to understand the competitive component – that you must not only sell candidates, but OUTSELL your competitors.  You must understand that being efficient carves out tremendous waste, and actually improves your results.  You must have a sincere commitment to be a “Pro.” . ·         What is a “Pro?:”  A professional employer medical recruiter is a highly motivated professional with sales and marketing skills, who uses competitive, advanced tools, and understands the entire spectrum of the recruiting process, and brings value to his position with improved outcomes. ·         My father, a former corporate executive, used to say a refrain many times through my upbringing which I never forgot:  “There is a big difference between someone with ten years of experience and another with one year of experience for ten years in a row.”  The message here is 75% of the employer medical recruiters I have met learned how to do their job in a mediocre fashion with no prior sales experience and little or no professional training – then learned their “job” and have done it for 5 and even 10 years the same way.  The result is mediocrity.  This happens when you have recruiters without the solid foundation commitment and with no professional sales experience or training.  ·         It’s difficult to get any recruiter in this position to admit they need any improvement – they are caustically defensive when new ideas or tools are suggested to them.  Imagine this person and that mentality recruiting YOUR physician or pediatrician for your children. . The Myth of not being in Sales – you are in a sales position, and if you don’t think so, this mentality automatically disqualifies you from your job.  From convincing your teacher in third grade you deserved an “A” on the paper, to winning over your girlfriend in college, we are all in sales to some degree and are generally selling ideas to others, our colleagues, family, the boss, your civic group, to the kids you teach or coach in Little League, all the time. So to think a recruiter isn’t a sales professional is ridiculous. . ·         I was once in a meeting with a hospital senior executive team and one of them said “I don’t like to sell, and physicians looking to work at our hospital, if they ask me for information I will give them what I can, but they are responsible for choosing where they want to practice.  After they choose us, then my job is to work with them to make the transition.” . Is this the mentality of someone who understands recruiting impacts lives?  What if one of the lives was his spouse’s?  He apparently hasn’t heard of the dramatic shortage of many specialists, and also thinks all physicians and practitioners are of the same competence and quality.  There is no “sense of urgency” in filling jobs – which puts money into the hospital sooner vs. no acknowledgement than anything can be done, nor any awareness of the value in proactively influencing recruiting outcomes.  There are gaping “opportunity losses” that result from this mentality.  What a foolish thing to say.  . Of course, there are better physicians and practitioners. Some work better and more competently and limit mistakes and lawsuits, and also work more efficiently, which also impacts the budget.  Studies now prove there is a direct financial benefit in filling jobs sooner (Merritt-Hawkins produced a 2006 study, and The Advisory Board Company, Inc., in May 2008 reconfirmed hospital lose over $100,000 each month a physician job is unfilled at the hospital).  Hospitals must not just fill jobs, but make “the right fit” for the long term – “retention” is becoming a big issue:  Imagine spending tens of thousands to fill a physician job and after spending more tens of thousands the physician and spouse choose to leave – could the hospital have taken steps to limit this possibility from happening? Not according to this hospital administrator above! ·         The #1 mistake I see almost all hospitals make is they forget they are competing – (this is due to the fact that those dictating the policy of recruitment generally have no professional sales experience) that is, they not only have to attract and then sell jobseekers, but they must “out market” and “out sell” many other employers vying for the same professional.  You must evaluate how jobs are advertised and how you are selling and closing candidates.  In a competitive arena where everyone seems to be doing it the same way, your lack of originality in your tools and efforts to distinguish yourself from competitors is a sure way to have mediocre results and hire the mediocre candidates. (The “dead giveaway” that I am dealing with an untrained recruiter is when, for example, a community hospital recruiters or their CEOs break into the “Our community is great for raising a family,” and “we are close to big city amenities but away from their overcrowding,” “we have great schools,” and more nonsense.  While these may be true statements, every community hospital says this, so it’s a waste of time and doesn’t help the jobseeker, who heard the same mantras from 6 other employers. . Remember your Foundation Commitment #1 here.  Your solemn commitment must motivate you to have a proactive orientation toward your job – this leads you to want to have a proactive impact on the results.  This is essential because the employees and physicians you recruit are the foundation of the future – mediocre candidates and expensive and mediocre results, and skills that are stagnant and tools not competitive, set your hospital on a road to inefficiency, more lawsuits, poor outcomes – from physicians leaving after a year to less-than-great physicians or practitioners procedures and services.    . ·         The belief that you cannot, or you choose not to have a proactive orientation towards your job and its results, violates Foundation Commitment #1 and sets your hospital on the road to mediocrity. . Differentiating Marketing from Selling:  Employer medical recruiters should have prior marketing or professional sales experience with complex sales and dealing with high-end consumers.  Whether you do or not, there are some “foundation basics” in these areas that you need to know and incorporate into your strategic plan and your work and it’s not that hard. . Marketing:  As it relates to employer medical recruiting, marketing is the part of the recruiting process that serves to get attention paid to the advertised job openings – it is literally the “Hey! Look over here!” feature of the advertisement of your job(s). . ·         There are many approaches you can take to advertise your jobs online, during job fairs, in mailers, print advertising, in person, on the phone, or in branding efforts at your hospital in your service area, region, or even nationally.  Find out what your competitors are doing.  Then do it differently and with a focus on getting attention and getting the first opportunity to present your jobs vs. them.  Remember there are not just a limited number of practitioners, but of them, you want to land the top 15% of them. . (While I offer training workshops to hospitals and corporations on Marketing – the strongest conceptual focuses I recommend is to put heads together and develop a cogent plan to stand apart from competitors as the signature thing to improve recruiting results). . Selling:  Selling is the part of the recruiting process AFTER you have attracted job prospects with Marketing of the career position(s) – now that you have their attention with a well-planned marketing feature of your employment advertising, which hopefully gives them the positive emotions needed to consider your sales presentation. . Selling is the process of developing a relationship where you try to get your prospect to see that you are an advocate for them to make the best possible decision (after all, if they choose you but then end up regretting it, this hurts both sides – so you have a genuine interest in the outcome) while convincing them to accept your job opportunity after discerning they are your choice. . The selling process also includes pre-qualifying prospects and candidates and implementing a ranking system that is modeled on candidate quality and an efficiency model. . Selling is also about understanding you are competing against many others, and identifying where you stand with the candidates. . Before the attempt to compel them to accept your job offer, in order to have professional results, you must have a system where they have been fully informed and your best “presentation” has been provided to them and any other decision makers in their party, if any, you know where you stand vs. other employers they are considering, their timeline to make the decision, as well as have them ranked vs. other candidates.  You need to know where your employer falls short and have an offer to offset it.  You also need to know where your employer is ahead and use that to compel the prospect. It’s not that hard because you are only working with the prospect/candidate to gather information. . From here you advance to the “Close.” . Closing the candidates is based on your having developed your relationship with them and having made smaller agreements with them through the recruitment process; you have taken “steps of progress” with them, which includes coming to this point to decide, and then review pluses and minuses about your opportunity vs. other opportunities (you aren’t scared to review the minuses and pluses because you are their advocate – you want them to make the best decision for them). . The presentation of your opportunity should include with physicians your proforma and financial presentation and practice set up overview with all guarantees, as well as a review of the stated benefits you and the candidates have agreed are signature with your opportunity over the others, as well as an acknowledgement of any shortcomings and your employer’s offerings to permanently offset those shortcomings – to permanently put to rest those shortcomings; in other words, you make a “deal” where the prospect permanently “puts away” any shortcomings so they never resurface. . (The sales protocol can not only be fun, but serve to eliminate the “stress” of selling.  It is important to establish a repeatable “process” so you can quickly move to having the ability to improvise as well as “grow” the process in advanced ways.  Think of it this way:  Imagine you are trained to give a sales presentation, which is basically to be delivered the same way every time. Once you get to the point where you can recite the presentation in your sleep, then you can build on it and keep tweaking things and accessorize it in order to keep improving on your results – both time and candidate quality. . You are not afraid to ask the candidate for their decision because you set everything up, you both are totally aware of all the facts, and you agreed to get here. In fact, by this time the best salesmen are presumptively closing and “yes” is important, but is more of an acknowledgement by the candidate than an answer. . (I offer training workshops that help beginner to experienced employer recruiters get advanced sales results almost immediately; it starts with crafting a basic presentation formula that any recruiter can follow, regardless of their prior experience). . Here is your Foundation Commitment #2:  “I will be a real pro and have a proactive impact on my results.  I am competing for candidates vs. other employers.  I commit to crafting marketing ideas and a selling protocol that separate my opportunities from others while maximizing time and quality.  My process will build my relationship with prospects in ‘steps’ and lead to a conclusion that is best for both sides.” . Review:  at this point, you should be motivated and want to have an impact on your job because 1) your work impacts lives – you have a moral responsibility to be your best and never settle, and 2) you have the awareness that you are competing and need to develop a “professional marketing and sales process” to maximize your results.  . You should now naturally be asking what tools you can use to support your efforts now that you are on the appropriate path to be a real pro – and that’s what is next in Part III!  Stay tuned! . Carl Brickman

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Raising Dreams and Lives…Together

My Four Part Series for Employer Medical Recruiters: Part I . Medical Recruiters are in the business of fulfilling personnel needs for their companies while helping medical professionals establish or grow their careers – which impact their lives and their families. And as opposed to recruiting in other fields, such as engineering, or public relations, or IT, while these are also important and have their challenges and also filled with talented professionals, employer medical recruiters and their efforts directly impact the lives of their patients and communities. It’s an incredible responsibility. Because of this, it there is a solemn and moral responsibility to be dedicated to continual improvement and professional growth. . This four part series is focused on the four core components required for employer medical recruiters to fulfill this responsibility. . Part I: You must have a sincere passion – because you are answerable to patients, to want to be the very best you can be, and continually push yourself by growing your knowledge and skills. . While professional selling experience and training would give someone a huge advantage, that background is not a guarantee for success as a medical recruiter; however, you need marketing and selling training skills and a system to track your results – both to monitor your progress as well as to be able to demonstrate your value to your employer. You need the best possible tools to both leverage your personal shortcomings as well as those (perceived by jobseekers as well as any limitations on your facilities, resources, the service area, etc.) of your employer. And you need to be a team player; that is, learn the value of bridging relationships as well as working with others. Claiming you love your employer and your community, and showing up for work every day, and eventually filling your open jobs, IS NOT ENOUGH. . I got onto medical recruiting after my father died as a result of a mistake made during a routine medical procedure. What does “I love my community” and “the job was filled by a qualified candidate” mean after I ask the medical recruiter if they have done all they could to make sure my father had the best possible physician and staff delivering care to him? My point is that the abstract, impossible-to-measure “I love my community” and “I have been doing my job for years” and “I am doing what my employer asks of me” are acceptable if you drive a bread truck on a 9-5 job. If it were you and your parent died in the same circumstance, these statements would be excuses given by people in “status quo” career positions which they do not seek to positively influence or improve. . You don’t have to be a faith-based person to be successful as a medical professional. But I am, and my Christian faith and my church members inspire me. Acts 9:36-43 is about a woman named Tabitha who was beloved, and upon her death disciples called the Apostle Peter (Christ had died and been resurrected by this time). When Peter arrived, many of Tabitha’s friends were there weeping. Peter ushered them out of the room. . “He turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up.” . The reading symbolizes how Christians are asked to continue Christ’s work. I thought about my dad. I thought about how all recruiters have the solemn responsibility to do their very best. Medical recruiting is not the work of an apostle raising the dead, but it is dealing with peoples’ lives in more ways than one. . So here we are. You are an employer medical recruiter. This scenario above is a real one and could happen to you. What’s more, that patient could be someone you know, or even a friend. . Passion and Commitment changes your orientation to seek out improvement and better results – without it, your practice slips into “status quo” and mediocrity – with “success” defined in very narrow terms. . When you are dealing with peoples’ lives and permanent placement recruiting, you should always bring your heart and soul. Recruiters MUST pledge to try their very best and continue to push the limits, and move “out of the box” because of the responsibility of acquiring talented candidates, selling them, and then hiring the very best possible professional while at the same time making a “long-term fit” for both. . And in the medical profession, employer recruiters absolutely need a conscience to guide them – it cannot be merely about making a placement but seeking to hire the absolute best physician, nurse, or director – even for staff positions researching and marketing to the higher-rated schools and programs. . This is about having a sincere passion and acute awareness that what you do directly impacts the lives of others – with this mindset you will always have the motivation to understand you have the solemn responsibility to be the best you can be and that you have to keep improving, evolving, growing. This does not have to be a stress-filled orientation but simply a “frame of mind.” Consider that what you can do is simply move yourself onto another “track” that is more efficient and has shorter destinations to the places you want to go. A different mindset can do that for you. . · The truly good employer medical recruiters have this “higher calling” and are conscientious, they constantly evaluate everything, and with the added element of competition, they know they must improve – these are intuitive and born from the acceptance of the job’s responsibilities. . Why must a passion and then commitment beyond “status quo” mentalities, methods and tools exist for the medical recruiter? The real answer is without it, your career and results will be mediocre compared to others. . Real passion and commitment promotes the moral obligation to seek to hire the best possible professionals and not merely fill a job with any candidate who meets the requirements. All physicians are not alike, nor are all nurses and techs. Lesser practitioners mean less efficient workers and more problems – botched procedures, resulting lawsuits, and worse. . Intense Competition: The bell curve of the baby boomer population was in 2016 before the retirement age was changed by the government – which is promoting that the curve is being “carried” to 2020. But people are still getting older. Moreover, statistics for certain illnesses, such as diabetes, are growing. There simply are not enough medical practitioners. The need to not only get the best practitioners, but fill all openings and pools to limit short staff problems, is keen and costly if not accomplished. . Efficiency Models: Not only is it important to fill jobs with the best and most talented professionals, but now there are studies out in abundance regarding the lost revenue of healthcare employers from unfilled jobs – so filling jobs faster is also now a key issue. The Advisory Group Inc., in Washington, DC claims hospitals lose a minimum of $100,000 for every month a physician job is unfilled. It is startling that a hospital can go 9 months before filling a specialty physician job, resulting in an “opportunity loss” of a million dollars and higher. . Let’s review something important at this point: these are clear indicators that merely eventually filling an open physician job is necessarily a “success” if a recruiter doesn’t hire a better physician and it took longer than it could have taken. This is like completing a round of golf without keeping the score – and claiming that because you finished you succeeded. . Technology Changes and the New Jobseeker: Anyone except those living under rocks knows the Internet has changed the game. But the better recruiters know it is not just about posting your jobs online. The psychology of how people use the computer, “reaching” people in a new way, and how information can be not just delivered, but in a manner that improves the sale, pre-qualification of candidates, encourages referrals – improves the process for both sides, is requisite for healthcare employers who want to stay ahead of competitors out there for the better and more talented workers – who will make their companies better than the others (and again, offer better treatment to patients – which is what it should really about and motivate medical recruiters). In a future post I will address the new jobseekers and approaches and tools that will promote improved results – even for those without professional selling backgrounds or training. . Financials and Partnerships: Today the actual negotiation of the career position is a factor for medical employers and hospitals. For instance, physicians now have the option of establishing a private practice, joining an existing practice, they can choose an employed model offered by an individual employer, and there are practice management services which employ doctors and offer them to hospital clients as a “service.” Almost anything is negotiable. Medical Recruiters can impact the candidate’s choice in this regard – in many cases physicians don’t know these options. The “presentation” of career opportunities by the medical professionals, through closing the physician or practitioner while being aware of the options that can be provided, can impact landing that candidate. . Classic Selling Concepts never get outdated: Are you skilled at asking for referrals? Imagine filling a second opening without repeating a long, expensive search simply by remembering to ask a candidate you have just closed for a peer referral? I will share signature selling tenets that will promote quantum leaps in your approach regarding effectiveness, efficiency, competitiveness, and time savings – but remember we first have to make sure we have you committed to this first feature, because having a sincere passion required to be great promotes seeking to improve. . The hidden pandemic of Retention: A physician leaving after a great deal of time, effort, money, and uncountable hours of initial set up by many people, are all ruined if after 6 months the newly-recruited physician leaves – and the process has to be stared again. It is also a demoralizing experience. Here is another example of merely “making the placement” isn’t a measure of success – and also suggests you really cannot determine if the placement was successful until much later. . I laugh at the public statements made by many hospital companies who seem to brag about the amount of money spend on physician recruiting as well as the number of new physicians they recruited – because as a patient, neither would matter to me. “How are you recruiting? Are you being both economical to save money that could be better spent on me, and what are you doing to attract and retain the best talent?” Are these not the questions a patient or hospital board member, or the medical recruiter, should ultimately be asking? . Because of these factors, recruiters without the motivation to move beyond status quo recruiting and think they are “successful” merely because they eventually fill open jobs, are ignoring so many important factors that the mentality can be considered negligent. Are you willing to be great for your patients? Do you accept the solemn responsibility that being an employer medical recruiter affects lives, so you must endeavor to continually improve? . The difference between a .250 hitter and a hall of fame .300 hitter over 550 at bats is just 27 hits. Over a six month season (26 weeks), that's effectively a hit a week. Sure, talent is a big part of it, but I can show you a basic path that is more important than talent to promote a truly fulfilling career. In my next entries I will review the basics you need to fulfill that pledge to yourself, but you must first have the foundation to build on – and it starts with your sincere motivation. . Make this Foundation Commitment #1: “I understand that my work directly impacts the lives of people. I commit to take a silent moment of reflection on this fact before I begin work every day. I acknowledge that I am passionate about my career position and this will be my guiding motivator to continually improve – acceptance of the status quo is never acceptable because it is never an answer for our patients and their families.” . Carl Brickman For more information about me or to reach me, visit my company’s website at http://www.onlinejobtour.com/

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