By Ashleè L. Dennis, Marketing Communications Specialist
Physicians are no strangers to job solicitations from hospitals, physician practices and physician search firms. With little chance that the worsening physician shortage will right itself, promising opportunities seem readily available. While doctors may not have to work too hard to find open positions, their free time comes at a premium.
When you’re in the market for a new position, responding to recruiters and participating in initial interviews serve to narrow your options. This is the stage when you’re able to assess the likelihood of a match between what the healthcare organization has to offer, and what you’re hoping to achieve. But it’s the site visit that will make or break the deal.
Let’s switch gears for just a moment. Think back to when you bought your last vehicle.
There’s something that happens to most of us as we invest an increasing amount of time into just about anyone or anything. We have a harder time walking away when the situation isn’t a good fit. For the most part, people don’t like to be wrong or waste time. As they advance through the stages of any process, engagement proportionately increases.
Car dealerships understand this principle. Before the test drive, you fill out a form and hand over your driver’s license. Remember what’s on that form? Oh yes, what your needs are, what you are willing to spend, what you currently drive—basically everything they need to know about what it will take to get you in a new vehicle.
After the test drive, the endless trips between the sales person’s office and the elusive sales manager to negotiate a deal begin. You might not even be convinced you want to buy the vehicle. But after sitting there for three rounds of negotiations and most of the afternoon, something in you starts to shift. Before you know it, you’re waiting for your shiny new vehicle to be prepped.
What does buying a car have to do with a site visit?
Physicians arrive for the site visit with a clear sense of their goals, but during a full day of interviews and driving the community, tunnel vision often starts to set in. Suddenly you can imagine your name on the very same name badge you’re looking at across the table.
The opportunity may be a good fit for you and your family, but keeping your goals top of mind and asking pre-planned questions about the organization and community can ensure you make a choice you’re happy with long term. Recruiters and leadership should provide you with peace of mind as the day unfolds. Look for the following four signs that the opportunity you’re considering provides a good cultural match:
- Are my values, needs and goals understood and in alignment with the organization? It is the recruiter’s responsibility to discuss what is most important to you, and then demonstrate that the opportunity is in alignment. During the interview process, discuss the following issues to assess job and cultural fit:
- Ability to teach and participate in clinical research
- Communication channels between leadership and physicians
- Strategic initiatives being pursued by the healthcare organization
- Staffing ratios and on-call expectations to assess work and life balance
- Cost of living in the community, assessment of schools and availability of extra curricular activities and hobbies
- Career opportunities for spouses
- Is the site visit well organized? Nobody wants to leave a poor first impression. But a disorganized site visit may be cause for concern. While I don’t recommend you assume the hospital is run the same way, it does warrant some additional questions. For example, how are decisions made among leadership and how are those outcomes communicated to the staff? Is the hospital understaffed to the point where details slip? How has the hospital ranked in terms of quality and patient safety?
- Is leadership transparent about the pros and cons of the hospital and its location? Trust, but verify is a good policy in any situation that affects you and your family. Before the onsite interview and tour, physicians should play the role of detective to uncover for themselves the pros and cons of the position, the facility and the community. Also, we recommend you ask for time to meet with a few current physicians and nurses to ask any questions you may have concerns about. This is beneficial because it allows you a chance to learn the workflow and general tone of the organization and the community from a peer-to-peer view.
- Self-assess your experience as the day progresses. Continuously check in with yourself and match what you’re hearing against your must haves. By the end of your visit, both you and the hospital’s leadership will likely know if the opportunity is a match. You may even receive a letter of intent or a sample contract along with a soft offer.
It’s definitely a buyer’s market for physicians. In fact, the MRINetwork Recruiter Sentiment Study stated that 90 percent of recruiters believe that recruiting was candidate-driven in 2015, up from 54 percent in 2011. Taking a moment to assess what you’ve learned during the site visit and comparing that against your needs and goals should help you make a swift decision you’ll be happy with for years to come.
If you’re currently looking for a new permanent opportunity, visit phg.com to learn about positions we’re recruiting for now.