After years of trying to fill sub-specialty Division Chief roles, a Kentucky hospital turned to Jackson Physician Search for help. Director of Physician Executive Search Dirk Jansson leveraged a two-pronged approach, targeting both active and passive candidates to ultimately identify the ideal physicians for the jobs.
At what point does a healthcare leader realize it may be time to bring in some outside assistance on physician executive recruitment? Is it six months of minimal activity? One year? Two? Of course, it may depend on the average time-to-fill for a given specialty, and the location is always a factor, but after going five years without a Division Chief in the Gastroenterology department, leadership at an academic children’s hospital in a Kentucky metro knew it was time. They had also been searching for a Hematology-Oncology Division Chief for over a year with no luck. It was time to partner with a physician executive recruitment expert who could deliver results. With an endorsement from the Kentucky Hospital Association, Jackson Physician Search was the obvious choice.
Understanding the Physician Executive Roles
Over the course of four decades of recruiting physicians, Jackson Physician Search has built a vast database of physicians at all stages of their careers from which to draw candidates. However, before Director of Physician Executive Search Dirk Jansson dove into the database, he needed to visit the facility and meet with the stakeholders to better understand the requirements of the role — both clinical and cultural.
“The site visit is so important, and it’s something that really gives us an advantage,” says Dirk. “This is when we learn the organization’s story so we can fully understand its needs. It gives us a clear picture of who we are looking for.”
Dirk also knows the value of being able to tell candidates about the facility, the people, and the community from personal experience.
“When you’ve spent time in a place, you can share more than just the facts of the opportunity,” he explains. “You can talk about the culture as you experienced it, recommend a restaurant, and share what traffic is like in the area. These details can make a difference when presenting an opportunity to a candidate.”
A Strategy to Overcome the Obstacles
As Dirk saw it, the biggest challenges were 1) the candidate pools for these subspecialty positions were extremely small, and 2) due to the city’s proximity to other leading children’s programs, they would be competing for talent with several bigger hospitals. Dirk knew he would need to reach both active and passive candidates if he hoped to find the right physician executives for the roles. Luckily, Jackson Physician Search has access to 10+ specialty and subspecialty job boards to leverage in combination with its extensive database.
Dirk was impressed with the facility and particularly its people. He went home to craft physician executive job ads that highlighted the most attractive parts of the jobs and compelled the right candidates to apply. He would leverage Jackson Physician Search’s vast network of physician job boards to distribute the Division Chief job ads to physicians in an active job search nationwide.
Dirk turned to the database to carve out a target candidate pool that focused on experienced leaders at large programs within the region who might not have an opportunity to take the Chief role in their current organization in the foreseeable future. Dirk’s strategy was to contact these physicians directly and tell them about the Division Chief roles with his client.
The Need for Active and Passive Physician Executive Recruitment Strategies
The strategy paid off. Dr. F was in a leadership role at his organization, but they had recently hired a new Division Chief, so he knew his upward mobility was limited. It took multiple emails, texts, and voicemails, but eventually, Dr. F responded. Dirk described the Hem-Onc role, and Dr. F felt the opportunity aligned with his long-term goals and was interested in pursuing it. However, when Dirk learned that Dr. F has high school-age children, he feared they might resist the relocation and knew it would be imperative that they all felt embraced by the community — something Dirk’s client achieved. Dr. F accepted the offer shortly after the on-site interview, successfully ending the organization’s journey to find the right leader for its Hematology/Oncology department.
With the Hem-Onc Chief secured Dirk continued to reach out to candidates for the Gastroenterology role. The department’s small size created an additional challenge, as this meant a significant amount of time on call. Dirk leveraged the same outreach strategy as he had for the Hem-Onc search, but, ultimately, it was the job posting that attracted Dr. B. He was working with a small team in Florida, but with his daughter newly graduated, he and his wife were looking to make a change. The opportunity in Kentucky was close to his wife’s family, and the position would mean growth for Dr. B. The site visit went well, and Dr. B was happy to accept the offer. After five years of searching, a physician executive search partner was the missing piece to bring the Gastroenterology department the Division Chief it needed.
Secrets of Physician Executive Recruitment Success
With an extremely limited candidate pool, Dirk’s access to vast physician databases and an extensive job board network that includes those for subspecialties significantly contributed to the success of the search. As Dr. F was not in an active job search, he would not have learned about the opportunity were it not for Dirk’s candidate acquisition resources combined with his consistent communication. Without the job board network, Dr. B would not have been targeted by Dirk’s outreach.
Dirk also circles back to the site visit as a crucial part of the strategy. By spending time at the facility and getting to know its leaders, he fully understood who would be ideal to make an immediate impact on the organization and was able to share his experience of the organization and the community with candidates.
Dirk also credits the client for understanding how important it is for the spouse/family to feel embraced by the organization. They provided a thoughtful itinerary that spanned several days and appealed to the candidates’ (and families’) interests.
“People don’t join facilities; they join people,” says Dirk, “And the more people the candidate connects with, the more likely they are to want to join.” The client understood this and ensured both candidates and their families felt welcome.
The combination of efforts set both physician leaders up for lasting success with the organization and provided the Hematology/Oncology and Gastroenterology divisions with the leaders they needed.
If your organization is facing a difficult physician executive search, the team at Jackson Physician Search has the expertise, access, and tools to assist effectively. Reach out today to learn more.
