The medical profession is still experiencing uncertainty and transition, and the demand for physicians is becoming increasingly competitive. What are you doing to ensure your recruiting breaks through? Here are five trends that are impacting physician recruitment now.

1. The physician shortage continues and there’s a war for great doctors.

You’ve heard it a lot: the U.S. is facing a projected physician shortage over the next decade of between 40,800 and 104,900 doctors, according to data released by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). According to a biennial census (at the end of 2016) from the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) there has been a net increase of 12% or 103,610 actively licensed physicians in the U.S. since 2010 – which is simply not enough physicians.

So, there’s a limited pool of experienced, qualified physicians, which means they’re in a position to entertain multiple offers. If you really want a candidate, your offer must be competitive. Your recruiting cycle is going to get longer, too.

2. Doctors are aging – and retiring.

The percentage of physicians who are 60 years of age or older continues to grow – from 25% of the actively licensed physician population in 2010 to 29% in 2016 (per the FSMB). That means more physicians are retiring, making the shortage even worse. It’s imperative then, to include young doctors in your recruiting pipeline. The catch? The competition is fierce. Over 63 percent of final year residents (MS4s) say they’re recruited more than 51 times in their final year. That’s where Doximity comes in. Medical residents are full members of the Doximity network and you can connect with them via DocMail and DocPosts – just the way you connect with physician members. In fact, 90% of all MS4s used Doximity to learn more about Residency Programs from our physician users. You’ll find more tips for recruiting graduates from medical residency training here.

3. Physician burnout is a big problem.

It’s no secret that a lot of physicians these days are disillusioned, but the phenomenon goes beyond disenchantment and stress. Per an NEJM Catalyst survey, 96% of executives, clinical leaders, and clinicians agree that physician burnout is a serious or moderate problem in the healthcare industry.

There are a lot of causes for physician burnout, but nearly half of U.S. doctors say electronic medical records are partly to blame (per U.S. News and World Report). Yes, a system that was supposed to eliminate stress is exacerbating it! One physician says he spends about four minutes of keyboard time for every minute of face-to-face time with a patient. With doctors trapped digitally these days, one thing you can do is make sure your recruiting and application process is simple (have you gone through the application process yourself?) and as hassle free as possible.  

4. Doctors are mobile and so are their job searches.

Doctors are mobile, and they go to their phones when it comes to searching for a new gig, too. In fact, a staggering 90 percent of all job seekers now use mobile devices (per Digital Commerce 360). So make your recruitment is mobile and make it easy for candidates to find what they want about your opportunities. Here are a few ways to ensure your recruiting is optimized for mobile.

5. It’s still tough to recruit doctors for rural areas.

Getting doctors to live and work in rural areas is a chronic problem, and the growing physician shortage is making it even more difficult. There’s a physician distribution imbalance, to boot. When you hear of areas that are “underserved” most people think of tiny towns that are barely dots on the map, but urban centers are struggling because of doctor redistribution. That said, urban communities still tend to attract younger doctors because they offer better “quality of life” cultural and entertainment options. Yet physicians who work in rural areas serve some of the most vulnerable patients, and nowhere are they needed more than in rural America – and that could be your sell. Recruiting doctors to work in rural America isn’t impossible! Read an earlier article about that very thing here. 

Competition for great medial talent always means it’s going to take you longer to fill open positions, but using targeted recruiting tactics that take advantage of technology will improve your communication and increase your candidate pool. Have you incorporated Doximity Talent Finder it into your recruiting strategy? If not, sign up for a free trial and we'll show you the entire site, including the most powerful search in healthcare and how our machine learning algorithms deliver the most relevant job posts to the right candidates at the right time.