The physician employment landscape is shifting. More physicians are selling their private practices to become employees of hospitals and larger groups. In fact, 2016 marked the first year ever in which less than half of practicing physicians owned their own practices. While it’s still important, compensation is no longer the only factor for physicians who are seeking new career opportunities. What do physicians look for when they're seeking a career change? Where are they seeking those opportunities?
For starters, physicians are more mobile than ever before. That means they’re more willing to make a change if their current position isn’t meeting their needs. One of the top motivators driving physicians to change jobs is (not surprisingly) their scheduled work hours and on-call time, which means your facility needs to hire enough clinicians to keep call coverage at a minimum.
Incentives are another big motivator – offering a relocation allowance, for instance. The average relocation allowance in 2018 was $9,441 for physicians and $6,250 for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, according to a 2018 Merritt Hawkins Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives. In fact, the most common physician recruiting incentives organizations are using to pull in top talent include:
- Health benefits
- Malpractice insurance
- Relocation allowance
- Continuing medical education (CME) allowance
- Retirement/401K plan
- Salary plus production bonus
- Signing bonus
- Educational loan repayment
Beyond incentives, there are a few other key points you should know about physician candidates who are ready to make a career change. In its annual physician practice preference survey for 2018, The Medicus Firm released these crucial findings:
- Nearly 20% of respondents plan to make a career change within 12 months.
The data confirms about eight percent are “definitely” leaving and another ten percent are “most likely” making a career change. Only 26% indicated they are definitely NOT making a career move this year.
- Not surprisingly, the most motivating factors inspiring job change are financial rewards and geographic location. The next pressing concern was work-related stress and burnout.
- Physicians tend to prefer practices in major metropolitan or suburban areas, and the southeast region of the US remains the most desired region to work. New England / the Northeast took second place, and the Pacific (California, Nevada, and Hawaii) tied in third place with the Great Lakes (OH, MI, IN, IL, WI, MN).
- The top choice of practice specialty is single-specialty groups, though a decline from the previous year. The most significant shift in practice type preference however, was the large jump in popularity for academic roles among residents and fellows, up to 34.7%, from 25% last year.
Doximity released further insights in the 2018 Physician Career Preferences Report.
- 72.8% of candidates are passive job seekers. That means while they are not actively looking for roles, they are open to hearing about them if it sounds like a fit.
- 43.5% of physicians receive multiple messages from recruiters each week. Now more than ever, physicians are being bombarded by new job opportunities; be sure that yours stand out.
- Personal referrals and online networks are the most common places physicians use to find new career opportunities.
So how can you make sure you're reaching candidates in the way that resonates with them the most? Meet them where they already are - the internet, using social recruiting techniques. With over 1 million medical practitioners on Doximity, this is a great resource for your recruiting.
Curious to learn more about how you can leverage social recruiting to find the best candidates? This Social Recruiting Guide is for you.
