Physician recruitment has changed over the years, but the need for compelling, targeted recruitment messages hasn’t. Despite new technologies and the race for scale, speed, and efficiency in physician recruitment, the MESSAGE is still vital –  and yet sometimes, it feels as though it is taking a back seat. That’s simply not the case.

We invited Lou Adler of the Adler Group, the originator of Performance-based Hiring, to speak at a recent Doximity recruiter advisory board meeting and he offered a critical point to consider about messaging and DocPosts:

To hire better people you have to define the job before you define the person.

After all, what is work? Adler says: “It’s certainly not a job description listing skills, experiences, ‘must have’ personal traits and academic requirements. This is a person description, certainly not a job description. Adding a list of generic responsibilities doesn’t help much in defining the actual work, but collectively this is what companies around the world use to attract, screen and select new employees.”

No matter how vital or motivating your job is, you won't attract physician candidates if they don’t read your DocMail or DocPost. So if you want to hire the best candidate, you start with a great job – but you need to support a great job with great marketing.

“Great recruiters have broken free from traditional and ineffective job postings by thinking like marketing people,” says Adler. The idea is to understand why a top person would find your job worth considering and capturing. That’s why you need to grab the candidate’s attention with your first line. For starters, most job posts are written to weed out weaker candidates, not attract stronger ones. Adler suggests banishing skills-infested job descriptions and job postings. This could mean your DocMails and DocPosts aren’t getting candidates because you’re not using the right language. Use action verbs and ask yourself this question: Given their skills, what will a physician candidate need to accomplish on the job?  

When writing DocMails and DocPosts Adler advises, “Capture the magic in the job by emphasizing what the person will be learning and doing and what he or she could become if successful. This is how you attract the best people.” He also suggests: When preparing job descriptions, ask, “Why would a top, fully-employed person want this job?” Then ask, “What are the 2-3 things this person must accomplish over the course of the first 6-12 months in order to be considered successful?” Then convert this into a story. The story is what you’ll post or send as part of an email.

Physician recruitment can be an impersonal process, but if you remain focused on the candidate – and tell a captivating story about your opportunity that’s likely to appeal to them – you’ll attract the best candidates. Remember, a DocPost is a marketing ad designed to attract physician candidates; it’s not intended to be a barrier to entry. Before writing your next job post, make sure you read these 5 powerful tips for optimizing your Doximity DocPosts.