Physician recruiters are all too familiar with the Candidate Funnel, often called the Talent Pipeline. Simply put, this is the process of finding, engaging with, and hiring prospective candidates. Physician recruiters know they need to be constantly looking for quality candidates, even when there’s no immediate opening, so your funnel is vital over the long term.

Understanding the concept of a funnel is the first step; having a clear vision of how it works comes next. Here’s what a basic (passive) funnel looks like:

Although the basic Candidate Funnel has value, let's take a look at a more comprehensive funnel – one that's optimized for Quality of Hire:

The final three steps are self-explanatory, but here's more detail on the first three:

Sourcing, Contact & Convert: How you reach candidates initially (to bring them into your funnel). This is likely your job postings, career website, and employment branding. Also, how you source prospective candidates or identify them, and how you connect with them.

Recruit & Convert: How you screen prospects to encourage/gain interest. This might include your application processes and phone interviews and will turn prospects into candidates.

Screening/Candidate Shortlist: How you vet candidates for background, skills and even cultural fit. This likely includes in-person interviews.

Quality of Hire: Optimize your funnel to maximize your recruiting

If you’re sourcing and recruiting with Doximity Talent Finder, your candidates will likely enter your funnel midway. Why? You can vet candidates using their Doximity profile, and you can connect with them directly via DocMails. It’s a great step to achieving a better quality of hire, too.

Lou Adler of The Adler Group says, “A great hire at the end of the process is only possible if there was a great job at the beginning.” Therefore, you must optimize your funnel for Quality of Hire. He suggests tracking the following:

Qualified candidates per opening – or the number of applicants who move through the recruiting process for a specific opening.

Candidates by source – referral, social media, job boards – to see which outlet is providing the most qualified candidates (and therefore, where to direct your recruiting efforts).

Days to offer – the number of days from the point a candidate applies for a position to when they accept or reject the offer. Time to hire is a common metric that represents the time from a job opening to a candidate’s start date, but days to offer covers a tighter window. Days to offer also shows how long it takes for an applicant to complete the process once they’re in your funnel.

How do you know where to focus your recruiting resources?

Try working backward to quantify your candidate pipeline needs: How many hires do you need to make this quarter or year? Calculate how many applicants and website visitors you need based on your conversion rates. Try attaching resource and budget needs to the steps needed to achieve your goals, too.

Personalize your messages – custom campaigns that are tailored to your candidates will attract the talent you need and help you build relationships. 

Partner with your marketing team – improve your brand and create an excellent candidate experience by making marketing your ally. Creating a brand experience that inspires engagement and conversion is their expertise! Ask them for help, and make sure your recruiting is in sync with marketing.

An optimized Candidate Funnel can reduce your time to fill a position

It’s important to have a mix of candidates – some from earlier job screenings, some new candidates from job boards, and so on. You’re likely to have candidates you’ve screened for other positions who didn’t fit the bill at the time. A good Candidate Funnel means you don’t have to start the process all over again – you can focus on candidates you screened for another position, which can greatly reduce your time to fill a new position.

Something else to think about: if a candidate has a track record of notable accomplishments, fits the culture of the position you're hiring for, and sees your job as a true career move, the probability he or she will be a top performer is high. This is a critical piece of the closing process because these candidates will be judging your opportunity on its career merits, not just the compensation package.

This is Part 3 of our Physician Recruitment ROI Series. Next up is Why analyzing Sourcing Channels is critical to your recruiting ROI. Or jump to Part 1, Part 2, Part 4 or Part 5.

Are you using Doximity Talent Finder to fill your Candidate Funnel? Sign up for a product demo today.