The majority of physicians aren’t actively seeking new career opportunities, but that doesn’t come as a surprise to most physician recruiters. Physician shortages abound, and increases in the number of new physicians entering the workforce remain modest, so you’re tasked with sourcing quality physicians from a limited pool of candidates. In fact, you’re tasked with recruiting experienced physicians who are not even looking for a new position!

In a 2018 Doximity physician survey, we found that just 10.5% of physicians are attending job fairs, searching job listings, or actively looking for employment. Another 72.8% of physicians are curious about opportunities, but not aggressively seeking career opportunities.

Most physicians are open to new job opportunities.

The good news is that although the majority of physicians are not actively seeking new employment, studies show that most physicians are at least curious about relevant job opportunities and are open to discussing them. Of course, the single largest pool of clinician candidates continues to be those already in practice - and you’ll find over 2 million of them on Doximity.

Passive candidates are essentially untapped candidates.

The best strategy for reaching passive candidates is one that puts the physician in control of the outcome and reaches them in an efficient, time-saving environment. Physicians value their privacy and changing jobs can be very sensitive.

Doximity physician members present an audience of over 80% of U.S. physicians in one secure network—where physicians can specify their preference for location, schedule and compensation and opt to receive targeted career opportunities. You can post your opportunities in a network where physicians are searching for clinical content. Physician recruiters can also communicate with physicians in an environment where care-related literature searches and discussions with colleagues can be accredited as Continuing Medical Education credits.

Even the bad news is still good news.

If you’re only focusing on active physician candidates, you’re missing out on roughly 73% of the US physician labor pool! These physicians may be passive jobseekers, but they’re not all from a single “group” of physicians. You can segment them based on their level of activity and interest in opportunities, and because these physicians aren’t focused on changing jobs, there are other key motivators, beyond compensation that just might catch their attention. How will a potential opportunity work to harness or improve a physician’s unique skill set? Physicians are high achievers, so career advancement and self-improvement can be strong motivators for opening a discussion about a change.

Lou Adler, a renowned author and the CEO of The Adler Group, a consulting firm that helps companies implement performance-based hiring, says there are four groups of candidates: Those who are looking, those who are starting to look, those who are thinking about looking, and those who aren’t even thinking about looking. To attract top performers, Adler says companies need to structure their hiring processes on the premise that they need to attract the best people, not weed them out.

Reaching this very large pool of passive physician candidates can be complex, but the channels of communication you use can determine your success or failure. Learn more about how you can use social recruiting to expand your candidate pool here.