Connection: the Key to Getting Job Offers Accepted

As every physician recruiter knows, it’s definitely a physician’s market out there! A high percent of offers are rejected by M.D.s, but it’s not always just about the salary, the community, or the perks and benefits of the positions. A lot of times, it’s about how well the interview goes and whether or not the physician candidate feels a connection with you. After all, an interview is just a conversation between two people. Here are a few tips on how to connect.

Make the Interview About the Candidate

No doubt you can see the similarities between interviewing a candidate and going on a first date. In both instances, you’re trying to get to know someone, find out what makes them tick, and determine whether they’re the one you’ve been looking for. A big mistake that some recruiters make is to focus on selling the offer and the position up front, rather than getting to know the candidate first. If you were on a first date, you’d definitely want to focus on your date’s likes, interests, career, and so on, before telling them all about yourself, and the same is true in physician recruiting.

Use Behavioral Interviewing Techniques

If you read our article on Behavioral Interviewing Techniques, you’ll know that these types of questions help you to get an idea of how the candidate will behave on the job. Behavioral questions are also known as situational questions, because they encourage the candidate to open up and share stories about situations in their past and how they handled them.

Use questions like:

• Tell me about a time when you were under a lot of pressure at work.
• Have you ever had conflict with a colleague? What did you do to improve the situation?
• What do you consider your greatest accomplishment, career-wise, and why?

They will help you to determine how the candidate holds up under pressure, gets along with other colleagues, and handles disputes. And in terms of connection, they’ll give the candidate an opportunity to tell you about their strengths, goals, and challenges. See more behavioral interview questions.

Make Your Language Candidate-Centric

When describing your clinic, community, and offer, be sure to make a point of using language that will help physicians envision themselves there. So instead of just “We’re looking for” and “Our hospital or clinic offers,” try to work in some statements that are about the candidate, such as, “If you’re the kind of candidate who….” or “I think you’ll really like the fact that we…” Linguistically bringing the physician into the hospital can bring you one step closer to literally bringing him or her there.

Of course, a big part of your job as a physician recruiter is to sell your hospital, community, and the offer, so definitely do that! But if you can do so in a way that is candidate-centric, you’re more likely to make a connection, and in turn, more likely to get your offer accepted.