Millennial MD Recruiting 101 with Inline Group President Kelli Mulloy

Across the U.S., urgent care centers (UCCS) are cropping up in record numbers, with no foreseeable end in sight. That’s what drove The Inline Group, a premiere matching source of physicians and advanced practitioners across the U.S., to publish a comprehensive urgent care recruiting manual: Recruiting and Retaining Talent into an Urgent Care Center.

“The urgent care industry is growing so rapidly that the time has come for them to have resources dedicated to their needs,” said Inline Group President Kelli Mulloy. “Our experience in urgent care and candidate sourcing works so well for our clients that we wanted to share all that we have learned.”

Given that Millennials comprise the new wave of physician candidates, we at RecruiterRx wondered what Ms. Mulloy would have to say about recruiting this particular demographic. Last week, we had the opportunity to do a Q&A with her on this very topic. Here’s what she had to say:

Q&A with Kelli Mulloy,
President of The Inline Group

PhysEmp: As Millennials enter the workforce as urgent care physicians, how are their needs different from their predecessors, and how can recruiters address them?

Kelli Mulloy: Millennials under 39 comprise 25% of the members of the American Academy of Family Medicine, while in the general physician population, 15% are under the age of 35. Millennials impact medicine with their attitudes, education, enthusiasm and demands. Three significant impacts are: their commitment to technology as a way of life, their demand for a work/life balance, and the debt that follows them into the workforce.

Growing up in the technology boom, Millennials understand and require instant information and communication. My experience is that patience is not a concept they embrace. Comfortable with all forms of mobile technology, they understand where to find what they do not immediately know. Today, medicine is more complicated than ever and changes occur almost daily. While they cannot know everything, they know they hold a wealth of knowledge in their mobile devices.

They’re not shy about pulling out a smart phone while sitting in the exam room with the patient. Technology provides them the latest information to help their patient. On the flip side, they can be so technology-driven that the computer gets more attention than the patient as the physician types away on his laptop or tablet. We had an experience in an ER where a young physician diagnosed my daughter without ever leaving his position behind his laptop to actually look at her.

Secondly, today’s graduates reject the work schedule of their predecessors. Remember when your physician made hospitals rounds at 6:00 a.m., saw patients all day and then rounded at the hospital from 6:00-8:00 in the evening? Those days are long gone. In fact,for every two physicians who retire, we need three to replace them. Some blame the shortage of physicians on the millennials’ unwillingness to work the overtime. Millennials won’t wait to begin to enjoy life, they want to participate in the lives of their families and pursue other forms of a meaningful life outside of medicine.

The third area is the significant debt many of these physicians incur during their education. Urgent care centers often pay higher salaries and the scheduling allows them to pick up extra shifts to make money. Also, because they do not take their patients “home with them” they are free on their time off.

Many millennials gravitate to urgent care centers. Salary can be better, scheduling is more flexible, administrative responsibilities are lighter, and when they leave work they leave the patients behind. They work a schedule of their choosing, avoid having a call schedule, and can either spend more time at home or pile on hours to pay off debt.

PhysEmp: Today’s physicians are increasingly using mobile phones. What are your feelings on texting as part of the recruitment process?

Kelli Mulloy: Physicians are huge adopters of technology. The advent of electronic medical records and technology utilized in training demands a familiarity with using technology in all aspects of their lives. They answer emails between patients and look at job-related emails during their current work assignments. They are first and foremost consumers and they require the ability to research jobs online before they are willing to even have a phone conversation. They access their world through experiences with Amazon and Starbucks. Their demand for seamless technology extends to their recruiting experience. Texting is a way of life and if you want to connect with a candidate, you better have a mobile-friendly process. We know that 76% of our candidates open their emails on their smart phone or tablet. Our candidates will often text our candidate advisors because they are not able to talk at the moment.

Texting is also considered a personal form of communication and no one wants their phone to become a tool for marketers and sales people. Texting a physician without express permission is inappropriate. However, once a relationship is established, texting is a preferred method of communication with many of our candidates.

PhysEmp: When it comes to retention, what are some of the top factors that contribute to physicians staying at a facility?

Kelli Mulloy: Retention is a huge issue in a market feeling the impacts of a huge physician shortage. Retention must begin at recruitment. Setting the appropriate expectations for each physician is critical. Telling the truth during the interview is huge. Every opportunity has some good, bad, and ugly. Rest assured that once the physician starts to work, the skeletons will come out of the closet. Transparency in the interview is crucial; don’t try to hide what you cannot change. As is a robust on-boarding process. Ensure your new physicians, and their families, have the support and relationships they need. Once a physician and his family are entrenched in your community, they will not want to leave. Left to integrate alone without support leads to unwanted turn-over.

While most physicians will tell you that money is their number one reason for changing jobs, they also desire an environment where they are listened to. Physicians are experiencing a world where they have less and less control over their environment. They want to work at a place where their input is desired and their opinions are important. Setting goals, evaluating performance and listening to your doctors is critical to retaining your physicians.

***

If you found this interview useful and would like more information on the new urgent care center MD recruiting guidelines, you’re more than welcome contact Tina Shuey at 214-260-3209 or tshuey@theinlinegroup.com.

Let us know what you think of this post! Drop us a line in the comment section below.