The life of a recruiter is demanding. It doesn’t stop at 5 p.m.—it constantly requires you to be on the phone, traveling, checking emails, interviewing, touring, meeting with department chairs and hiring managers and so on. This often leaves little time for you to learn and grow professionally. Unfortunately, there is no standing still when it comes to learning—you’re either learning or being left behind.

Education and learning are not simply defined by the university you attended or the degree you earned but by what you do to be a better employer, employee, co-worker or spouse. Studies have shown that, in addition to increasing knowledge, continued learning leads to greater self-fulfillment and happiness.

Staying current with your industry’s trends is one imperative form of learning. Trends and markets are continuously changing at a rapid pace—especially in health care. If you understand what is occurring in your industry, you can adapt more quickly and be proactive rather than reactive. You’ll be better able to identify problems before they arise and create a solution.

Learning doesn’t occur completely by osmosis, as much as we would like it to. You must make a conscious effort to find ways to increase your knowledge. As Abigail Adams said, “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”

Whether you’ve been a recruiter for 10 days or 10 years, you can learn new things. Here are several ways to stay current in the physician recruitment field:

• Network. Whether you do so through associations, meetings or social media, the shared knowledge of your connections is powerful.
• Be actively involved in ASPR or your regional recruiter organizations (e.g. MINK, SWPRA or CAPS).
• Attend a Physician Recruitment Intensive Training course to increase your knowledge of best practices.
• Attend PracticeLink University. We offer recruiter workshops worth 2.5 ASPR CEU credits prior to PracticeLink Live! job fairs,  plus free weekly webinars that cover everything from recruitment best practices and to special tips from industry speakers.
• Follow PracticeLink and other thought leaders on social media. News pertaining to recruitment and health care is readily available online. LinkedIn is a great resource for information, and on our PracticeLink Facebook and Twitter feeds, we’re always sharing resources for you and physicians (which help you be a resource to candidates!). You can also have articles delivered right to your inbox by signing up for Google Alerts for certain keywords. Modern Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review are particularly helpful for keeping current. These resources—along with blogs and newsletters—offer an abundance of information for today’s recruiter. Physician recruitment is one niche of health care, so don’t pigeonhole yourself with only recruitment knowledge; pay attention to the health care industry as a whole.

The purpose of learning is to better yourself, no matter what you do. As you learn, you’ll become indispensable to your department, organization and industry. A commitment to lifelong learning and to staying on top of industry trends shows you are not only a professional but also a valuable asset to any organization.