The longer it pervades our lives, the more evident it becomes that COVID-19 isn’t a threat limited to our physical health. The pandemic has changed everything we know about day-to-day life – unearthing a greater awareness that such immediate and intense shifts to routine and structure impact our mindset.  For what feels like the first time, mental health isn’t just relevant to those with pre-existing psychological conditions; the pandemic has proven none of us are exempt from its effects.

Finding the best candidates to fill certain specialty needs can already be a challenge, and those challenges might be magnified during a medical crisis. Some specialties are harder to recruit than others; it helps to identify those – along with specialties that are most in demand – so you can build your recruitment strategy and prioritize your search and resources if you have immediate needs, if recruitment is stalled or if you need to be ready to increase recruitment efforts as day-to-day responsibilities return to some form of normal.

PracticeLink develops a Physician Recruitment Index with information gathered quarterly by the PracticeLink system based on supply and demand of specialty jobs and specialists. The more jobs per candidate in the system, the more difficult recruiters may find the search for those specialties.

Download the Spring 2020 15 Hardest-to-Recruit Specialties

Download the Spring 2020 15 Most In-Demand Specialties

As interviews move to virtual platforms, it’s important to know how to best present yourself and how you can help physicians and advanced practice providers make a good impression in a video interview. Recruiters from HCA Healthcare provide tips to share with the physicians and APPs you’re recruiting, which can also benefit you as you conduct interviews.

Physician job interviews are shifting temporarily to video platforms as hospital systems and medical practices adapt recruiting processes to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 environment.  With exception of international jobs, face-to-face interviews have always been the “next step” after initial screening calls in the United States.  Employers are adapting to a new normal due to travel restrictions and limitations on non-essential visitors to hospitals.  Your ability to perform well in a video interview is more important right now, during this crisis, than it ever has been or will be in the future.  In 2020, some offers will be made and contracts developed before the selected candidate ever sets foot on the hospital campus.  Here are a few tips from HCA Healthcare recruiters:

The roles of physicians and recruiters differ in many ways. However, one of their goals is the same: to provide patients the best possible experience at their facilities. Exceptional treatment and healing are a big part of patient satisfaction, and your impact is finding and recruiting the physicians who deliver this exceptional treatment and strive to give patients a positive experience.

This week, the healthcare industry will observe Patient Experience Week to celebrate healthcare staff who create positive patient experiences every day. It’s also a reminder that as a recruiter, your impact on the patient experience is just as great as the physicians you hire. If physicians shape the patient experience, recruiters who find and hire those physicians set the stage.