Relying on others can be scary. As a physician, you likely encourage patients (and probably even family and friends) to rely on you every day, but it somehow feels different when you have to depend on someone else – particularly when it comes to something as nebulous as help with finding a new job. And yet, that’s what you do when you register with a job board and start working with a recruiter.

Like your patients who do their due diligence before choosing you as their physician, you should also do yours. Perhaps you choose to register with PracticeLink because you’ve heard it helps build strong CVs, or you read it has been the number one job resource for physicians for 30 years, or maybe it’s because you’ve seen firsthand how PracticeLink’s website is intuitive and easy to navigate. Whatever the reason, “Welcome!” We are happy you’re here.

The next step is finding and applying for jobs, and you have to consider more than just the details of the position. Significant consideration also goes into the healthcare organization, the community, and, to some extent, the state if you’re concerned about its healthcare laws. This much, thankfully, is all still within your control. You do the research, and you make the decision whether to apply or not. The next part can feel overwhelming: Actually applying for jobs and being contacted by recruiters. That first conversation with a recruiter might be a brief ten minutes or a hypnotic hour or so and give the illusion that recruiters are the gateway or the roadblock to you moving forward with the dream job you applied for.

Fear not. PracticeLink has worked with physician recruiters for as long as we’ve been supporting physician candidates, and we’ve come to learn a thing or two about who they are and what they do. We’ve seen their hearts and how hard they work and can tell you that working with recruiters can quite possibly be the most enjoyable part of the entire job-hunting process—not the scariest.

One reason is that physician recruiters are not purposeful roadblocks between talented candidates and the healthcare organizations for which they work. As a candidate, if you’re not moved forward to recruit status, it’s likely because the organization or community or compensation wasn’t a good fit. While you may never know the exact reason, you can be fairly certain you dodged a bullet and are now free to focus your time and energy on getting placed where you can truly thrive.

For more about what physician recruiters do and how they can be true allies in the search for your first, next or dream practice, we reached out to veteran physician recruiter KC Fleming. Fleming is the in-house recruiter at Great River Health, a mid-size hospital in suburban West Burlington, Iowa.

“I believe physicians are interviewing us as much as we are interviewing them,” Fleming explains. To that end, he likes to start out by getting to know the candidate and then move forward by discussing any potential dealbreakers, all the while being fully transparent.

Here is a Q&A with KC Fleming covering the life cycle of recruiting a single candidate and how physician recruiters help providers.

When you get applications, how many piles do you sort them into?

I try not to categorize right off the bat, but there are some applications that might get higher priority. It depends on how they enter the gravity well, as I like to call it. If it’s someone who applied to the job posting, they go pretty high on the list. They’ve read through it, saw the qualifications and still applied.

What if, when you call an applicant, they don’t immediately remember your organization? Do you fault them for that?

With technology today, physicians get hundreds of touches every day—from texts and emails to social media and various correspondence at work. And of course, messages from other job opportunities. I don’t expect them to remember every detail. It’s ok if they say to me, ‘I forget who you are. Tell me about it.’”

How does a physician go from applicant to candidate?

Everybody’s got a story and I want to hear it. When they go from applicant to candidate, it’s because of their story. Sometimes I may not be sure they are the right fit, but then I fill in the blanks once I figure out their story.

Something I do is I really keep the camera on them. I gotta know what they’re thinking about. Step one for me is I ask, “What are these people looking for and why are we on their radar?” Nobody likes to be sold. Instead, I find out what they’re looking for.

What’s the dealbreaker that would keep a candidate from becoming a recruit?

Dealbreakers are important. Not just ours but theirs as well. I find out what’s the absolute deal breaker. I try to find out what I can. For example, for us, they have to be board-certified. Even though Board certification is voluntary, and there’s no law that requires a physician be board-certified, we cannot support anyone who isn’t certified. However, we can do other things, like provide immigration support. For us, a foreign applicant isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but it might be for another system, while that other system may not have a problem with a candidate who isn’t board-certified.

Then, I find out what their dealbreakers are. For instance, we’ve got one Target and two Starbucks. Also, if you go to a grocery store, people are gonna come up to you, and they’re gonna ask you questions. Our smaller market isn’t for everyone, and that’s ok! I listen and find out what the candidate needs.

My approach with candidates is, ‘I’m here to help you. I’m not here to sell you anything.’ I’m not here to sell them on Great River or Southeast Iowa. I’m here to help them find a great career. We don’t have this but you might be surprised to know we have this, this and this.

At what point does a candidate become a recruit?

Once I’ve talked to them and I’m presenting them to leadership and the docs as a candidate. They’re in that pipeline or gravity well. Then we work them through until potentially signing and then they become part of the family—part of the medical staff and part of the family.

How important is transparency?

Personally, that’s my M.O. Being transparent is the right thing to do. It’s how I would want to be treated. That’s also how my organization operates. That’s how we’re built from the CEO on down.

At the end of the day, we are who we are. We’re proud of it. We know we’re not for everybody and that’s ok.

What happens when you recommend candidates?

I send an email to the stakeholders, who are predominantly administrative leadership and physicians within the service line. I present my recruit. I don’t include much commentary. I submit objective context of what I gathered. This way, they can form objective decisions based on fact. Many times, I’ll get feedback asking if I can find out a little bit more about this or that. Or, they might say, ‘Great! Let’s talk to them.’ Sometimes, they might say, ‘No thanks,’ or that something looks a little off and that they want to talk to the recruit. Occasionally, the candidate appears to align with us very well, and they’ll get back to me and say, ‘Great. Let’s bring them in for a site visit.’

Are site visits that important?

Site visits are extremely important. It’s very common for me to hear from recruits—Wow, this city and this system is bigger than I thought. People can Google and have an idea. But it’s super important to come here and see things.

Site visits also help with transparency and retention. When an organization brings people on properly, the employee knows exactly what they’re getting into.

Do you have a party after signing the contract?

It’s super exciting. We have them do a signing selfie and we share that with our leadership team and medical staff. Contracts can be challenging. When I extend the offer, any negotiation is done before the contract gets written up. It has to include every detail of what we’ve talked about, what the organization expects and what the new hire can expect from us. I prepare people in advance, and I make sure it has all the right info. Then, I walk them through all the points before they ever see it. Ultimately, if I’ve done my job, they know everything that’s in there.

After that, signing should just be confirmation. Contract signings are great, but that’s not the only fulfilling part about hiring a new employee. It’s being in the grocery store and someone comes up to me and says, ‘I know you recruited Dr. X and they saved my dad’s life or something,’ or something like that. Or when I meet up with a doctor four years down the road and see how much they’ve grown.

After the contract is signed, is your job done?

If someone invites you to a party and then never sees you again, they’re not being a really good host. I’m always still trying to find out their story. What type of house do they want and what else do they need to live? What type of school do they want for their children and what else does their family need?

I find people, bring them in and make sure they meet the right people and are having success. Even after placement, I continue to get calls and emails.

How painful is the onboarding process?

Great River has a well-established onboarding that runs pretty smoothly. Before it starts, I make sure new hires are prepared for what the process will entail. Also, I’m right there. I might have to start looking for the next candidate for a different position, but I’m never out of reach for the new hire. I educate them about onboarding and work closely with the people involved. We have an amazing onboarding team, which is a critical part of why we are successful.

What if it falls through and the recruit isn’t hired?

I really present myself and our health system as a resource. I let them know that no matter what happens down the road, I’d love to keep in touch and be a resource. So even if we don’t check all their boxes or they don’t check all of ours, I can recommend them to other physician recruiters. I’ve got colleagues all over the country. We reach out to each other all the time. It’s really refreshing. We compete for people, but we also share profiles as well.

The road to getting hired at a new practice can be rigorous, but physician recruiters are competent, credible and diligent.  Allying with your recruiter can be rewarding—whether you end up getting hired by their organization or get recommended for something that’s a better fit.