Physician recruiting as an industry can trace its roots to the 1980s. Today, estimates place the number of physician recruiting firms at between 4500 and 5000. The vast majority of these are very small, local firms or individual recruiters working from home. The National Association of Physician Recruiters, founded in 1985 has attempted to standardize the industry and provide a much needed code of ethics.

Firms generally fall into one of three categories. Retained firms receive upfront fees and a placement fee when a physician is found. Contingent firms are paid only at the time of placement. The third category has resulted from the growth of the internet and social networking. These companies provide databases for posting positions and CVs, they offer a variety of candidate screening service levels.

As naïve CPAs we entered this industry ten years ago, believing that the placement of physicians would be similar to the executive placement industry. We were quickly disabused of that notion. In our combined 50 years of business experience we have never seen a business relationship as contentious as that between the internal physician recruiter and third party recruiting firms.

On the Fox Business Network, Bill O'Reilly claims that his show is "The No Spin Zone." It is my plan for this blog to be just that for physician jobs. Our industry is full of organizations who claim to be "The Experts" in physician recruiting. Here you will get an inside look at what I have learned and experienced in my 10 years in the industry. Sometimes it may be irreverent and perhaps I will irritate some along the way. Our industry is changing and so we should be willing to take an honest look at ourselves. Hopefully we will have some fun along the way. I welcome your comments.

This entry was posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:30 PM and has received 117 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.