Social Networking and Physician Recruiting

I just returned from the American Medical Group Association and was fascinated to learn how some medical groups have turned to social networking sites and using technology to appeal to young physicians during the recruiting process. One large group out on the east coast build a face book page to profile their physicians and the work environment and within 30 days of launching the site, had 60 “friends”. Then they started a blog on written by a new family practice doctor who described her experience at the group since finishing her medical training. There was such a positive response to the blog, and so much dialogue between the blogging physician and the potential recruits, the group hosted a family style dinner with several of the high potential recruits. During dinner they took photos of everyone and then posted those photos on their Facebook site which really helped strengthen the relationship between the new recruits and the medical group.

Leveraging social networking sites has reduce the medical group’s cost of recruiting by increasing the number of physicians who want to come to their group before the group even reaches out to them. The younger medical students already feel like they are part of the group’s community, have a better sense of the group culture and practice environment, and they appreciate the fact the group is communicating with them in the manner they want to be communicated with. In effect, the group’s progressive attitude toward using technology has become a competitive advantage in the marketplace