What is Social Recruiting?
Social recruiting is simply engaging with candidates on social platforms like Doximity. There are many different approaches to social recruiting, but at its core, it is a concept in which you use the social parts of the Internet and accompanying data to find, connect with, and hire active and passive candidates.
Think of it this way: recruiting has always been an endeavor in networking. Social recruiting in today’s technology landscape adds another layer – and a convenient one at that.
Doctors are Digital Omnivores
This is especially pertinent in today’s medical world as care providers are becoming more and more reliant on technology in both their personal and professional lives. Reports have shown that nearly three-quarters of physicians are using computers, smartphones, and tablets in their professional lives alone.
The good news: If doctors are constantly using technology, then one of the best ways to connect with them is through that technology itself.
While a job board might reach a mere 11% of candidates, social recruiting (such as on Doximity) has the potential to appeal to 84% of candidates.
Is social recruiting effective for physician candidates?
Put simply, yes. Social recruiting is an incredibly effective strategy for physician recruiting. In fact:
- 90% of job seekers are using mobile technology (45% of these search for jobs online at least once a day)
- 70% of employers said they have successfully hired from social media
- 75% of hires aren’t actively searching - recruiters use social media to reach them
Why? In a high demand market like this one, social recruiting has become especially important because it allows you to broaden your candidate pool and connect with both active and passive job seekers you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach.
Current surveys have found that 72.8% of U.S. physicians are passive job seekers. That means that 72.8% of U.S. physicians are open to exploring new job opportunities, but only if the opportunity comes to them! While a job board might reach a mere 11% of candidates, social recruiting (such as on Doximity) has the potential to appeal to 84% of candidates.
Getting started with social recruitment hiring
Doximity is the largest network for verified clinicians in the U.S. However, there are a lot of social platforms out there, so a great first step is researching which platform is right for you. Start backwards by asking yourself what you’re trying to accomplish. What are your hiring goals? Next, do some research on your competitors. How are they hiring physicians? What social platforms have you heard about in the industry? These are all great questions that should help lead you to the right decision!
The first step is establishing a presence on the network(s) you choose. Just like how recruiters like to learn about candidates based off their online presence, candidates will be interested in learning about you, too. Your social profile is often going to be the first thing a candidate sees about you, so make sure you strongly represent yourself and the company you represent (check out our blog on building your company’s brand for more tips on this). Keep in mind that on Doximity, profiles with a profile picture receive a higher number of responses than those without. That little extra effort can go a long way toward your hiring goals.
Now, it’s time to start recruiting online! Use your recruiting software to create advanced candidate searches. On Doximity you can search for talent using over 30 different fields, including, but not limited to, sub-specialty, position type, years of experience, location, past ties, schools attended, etc).
How to use social recruiting to connect with identified candidates
First and foremost, remember that every interaction you have with a candidate is a representation of your employer brand, so make sure to keep your interactions in line with the image you want to portray.
Next, you’ll want to plan your outreach. Through Doximity, you can reach out to candidates directly with personalized recruitment messages. DocMails, the proprietary HIPAA compliant messages on Doximity, garner a response rate around 24%. That’s over five times higher than the industry average response rate of 2-4%. Your messaging should be clear and consistent with your brand, but you should be testing different messaging to see what gets you the best response rate.
Job posts on social networks often work differently than traditional job boards. For example, on Doximity, in addition to the career center, your jobs are shown to the most relevant candidates at their most likely time to click as they use the rest of the tools on the site. Smart jobs are one of the major benefits of using the vast amounts of membership data to better improve the physician experience.
How to measure the results of your social recruiting
Doximity users report that on average their cost per hire is 4 times lower than the industry standard according to the American Society for Physician Recruiters. The tool also allows you track how and why each search was closed to better report on your return on investment.
When it comes to social physician recruiting, understanding which tools in your toolbox are working for you (and which aren’t) is extremely important so you can recruit efficiently. Pulling data to measure your ROI can seem like a daunting task but we think you’d be surprised to find that it’s actually very achievable! Once you discover the tools you actually need, it’ll likely end up saving you thousands of dollars!
Want to learn more about social recruiting? Doximity is proud to offer a free social recruiting certification course.