People Placing People: that’s our recruitment’s secret sauce

We all know that placing medical staff can be more than a challenge at times. These are very special folks everyone relies on when they are in trouble. They are unique and it’s our job to place the right person for an exact role. We are not looking for a reasonable fit we want an exact fit, so everyone is comfortable. Yes, I guess it’s almost like looking for a perfect pair of sneakers. You know very quickly when it’s not right.

Photo: Lefteris Kallergis

How hard is it to search for the top 1%?

Every day I make sure I remember that healthcare organizations and leaders around the healthcare sector really need the top 1% of talent. Forget the fact that we are currently in a candidate short marketplace. No one wants their healthcare compromised for whatever reason. It’s a given. It’s tough but also an immoveable?goal.

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Do years of recruitment experience always achieve goals?

?Not necessarily. Yes, experience is a great thing, in so many ways, but these days you cannot just rely on experience to find a great candidate. To help a client you need so many other things. Anyway, a client doesn't care about any of that kind of pitch. A client wants the right outcome, period? They want the position filled. Plain and simple. But at the end of the day, it's got to be done quickly. That means it’s essential to get right to the very heart of the matter at the outset.

Photo: Mediensturmer

A provider needs to really understand a client, what they do and what their true need is now.

The thing is there's a lot of people to choose from in the market. In my opinion the reality of this situation is that most of those people aren't going to be a good fit for the culture or even the community certain employers represent. It's pointless putting the forward just to make up the numbers.

I’ve thought about this a lot and have established the three Ps:

People, Placing, People

Therefore, when it comes to an intake call, a discovery call or that initial triage discussion with a client we sometimes approach this blind. What I mean is, they're going to come to me and say, “Jeremy, we need an emergency medicine physician. We're really struggling.” Or perhaps, “You know what? We've got a Chief Operations Officer role that is going to be instrumental in applying new initiatives and taking over existing projects.” This is just one aspect of the narrative. Photo: LinkedIn Sales Solutions

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You might say, well what’s the problem?

That sounds like a straightforward request to me. Sure. But, by definition, we have no idea what's really going on behind the scenes. We don't know the people yet; we’re yet to get under the skin of what they do, represent and the organization’s overall philosophy. And so, before we ever invest too much effort on either the client side or even our side, we've got to get to know the people. And that's where the PX3 principle comes from. Once we can understand the people, we can understand the problems and hopefully present the solution to solve all those issues. It might sound complex, but we have the knowledge and experience to deliver this process at speed.

Photo: Cytonn Photography

Clients tell us what they need, and we go from there but what about those that haven't gone through the process?

Do I go out and handpick people for them? Do I make phone calls out to people that look like they would fit the role? Or do I already have a roster of people that I can select?

We do not have a stable of people on a database to choose from

The reality is, what I've learned after 14 years in healthcare recruitment, is that people go stale. Also having a huge database of people, alone, isn't going to solve the problem. ?This is because every client that we work with has a unique challenge and a unique difficulty they're trying to overcome. And just having somebody with the right credentials, the right discipline even, isn't necessarily going to present the solution to that problem. Photo: Irwan iwe

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At the initial procurement stage, we focus on people that are going to meet their exact criteria

Sometimes that criteria is very stringent indeed. That’s not an obstacle. We positively encourage our clients to develop their perfect hire pen portrait. We like a challenge, and we often say, “Hey, give us an impossible task. That 'one percenter' type of person. We’ll go after that individual and aim to land that person,” because everybody else -- and it's no disrespect, is inferior at that point. Right? Why would we, or you settle for anything less than a superstar?

Photo: Hush Naidoo

We are living in very challenging times

Medical staffing issues are significant with burnout being a top priority at this moment. We can find the right staff but how they are managed and how the post hire process is undertaken is just as important.

PX3 is about people. We care very much about all aspects of the recruitment process because we deal with people’s complex needs and requirements every single day. Our secret sauce is the passion and attention to detail that deals with every hire as a bespoke project. We want our candidates to remain and thrive in their new appointment. If this sounds like what you are looking for then do give me a call. You can organize a time to suit you right here.