A few days ago Dave Freireich (Core Search Group) left a comment on my "Why do you dislike physician recruiters?. I loved it. Here it is:
"Warning: I am a recruiter! However, I do not recruit physicians.
My firm is based on the premise that our customers (candidates) are not interested in being treated the way you have been. I have witnessed all the tactics you describe and then some and agree that they are stupid. I learned three very powerful words from some of the top recruiters in the US- "don't sell, facilitate." This has become our mantra.
I'm sorry for the frustration and disappointment you've gone through. I hope now you've learned the game you can continue to educate others. Also I think you should start a physician recruiting firm that is run to treat people the way you would have wanted to be treated. You have identified the need."
Sometimes I feel bad about going on and on about how bad recruiters are for your health and your job search.
But just when I decide to stop bashing recruiters I google the sentence "physician job" and THERE THEY ARE, hundreds of them, thousands of them, they are everywhere, they have so many websites, so many ads, banners blinking squares on every website you look, there are so many references to them, everybody seems to be talking about them, they just seem to be the way to go if you are looking for a job, they seem to be unavoidable - yes, the physician recruiters.
They love to portray themselves as "professionals you turn to when you need the best job out there", as the "solution to your job search", as your "search agent", overall as the experienced professional person with far-reaching contacts and with "thousands of opportunities nationwide" ready for the picking. You biggest problem seems to be just which job to choose! They have so many jobs, so may "opportunities" and they get more very day, all the time! Of course your physician recruiter will "match you with the perfect practice" out of all the wonderful opportunities they have to offer, because he "loves it every time the magic happens". How romantic!
You just have to choose and you will find yourself in your dream practice shortly. It is that easy, thanks to their "years of experience", thanks to their "thorough screening", thanks to their far reaching contacts. And of course your physician recruiter has "many clients with repeat business". They might tell you "Oh, I found one associate for them 10 years ago and and then another one, and now we are close friends and blablabla". Should they really not have the perfect practice right now, then they will CERTAINLY have the perfect job very, very soon, because they "always get the great jobs in that area". And, the best is yet to come, all this is FREE for you! Wow, who could say no to that? A job search is really easy!
This "recruiter myth" is a completely fabricated, shameless illusion of salespeople dealing in left-over jobs. It is so misleading, so miserably false, so dangerous that I have to go on.
And, as you saw from the above comment "I have witnessed all the tactics you describe and then some" means, we have to warn our graduating colleagues. Nobody should fall into the recruiter trap and end up in some Podunk town or give up the dream of living and working in the attractive city where he or she went to medical school. None of our colleagues should feel that "the good jobs are just not available".
Please support my attempt to educate the graduating residents about the risks of even answering recruiter calls and about the truly efficient ways of finding a job just where you want - by reading my blog or by going to "thedoctorjob.com"!
Please link to my blog, please email my blog to a graduating resident you happen to know. It could save them months of headache.
Your Matthias Muenzer, MD
2 comments:
For all of you that read this, get ready as a candidate to pay thousands to the "new" search firm called thedoctorjob.com. Actally, the job sourcing they do was invented by and is utilized by EVERY firm that is out there, except that you do not have to pay for it with recruiting firms. Just ask any recruiter out there.
Also, just as he states, watch who you listen to and talk to...having placed thousands of physicians myself and with my colleagues I must admit, even physicians can be wrong.
Lastly most of recruiters are there to serve the following purpose: Do the work you do not have the time to, and do the work as your representative. If Dr. Muenzer is the expert on all recruiters, then I guess he has not talked to very many. The world is full enough of know it alls, and not enough of those that will do all it takes.
Dear CEO,
I am glad to hear from an actual recruiter.
You are completely correct. The method of sending a professionally prepared CV and cover letter directly to all physicians (or "hiring authorities" in recruiter lingo) in your area of interest is old. I started doing it 23 years ago back in Germany. It is being used by recruiters as one of many sourcing techniques, such as direct mail, mass mailing, mass faxing, mass emailing.
Who invented this is irrelevant. The method of sending letters to potential employers is possibly as old as letter writing. To claim it as "invention" of recruiters seems just a bit short sighted or a bit, let's say, short on reading, research, background, well, you know what I mean.
I agree that recruiters do what you do not want to do yourself or what you do not have the time to do yourself.
The difference is just the cost. For $1000-1500 you can do it yourself, for $1500-2500 you can have thedoctorjob.com do it.
And for a whopping $20,000 you can have a recruiter do it. Yes, I agree, the physician candidate does not have to pay it - directly out of pocket. But the candidate usually ends up paying it anyway. Less chances of getting the job as compared to candidates that do not come with a recruiter, less benefits, maybe even less salary. I have commented on that in a previous post.
Recruiters seem to immersed in their recruiter world that they actually seem to believe the thing with "at no cost to you".
The big, huge, overwhelming cost to pay if you have a recruiter search for you, is that recruiters do not get into the desirable areas. Wherever there are more candidates than jobs, jobs are filled without recruiters. And I have this quote from a recruiter, as mentioned in a previous post.
Therefore: recruiters get paid to fill the less desirable jobs. That is it. Period. Ultimate judgment.
And who wants the less desirable jobs?
That is the true price you pay a recruiter: you put up with a less desirable job.
And I have been in touch by phone and email with hundreds of recruiters, nice ones and rushed ones, eager to sell recruiters and more relaxed ones, young and older. I think I have seen enough in the 6 or 7 years I have been in touch with them.
Maybe I am not a know-it-all, but when it comes to recruiters I defintely am a know-enough. And I had enough too by now.
Your Matthias Muenzer, MD
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