Keeping the world turning during this pandemic has been an ongoing learning experience. We have all had to face new challenges in every aspect of our lives-- both personal and professional. Interviewing candidates, bringing them in for site visits and deciding if the candidate is the right fit for your practice, can be particularly challenging with concerns about contagion and quarantine rules! We've watched candidates change their approach to their job searches, and hiring practices adapt and innovate. Some hospitals are reporting more efficient interview processes as a result, while some are struggling to get candidates through the interview process. Here are some of the changes to recruiting that we've seen in the last nine months.

The Need for Flexibility

One of the most important lessons of this pandemic has been flexibility. To be successful at hiring, both job seekers and hiring practices have had to learn new skills (how many of us had ever "Zoomed" before last March???). Open positions have closed due to lack of OR time and elective cases, practices have put their recruitments on hold as they wait to see what the future brings, while still other practices need to hire quickly due to unexpected retirements or other changes. Furloughs, pay reductions, loss of block O. R. time, and fewer elective cases have resulted in more in-practice neurosurgeons undertaking a job search. Hospital budget reductions and practices seeking to reduce costs have also resulted in more neurosurgery job searchers than in the past. While we don't expect this trend to last, candidates in the current job market may feel like they have fewer options than in the past.

Hiring Practices That Snooze May Lose!

Neurosurgeons looking for jobs understand that competition is higher than usual and that this is a difficult time in which to be traveling and looking at a lot of positions. Some are deciding to narrow their search and others are taking jobs faster than they might otherwise would. The change in candidate mind-set impacts the hiring practices as the hiring stakeholders might need to move more quickly than they have in the past. Your most desirable candidates might not be willing to wait for you to finish interviewing others, and might move more quickly than usual to accept another job. The last thing you want is for your first-choice candidate to accept another position because another practice was able to talk terms and get a contract in front of him or her before you could.

Candidates Are Becoming Flexible to Increase Their Options

Candidates are also starting to consider positions outside of their original search parameters. Those who have done subspecialized training for purposes of gaining an academic job are now considering community practice options in which their subspecialties are welcome. Some are even trying to wait out the current situation by doing post-residency fellowship training. Sensing opportunity, some community practices, especially those centered around large teaching hospitals which may not have neurosurgery residency programs, are competing for highly skilled, subspecialty-trained candidates by highlighting academic elements of the positions they are seeking to fill, such as teaching and clinical research opportunities.

Best Practices for Virtual Recruiting

Limited travel has upended the normal recruiting process, and hiring practices are learning how to recruit using virtual meetings as the primary recruiting tool. When you need to "sell" your position virtually, it is more important than ever to communicate deliberately and highlight all aspects of your practice opportunity. Having open, clear and proactive communication through all the details of recruitment for every candidate will put a personal touch on the experience, making the candidate more comfortable with the current state of looking for a job. We have seen most site visits shortened considerably, and spouses have rarely visited during the pandemic. Managers who have made videos about their practices and hospitals can really shine during this process. We've also seen realtors do virtual home and community tours. Anything you can do to highlight your practice and help the candidate and their spouse feel more comfortable, such as making extra time for phone calls and helping candidate's spouses connect with other spouses of those on the medical staff will really set you apart. It pays to take time to get to know the candidate's spouse and try to find connections through your medical staff to others in your community who may share some of the spouse's interests, so the candidate's spouse doesn’t feel like they are moving to a place they have never seen and have no connections to anyone. Hiring practices have scheduled a social hour on Zoom specifically so stakeholders and their spouses can get to know the candidate's spouse, and the spouse can get to know them. While video interviews have taken the place of many site visits, candidates still do want to visit their first few choice practices at least once. Anything you can do to make sure you are at the top of their list for scheduling an actual visit will really help you hire the candidates you most want.

Changing Processes re Group Interviews Due to Virtual Interview Formats

Some things just don't generally translate well from in-person to virtual recruitment, and one of those things is the group meeting or group dinner. Structuring the virtual interview in a way that allows you and your candidate to get to know each other just as deeply as they would with an in-person visit requires careful thought and deliberate planning. While a group dinner or group interview may have been a customary part of your in-person interview process, group interviews via Zoom do not facilitate the same type of personal interaction as a group meeting or in-person dinner. Group interviews via Zoom may feel formal and intimidating to some candidates, rather than feeling social and relaxed. Human interaction in a group via Zoom is profoundly different than in a group meeting in person. Best practices in setting up virtual interviews with candidates include speaking with the candidate and asking the candidate if they prefer a group meeting or separate, individual conversations. You should also ask the candidates whether there are particular individuals the candidate wants to make sure they meet virtually, so you can include those individuals in the process. While scheduling one-on-one conversations might be more work to coordinate, individual conversations also generally result in more in depth conversations that allow the interviewers to get to know the candidate in a deeper way (and leave the candidate feeling good that you took the time to understand their needs and gave them the time to get to know your practice!).

We are all adapting and changing to the world in which we find ourselves. Those practices that can bring new thinking to the recruitment process will be able to hire the candidates best suited to their environment who will last long beyond the pandemic.

We hope everyone has a safe and restful holiday.

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