What do you know about executive search firms?

Contingency Firms. Executive Recruiting. Korn/Ferry. Leadership Advisory. B.E. Smith. Retained Search. Cejka. Container Firm. Russell Reynolds. Headhunters. Heidrick & Struggles. Talent acquisition. Witt/Kieffer. Do you know what these terms mean? Are you familiar with these names?

If you are not familiar with executive search firms, I'd encourage you to read this Inc article titled, "How to Work with an Executive Search Firm." It's a short article that reviews some of the fundamental basics of working with a headhunter who wants to place you into a great new job position.

Featured physician executive: Ronald J. Chod, MD, MBA

Each week, we feature a physician executive. This week's featured physician executive is Ronald J. Chod, MD, MBA.

Ronald J. Chod, M.D., MBA
Managing Partner, Grant Cooper & Associates

Dr. Chod brings more than 20 years of progressive clinical and academic leadership experience to Grant Cooper & Associates. Prior to entering the search profession Ron served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs, Executive Director of the Faculty Practice Plan, and Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Ron left community clinical practice in 1994, accepting his first leadership role as Vice President for Medical Affairs at BJC Healthcare.

Ron’s focus at Grant Cooper is on academic positions, hospital and integrated delivery system executives, and physician executives across the health care spectrum.

Big East Career Fair

What if you could attend a career fair without leaving your home? Advances in telecommunication technology have led to a rise in "virtual" career fairs where you can meet potential employers via a webcam and even conduct video interviews over the computer. This saves travel time and cost, improves efficiency, and reduces wait times when you're waiting to speak with a potential employer or employee.

There's a virtual career fair coming up called the Big East Career Fair.

http://bigeastcareerfair.com/

November 10, 2010
10-5 EST *On demand until Nov 19th
Anywhere with internet access

*On demand means recruiters may or may not be online, however you can still visit employer booths, view/apply for jobs, submit resume, and send recruiters messages

Welcome to the future of career fairs. You will have the opportunity to meet and interact with dozens of industry leading employers, but without ever having to leave home. Visit employers booths, view/apply for jobs, watch employer videos, chat with recruiters, submit your resume, and perhaps even secure a live video interview. Register today to secure your place in this groundbreaking event.

UNICRUIT.COM was created to address the premise that the traditional college recruiting environment is costly, time-consuming and often times ineffective. While on-campus fairs are an important part of career development for the student, the university, and corporation, they are obviously a niche that technology had passed by. Unicruit.com is an online career fair environment that is an alternative to the traditional approach, but more often simply a pre-and-post event enhancement to the traditional on-campus format.

"Short and Long Term Effects of Reform on the Healthcare Market" on ReachMD

I'd encourage you to listen to this ReachMD program titled, "Short and Long Term Effects of Reform on the Healthcare Market." The host for the show is Tim Rush, president and founder of Healthcare Staffing Innovations (HSI). Here's a brief description of that ReachMD segment which is a part of a new series called, "Your Career In Healthcare."

We all know that healthcare reform may change the way healthcare professionals practice medicine, but how might reform also change the way in which we either find employment or staff our facilities? Joining host Tim Rush to discuss the short and long term effects that healthcare reform might have on the the healthcare employment market is Phil Miller, vice president of communications for the country's largest temporary healthcare staffing business, AMN Healthcare.

Are we seeing more physicians choosing to leave clinical practice and pursue non-clinical job opportunities? Listen to this ReachMD segment to learn more. (login required for ReachMD)

Negotiating physician non-clinical job salaries (e.g., "Medical Director")

Before you can negotiate salary, you need some reference points. What's the average salary for that position? What is the salary range? What is your salary potential if you pursue that career path?

What makes this especially difficult is that the same title (e.g., "Medical Director") may have a salary range of $120-150k in one industry and a range of $250-280k in a different industry. So, if you check online salary calculators (like the ones found on Salary.com, Monster.com, etc.) you won't find an accurate salary figure for a position like "Medical Director" because that position can mean 100 different things in 100 different industries.

Did you know that many non-physicians hold the title "Medical Director"? Some are nurses, others are pharmacists, some have a PhD, and others don't have any clinical background. These individuals are director-level executives for the department of medical affairs.

So how do you get some salary data for a particular industry? You need to speak with recruiters and other human resource professionals who can get you grounded so that you have a realistic expectation for salary. I (and other career coaches) work with physicians all the time to discuss salary because I work closely with recruiters to help physicians get the best salary for every position.

MGMA: Physician recruiters are filling vacancies more quickly, efficiently

Healthcare Finance News recently published a story titled, "MGMA: Physician recruiters are filling vacancies more quickly, efficiently." Here's a snippet from the story:

The MGMA’s report, “In-House Recruitment Benchmarking Survey: 2010 Report Based on 2008 Data,” showed that most specialties reported a decline in the cost and number of resources associated with filling these positions. Survey analysts have attributed this to the economic downturn and an increase (30 percent, according to this year’s report) in the use of Internet job boards as a primary recruitment method.  

The MGMA collaborated with the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters on the survey.

Notice the comment about the increase in the use of Internet job boards? Make sure to check the NonClinicalJobs.com job board found here. We have new non-clinical jobs appearing all the time.

Have you ever worked with a physician recruiter? If you're looking for a job in the healthcare industry, you may have more luck by working with recruiters who may know of unadvertised job openings. Executive search firms can help you save a significant amount of time.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is the premier membership association for professional administrators and leaders of medical group practices.

Active vs. Passive Job Candidates

How many of you are currently actively looking for a job as an active job candidate? I know many people who are struggling right now because of the recession. They are applying to a handful of jobs each day, and few are receiving return phone calls. The latest statistics say there are 6 people applying for every job opening.

Perhaps you've been following this blog as a passive job candidate. You're not actively looking for a change, but if the right one came along and peaked your interest, then you may be willing to explore such an opportunity and give it some serious consideration.

Sometimes I wonder how many practicing physicians are passive job candidates. Maybe they haven't been presented with the right opportunity. Perhaps they are not satisfied with their work and they'd like to do something different. Maybe they feel trapped. Job recruiters may have difficulty reaching such physicians because these doctors are so busy with their work and phone calls are generally screened and filtered by the receptionist. Is there a way to identify and reach out to these passive job candidates?

Physician salary negotiation services

Don't forget that we currently provide a career service for physicians who are looking for salary negotiation coaching. Do you know how to position yourself to ensure that you'll receive the best compensation package as you negotiate salary? Perhaps you'd like to gain some insight from HR professionals who have worked in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Here's an example of some of the services we provide:

• Financial Services: You will have an unique opportunity to work with a former Investment Banker on Wall Street who transitioned his career into Human Resources (HR), specializing in Staffing and Recruiting. Within this field, he has 10+ years experience as an internal HR recruiter, and external executive recruiter, across a variety of different industries ranging from Finance, Management Consulting, Pharma, Bio-tech, IT, etc... He can provide you with guidance/coaching from the pre-interview stage to post-offer stage. He has experience both as an internal HR recruiter, and external executive recruiter managing total compensation packages up to $750K. He can provide valuable insight as to how "HR" operates, and how you can successfully navigate around 'HR" to maximize your compensation package.

If you're looking for a career coach, make sure to read this.

Top Interviewing Tips for the Bio-Pharma Industry

There's a nice article on BioSpace by Megan Driscoll (founder and current President of PharmaLogics Recruiting) titled, "Top Interviewing Tips for the Bio-Pharma Industry." She lists some practical advice for each of the 4 stages:

Part 1 - The Telephone Screen
Part 2 - The Face-to-Face Interview
Part 3 - The Scientific Presentation
Part 4 - The Offer Stage

I think that many of the principles she describes apply outside of the bio-pharma industry as well. For many practicing clinicians who have never worked outside of the clinical setting, these tips may not be so intuitive. If you're considering a career outside of clinical medicine and you've never gone through all 4 of the stages described above, then I'd encourage you to read the full BioSpace article that's here.

End of Year Hiring

With the holidays coming up soon, you can anticipate that some companies won't be doing much interviewing and hiring in the months of November and December. However, there are some companies that are trying to complete their hiring before the end of the year. I'm getting contacted by executive recruiters all the time. They're looking for candidates who are ready to make a change within the next few months.

Are you one of those individuals who's eager for a change? If you're thinking about a career transition, remember that it often takes a considerable amount of time before you land in a new non-clinical job. If you've been looking for several months, then I hope you'll find a new job soon. The end of the year can be a slower time for hiring, but sometimes you simply never know what's going to happen.

Non-clinical physician jobs in HR

By HR, I'm referring to Human Resources. If you're a physician and you're considering a major career change, consider this: you can work as a recruiter in an executive search firm. Your job would be to place physicians into different types of jobs. You'd be a "head hunter" or a "search consultant" and if you're good, you may find that this type of job is financially rewarding. A job as a recruiter requires tremendous persistence, but you may have a head start if you have an extensive network of contacts and connections (do you know what all your medical school classmates are up to these days?).

Recruiting has been very difficult in this current economy. However, the world of health care is very different and physicians are still looking for new jobs and many are finding them through the help of recruiters. After all, how much time can a busy physician devote to finding a new job?

To learn more about the world of physician recruitment, you may want to read this book, titled:
Physician Recruitment And Employment

How many recruiters do you know?

The other day, someone asked me, "how many recruiters do you know?"

My social network has grown tremendously over the past few years. I attribute much of that to blogging, the use of social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I'm now directly connected to over 900 people on LinkedIn, which translates to over 13,852,700+ professionals through that network. Through LinkedIn alone, I'm directly connected to over 100 recruiters who work in various non-clinical healthcare sectors.

How many executive search consultants (also often called: executive recruiters, headhunters, talent acquisition consultants, etc.) do you know? If you're not actively looking for a job, then you may not care to maintain these relationships. However, I would encourage you to foster your relationships with recruiters even if you're not actively looking for a job. You simply never know when you may be able to help someone.

Tips for job interviews

When you go for your first job interview, it can be a bit unnerving. Maybe the last time you had to interview for anything, you were a medical student interviewing for a residency position. Some people are naturally comfortable during interviews while others need to consciously think and concentrate about how they answer questions.

At TheLadders.com, you can read some articles that provide interviewing tips. If you're interviewing for a corporate job for the first time, you may encounter some unusual types of questions. They're not trying to "pimp" you like you're a medical student (pimping refers to the art of asking medical students questions during rounds. these questions may also go up the food chain to residents and fellows, but they're meant to teach - although sometimes you may feel humiliated if you're being pimped in front of peers and patients)

Job interview questions are often casual and easy (tell me about yourself), but they can also be very difficult (how would you solve the national health crisis?). Interviewers may want to assess your ability to think and process information. They want to evaluate your leadership capabilities. How do you handle conflict? (tell me about a time when you faced conflict and you had to had to defend yourself in front of your peers). How do you face opposition? (describe a time when you had an opinion that opposed the majority and explain how you convinced others to adopt your view)

My tips for job interviews is simple: practice going through some mock interviews with trained professionals and learn from the feedback that you receive. It also obviously helps to read books, articles, etc. However, nothing compares to actually thinking on your feet and reacting to the types of questions that may asked (how many cups of water would it take to fill this room?)

To read some online resources on the topics of job searching and job interviewing, visit:

• Career Builder.com
• Monster.com
• TheLadders.com

Expanding my network to connect with executive recruiters

Over the years, I've met many executive recruiters who work on filling non-clinical positions in pharma/biotech, consulting, research, medical communications, market research, health IT, and other healthcare industry segments. I've been in regular touch with some of them, but I'm now working on actively expanding my network so that I can help other physicians who are actively looking for non-clinical jobs.

If you're an executive recruiter and you work on placing physicians into non-clinical positions, please connect with me on LinkedIn and let's start working together. I currently have a list of over 50 physicians who are actively looking for non-clinical jobs and on average I am getting contacted by 2-4 physicians each day. Some of them are making the transition into the non-clinical space while others have been working in different healthcare industries for several years.

How do you find non-clinical jobs?

How do you find a non-clinical job? Do you still look in the newspaper? Medical journals? I don't think you'll find many listed in JAMA or the New England Journal of Medicine. So what's the best method?

Well, perhaps you landed on this site because you were looking for a non-clinical job. Do you depend on job boards to find non-clinical opportunities? How about LinkedIn? Are you looking for part-time work or a full-time career?

In today's world of buzzing information technology and connectivity, the best way to find a job is through a combination of social networking, recruiters, online job boards, and diligence. Forget about the newspapers or printed journals. Leverage networking sites like LinkedIn and meet as many qualified and competent recruiters as you can. Stay active in online communities and you may just find a job that meets your personal and professional needs.