A Comprehensive Guide
There are many factors involved in determining whether a physician recruiter is doing a good job in their role. Its best to focus on the effort a recruiter puts out based on what they can control. Understanding what a physician recruiter can control and what they can’t control is so important in determining how well a physician recruiting is doing.
Some of the key variables are:
-are the openings in rural areas? (making it harder to fill)
-are the openings in specialties? (where there is only a small supply of that specialty in the US)
-how big is the database of candidates that the health system has? (does the health system have hundreds of thousands of candidates to recruit or just 1-10,000 candidates?)
-do the openings have low salaries and/or bad schedules and/or high patient volumes?
-is the recruiter working on 20-50 openings or only 1-10?
In general, the best 3 things to measure are:
1) Presentations – the number of NEW candidates a physician recruiter talks to each week (5-15 per week is ideal).
2) Submissions: Number of candidates submitted to a hiring manager (3-6 per week is ideal depending on how many openings they are working)
3) Sendouts: how many candidates get a first-time phone interview with a hiring manager (1-3 per week is ideal)
Below are key benchmarks and standards used to measure recruiter performance and establish bonus systems:
1. Industry Productivity Benchmarks
Physician recruiter productivity is often measured by the number of placements made annually. Benchmarks are typically set by industry organizations like the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR) and MGMA.
- Average Annual Placements per Recruiter:
- Physicians: 7-15 placements per year, depending on how many openings the recruiter works per year and how difficult to fill those openings are.
- Nurse Practitioners (NPs) / Physician Assistants (PAs): 12-20 placements per year.
- These numbers vary based on specialty, location (rural vs. urban), and search difficulty.
- Time-to-Fill (TTF):
- Average time to fill a physician vacancy: 140-220 days.
- Hard-to-fill roles (e.g., rural or high-demand specialties): 180+ days.
- For NPs/PAs: 70-120 days.
2. Quality Benchmarks for Recruiters
Productivity alone isn’t enough; medical centers also measure recruiter quality to ensure long-term retention and successful placements. Key metrics include:
- Candidate Retention Rate:
- Measure of how many recruited providers stay beyond 1-3 years.
- Benchmark: 85% retention at 1 year, 70-75% at 3 years.
- Interview-to-Hire (Sendouts to Placement) Ratio:
- Ratio of candidates presented to those hired.
- Benchmark should be 3:1 to 6:1 for recruiters. If the ratios get 8 to 1 or higher, there is usually something going wrong. It is likely one or more of these 3 things: The hiring manager is not likable (or doesn’t come off as a good leader), the role itself has major deterrents or isn’t attractive enough (schedule, salary, etc), or the recruiter isn’t vetting candidates well enough / isn’t explaining the role in enough detail.
- Candidate Satisfaction:
- Surveys assessing provider satisfaction with the recruitment process.
- Benchmark: Scores of 90% or higher in satisfaction surveys.
- Internal Stakeholder Satisfaction:
- Measured through hiring manager or department feedback.
3. Cost Efficiency Benchmarks
Medical centers monitor the cost-effectiveness of the recruiting process:
- Cost-Per-Hire:
- Total recruiting expenses divided by the number of hires.
- Benchmark:
- Primary Care: $10,000 – $20,000 per hire.
- Specialists: $25,000 – $50,000 per hire.
- Rural or highly competitive searches may be higher.
- Marketing Efficiency:
- Tracking the ROI of marketing spend for job postings, ads, and candidate sourcing.
- Cost of vacancy:
- For every month the position is open, it can cost the medical center / health system $70-600,000/month depending on the specialty.
4. Performance Metrics for Recruiters
Medical centers can tie recruiter bonuses to specific performance metrics:
Metric
Benchmark / Goal
Annual Placements
10-15 physicians, 15-20 APPs
Time-to-Fill
120-180 days (physicians)
Interview-to-Hire Ratio
3:1 to 5:1
Retention Rate
85% at 1 year, 70%+ at 3 years
Cost-Per-Hire
$10,000 – $50,000 depending on role
Candidate Satisfaction
>90% satisfaction
Hiring Manager Satisfaction
>90% satisfaction
5. Creating a Bonus System for Recruiters
In general physician recruiters should make 10-30% of their base salary in commissions. 30% for the better they do and the more openings they fill.
Here’s an example of a bonus system based on productivity and quality:
A. Productivity-Based Bonuses
- Tiered bonus based on the number of hires:
- 3-4 placements/quarter: $X bonus.
- 5-6 placements/quarter: $Y bonus.
- 7+ placements/quarter: $Z bonus.
B. Quality-Based Bonuses
- Bonuses tied to retention rates:
- 85% retention at 1 year: $X bonus.
- 75% retention at 3 years: Additional $Y bonus.
*I don’t like retention-based bonuses for recruiters as much, because its way out of their control how long a candidate stays in their position. They can control some factors in the recruiting process, but they can’t control job satisfaction for the candidate they placed. It falls on other leaders in the organization to retain physicians. Thus, bonuses to a recruiter on retention isn’t great.
- Meeting time-to-fill benchmarks:
- Completing searches within 120-150 days = additional bonus.
C. Hybrid Model (Productivity + Quality)
- 70% of the bonus: Number of hires.
- 30% of the bonus: Retention rates, candidate satisfaction scores, and time-to-fill.
6. Benchmarks for Different Types of Searches
- Primary Care: Higher productivity expectations because placements are typically faster.
- Specialty Searches: Lower productivity targets due to the complexity of finding candidates.
- Rural/Hard-to-Fill Positions: Adjust bonuses to account for the extra time and effort needed.
7. Tools and Standards to Benchmark Against
- AAPPR Annual Reports: Provides comprehensive data on recruiting benchmarks.
- MGMA Compensation Reports: Helps with cost-per-hire comparisons and setting recruiter incentives.
- Internal Data: Benchmark current team performance against past performance to identify trends.
Key Takeaways Medical Centers:
- Focus on measuring their Presentations, Submissions, and Sendouts. The most important one is Presentations because that’s more in their control than the other 2. Also focus on the number of outbound phone calls or messages they send per week; this can determine how hard they are working.
- Use placements/year, time-to-fill, and retention rates to determine quarterly bonus amounts. Don’t pay bonuses annually, that’s too long for the recruiter to wait. They will place more candidates if they are paid quarterly, or per hire they make.
- Tie bonuses to a combination of productivity (placements) and quality (retention, satisfaction).
- Adjust expectations based on specialty difficulty and location.
From the Desk of David Wolfe, Founder and CEO, NOW Healthcare Recruiting