News & Media
Physician Recruitment: Strategies for Performance and Retention
Written by Larry Kuhn, PsyD, Organizational Psychologist & Executive Coach for The Human Resource Consortium, LLC
Physician recruitment has never been more difficult — or more consequential. A poor hire setback is a really costly failure. Beyond recruitment fees, bonuses, and relocation costs, the indirect toll includes disrupted patient care, disengaged teams, and expensive replacement cycles.
Under pressure, organizations often overlook values, culture, career stage, and personal mission, hiring technically skilled physicians who may lack soft-skill awareness. These ‘Insight Gap’ mismatches undermine both physician and organizational success.
Shortages magnify the challenge: the Association of American Medical Colleges projects 86,000 physician deficits by 2036. Already, 20% of the workforce is near retirement. Since 2021, burnout in Michigan has reached 43%. These pressures make recruitment and retention one of healthcare’s most urgent challenges.
Recruitment derailments are typically more about poor fit, not clinical competence. Reliance on interviews alone is easier, but problematic. Thomas Capizzi of Rady Children’s Health observes: “Physicians are brilliant, competent technically, but may have never developed the soft skills. Recruitment needs a higher skillset than traditional recruiting — a holistic approach.” That means treating physicians as whole people, not transactions. Simon Lai, MD, of PeaceHealth warns against hospital mission vagueness: “Physicians will sense it and pull out.” Deanna Toney of Envision Healthcare emphasizes authenticity, perspective-taking, and mutual mission alignment, stressing insight into values, motivations, and career stage. When organizations default to transactional hiring, recruiting fuels churn and disappointment.
As Deanna Toney states, “It works best if the recruiter is less a salesperson and more of a consultant.” A compassionate approach recognizes that physicians are not static professionals but people moving through career and life stages:
- Early career physicians, often burdened with debt, seek stability, growth, and mentorship.
- Mid-career physicians value family, lifestyle, and community connections.
- Late career physicians focus on legacy, autonomy, and mentoring without exhaustion.
As Tom Capizzi notes, "Recruitment strategies that honor life cycle shifts are far more likely to succeed." The most decisive moments in recruitment come at selection and onboarding.
Selection is not about credentials alone. When competency modeling defines the role, team, and culture, assessments reveal personality traits, risk factors, motivations, and reasoning style insight, to create holistic fit.
Onboarding must continue that process. Rather than a brief orientation, it should include physician integration by supporting families, easing relocation, fostering relationships, and setting mentoring in place. Clear goals and early alignment connect daily realities with mission and values.
When guided with care, physicians feel supported, becoming productive colleagues and ambassadors. As Deanna Toney points out, “Hospitals often give reasons to join, but not reasons to stay.”
Poor-fit hires are costly, but not inevitable. By aligning selection with culture, mutual mission, and career stage insight, recruitment becomes partnership. Physicians find purpose and balance; organizations retain committed clinicians; patients sense continuity, and communities experience care rooted in trust. The call is clear: as Doctor Larry Kuhn summarizes, “Physician recruitment must be compassionate, insight-driven, and fundamentally human.”