Finding quality physicians is not an easy task. Trust me I know. At a minimum, you have to post the position, perhaps pay to have it advertised where it can be seen, review all the resumes, schedule interviews, conduct interviews, put together offers, negotiate terms and onboard the new physician, and that just scratches the surface of everything that goes into it.  The bad part is that even after all this effort you can still wind up with a less than ideal candidate. Throughout my years of recruiting, I’ve been asked one question more than any other. What do physicians really look for when they’re searching for a new job?

From my experience, the actual answer is a lot of things. It really depends on the individual physician and their current needs and lifestyle. There really isn’t one specific thing you can offer that will guarantee you land the perfect candidate. The best you can do is put together a solid offer that combines various benefits and keep in mind that some of the factors that tend to attract or deter physicians are completely out of your control.

To help you better understand what motivations tend to control physicians’ decisions we’ve put together a list of the most common factors that we’ve found influence the decision on whether or not physicians choose one opportunity over another.



It should come as no surprise that money is one of the first things that potential candidates look for in a new position. Considering the high cost of becoming a physician and the large amount of student loans that so many new physicians carry with them, compensation is a great way to attract great physicians. The question then becomes, how do you compete with the major healthcare systems and attract top-of-the-line talent without breaking the bank? The key is to get creative with your compensation models.

One way practices are able to offer more attractive offerings is through the use of bonuses. In particular, wRVU bonuses have become increasingly popular especially with small and mid-sized practices. By offering this type of bonus you encourage physicians to be more productive thus increasing the billable procedures for the practice.

The goal of this particular bonus structure is to attract doctors who are confident in their abilities and know they will be able to hit their wRVU goals. However, be sure to use caution when using this type of compensation structure. Many opponents of this model feel that it encourages physicians to rush through patient visits thus lowering quality of care, patient outcomes and patient satisfaction.



Almost as important as the compensation are the benefits which an organization offers, especially for those physicians who have families. One thing to keep in mind is that these men and women have gone through a minimum of ten years of school and residency to get to where they are today. Needless to say, they have a perspective unlike many others when it comes to planning for the future. Physicians tend to operate day to day with a steady focus on what their future and how to get there. This makes the strength of the retirement planning options your organization must offer that much more important. Matching is nice. Matching plus an additional percentage is obviously more enticing.

Another important benefit that can set your offer apart from others is health insurance. Some good questions to consider when choosing an insurance provider are:

  • What are the monthly premiums for the physician?
  • How do the premiums change as the physician’s family grows?
  • What are the copays at different tiers?
  • What is the difference between the individual and family deductibles?

Physicians, unlike many other people, have a unique understanding of medical insurance and since they are so highly educated in the area they are much more educated consumers and can spot fallacies in a plan’s coverage.

The final benefit that is especially intriguing in today’s society is student loan repayment. If you are able to offer this type of benefit then you are definitely more likely to attract younger talent, and the best part is that you can tie time constraints to this benefit to help retain physicians.



If you don’t know about the physician burnout epidemic then you aren’t paying attention and one of the best things for physicians to do in order to prevent this condition is to have a good work-life balance. I can assure you that heavy call schedules and long hours certainly aren’t what any physician wants. So, what do you do when there are patients that have to be seen and only a certain number of physicians to see them? Increase efficiency. How? Start with documentation. Most physicians you ask will agree that they feel like they could be spending more time with patients instead of charting. So to make sure that your physicians are spending their time on the right activity here are a few solutions:

  • Evaluate your EMR to ensure that its features and functionality meet the requirements of your practice.
  • Hold regular trainings to allow physicians to become familiar with the EMR system thus decreasing the time they have to spend on documentation.
  • Consider hiring an assistant to help physicians with EMR documentation. Chances are the amount you will pay the assistant will be far less than what you have to pay the physician for the same task and thus will solve several issues at once.



Here comes the portion of the factors that you can’t control. It turns out that you can have a position with incredible compensation and benefits with no call and a four-day work week and still have it sit vacant for a long period of time. The fact remains that most people seek out two things when deciding where to live. The first being proximity to family and the second is lifestyle conformation.

Obviously, short of offering to move a physician’s entire extended family to the area, this is a factor that is completely outside unpredictable. The lifestyle situation, however, can work in your favor if you just do your research.

Remember to not only highlight the neighborhood that the actual practice is located in, but also any popular areas within a reasonable commute to the practice. Also, be sure to mention popular activities in the area when posting the job. This holds especially true if you are opening the position to out-of-state candidates. They have to love the whole package and not just the job in order for them to accept the offer.

For even more insight into how to position your physician job opportunity or for help finding top quality physicians contact us at 800-433-6726 or visit