Read this before advertising your GP role... -

Should you advertise before engaging a recruiter?

We’ve all been there. Writing the advert full on anticipation and clicking post, ready for the applications to flood in. The good old days, no?

Alas, it is 2023 and not 2012, when a GP vacancy might receive half a dozen applications as a given. Now, you’re looking to get one, and even luckier if they’re a suitable fit which actually results in a successful hire.

90% if not more of our candidates are secured proactively

It is partly what has fuelled the success of recruitment companies like Menlo Park but we are ourselves are only receiving marginally more interest in our adverts than you, if no more at all. 90% if not more of our candidates are secured proactively, using our extensive network, reach, knowledge and endless hours to find that elusive perfect candidate.

This begs the question then.. if your advertising has failed (or is failing), and even specialists like Menlo Park – whose sole purpose is to find these candidates – are not exactly swamped with applicants, is it even worth the time it takes to put an advert together?

Would your time not be better served investing in a recruitment partner who is going to take the time to properly understand you and go out and actually find you someone, rather than waiting for said someone to come to you?

The wonderfully vague answer is: it depends.

Differentiate yourselves…

It depends on what you put into that process. When we do our regular ‘trawls’ of the advertising sites such as the LMC and NHS jobs, we see the same thing time and time again – the same tired old descriptions of practices being forward-thinking, and family-friendly, and paper-light, and offering work/life balance. If you’re going to write an advert, at least differentiate yourselves.

If you saw twenty houses for sale in an estate agent’s window and all of them said ‘4 bed, 3 bath property, ideal for a growing family’ – how would you decide which one was for you? You’d look at the price maybe, the location sure… but those are only baseline criteria.

Many adverts we see don’t even list the salary. GPs have an embarrassment of riches when looking at adverts, why would they consider yours if you’re not even disclosing your salary (don’t even get me started on the word ‘competitive’ which is a byword for ‘as little as possible’).

If you are going to properly put together an attractive, unique advert that highlights your differences and tells GPs what they want to know (if you don’t know this, ask your own GPs!) then you have a chance at least. A small one, granted, given the success rates of direct advertising in today’s recruitment climate but a chance nonetheless. Sure, you’ll still likely need to engage Menlo Park but you just might get lucky and we could all do with a little bit of luck sometimes.

Interested in finding out more…?

We would be happy to chat with you, about the role you’re recruiting for, and how we can help. We can have a no-obligation chat, and you’re welcome to ask us any questions you like.