How to recruit like a head coach for your physician practice

by Michael Jones

The Great Resignation is a term with which we as society are all too familiar, and physician practices are definitely not exempt from the sting of The Great Resignation. Throughout the pandemic, healthcare workers (among others) were heralded as heroes, with many public displays of support and care as we all banded together to get through something none of us have ever seen before. Doctors, nurses, and practice staff were showered with support and kindness, sent letters and cards, and were generally appreciated.

Then fatigue set in - in more ways than one.

As public opinion about lockdowns and vaccinations was often targeted toward physicians and practice staff, your practice, which was once something of a safe haven, became a hotbed. Those who not too long ago supported you as heroes began to question you, and you and your staff felt the burden.

Staffing has always been difficult in the physician office, and following a 2022 where many polls, including one from Medical Economics, cited practice recruitment and retention as the Number 1 challenge facing physician practices in the coming year. It has become even more of a challenge. Current staff are often overworked and under appreciated, and resources and reimbursement are often less than in the past.

What can your practice do, especially about the recruitment side of the equation?

You can learn lessons from the nation’s best head coaches in how they attract and retain talent.

In the collegiate sporting world, there are regulations, restrictions, and rules around recruitment. When paying someone more isn’t an option, the focus should be on the process, which will result in the outcome.

Some of college sports' top coaches, from football, basketball, gymnastics, soccer, and practically every sport across the spectrum employ some of the same things in recruiting that you can employ for your practice.

First, make recruitment an experience, not just a process. Think of your recruitment experience, where often you can feel like a number, or just one of many in an impersonal search for a body to fill a slot. When you approach recruiting for your practice from the perspective of the applicant, not only from your perspective, you can create a unique, fulfilling experience for both parties. Realizing that not every candidate is a fit for every position, you can search for that ideal person in a way that adds value to the candidate and your staff. Some practical tips to make recruiting an experience rather than a process are for you or your staff to send thank you notes to candidates after an interview, familiarizing yourself with the applicant’s resume before the interview, and connecting with applicants on networking sites like LinkedIn. 

The second way you can learn from head coaches about the recruitment process is to focus on the culture of the organization, not just the immediate need. Your practice has a unique culture that you should be cultivating, and highlighting and sharing that culture and your practice vision for success can go a long way for candidates. Candidates want to know what they are getting into, and an open look at the practice culture is a great way to do that.


A final way to learn from head coaches for recruiting is to build something that’s bigger than yourself. When you have an immediate need, whether for a physician, nurse, medical assistant, front office or back office team member, coder, CFO, or anything in between, the candidates you attract will all be part of that legacy of your practice. Treat it like a head coach building for a dynasty, not just a transaction to fill an immediate void.

To summarize, recruiting at your practice is often done under the assumption that others think the way we do. Anais Nin described this bias by saying “we do not see things as they are. We see them as we are”.  Dr. Tony Alessandra described the solution in his book The Platinum Rule by describing what he called The Platinum Rule - “treat others the way they want to be treated”. 

Shifting your perspective won’t change recruiting overnight, and it won’t account for many of the societal and professional challenges we all face, but as you do move toward that mindset of recruiting like a head coach, the subtle differences might just launch your practice to becoming that national championship caliber group!