How to successfully advertise for a new Doctor

I recently got off the phone with a Medical recruiter who told me they thought it would take 12-18 months to recruit a new Doctor for our practice which I was horrified by. The recruiter also mentioned the described the current market for doctors as “high demand, short supply” of which all of us currently working in General Practice are acutely aware.

Determined to accelerate the process to find a new doctor, I did lots of research which I want to share with you all.

So here are 10 ways to advertise for a General Practitioner: 

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Spread the word to Doctors in your Local Area

Cost

Free!

Advertising Period

N/A 

Effort Level

Minimal to Moderate

The Bottom Line

5/5. 

Probably one of the best ways to get a new doctor as nothing beats a personal recommendation!

What’s Involved

This method is a no-brainer and tap into your network. Once you have a vacancy, the first thing you should do is let all the doctors in your practice know! Often they will know someone in the local area who is looking for a job.

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Advertise through your local PHN

Cost

Free

Advertising Period

30 days 

Effort Level

Minimal

Rating

3/5. 

Practices located in capital cities/popular coastal areas often have the most success with this method. For a regional and remote area where there are fewer doctors, it is, unfortunately, less successful. But it is free so a must do!

What’s Involved?

Contact your local PHN (usually, it is their Communications Team who run the job) and place an advertisement for a General Practitioner.   Usually, the ad will run for 30 days and then you need to contact them again to rerun it.  It is a good idea to put a reminder in your calendar when 30 days is coming up so you can email them back to rerun it. The job advertisement will appear on the PHN Job Board and link to this board will appear in the weekly GP Matters newsletter which goes to most local GPs who subscribed to the newsletter.

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Publish the Vacancy in the Careers section of your Practice Website

Cost

A brief moment of your website developers time!

Advertising Period

As long as you like

Effort Level

Minimal

Rating

3/5.  

I think it a good way to spread the word you are looking for a doctor and even if you feel uncomfortable posting the entire job vacancy on your website (where your patients also visit) you should still have a Careers section where you are asking for expressions of interest from any health professional interested in joining your team.  

What’s Involved?

Regardless of whether you are currently searching for a doctor or not, it is a good idea to have a Careers section on your website where health professionals (whether it be doctors or nurses) or support staff (such as receptionists, medical assistants) can express their interest in working at your practice. Then you can utilise this section further when you do have a vacancy and publish the vacancy on your practice website. An added bonus is that you can link back to this if do any advertising on social media .T

It is important to remember when a doctor is interested in joining your practice, they will often first look at your website and social accounts so make sure it is all up to date and looking appealing!

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Advertise on Seek

Cost

$280 plus GST for standard advertisement, other packages available for higher price

Advertising Period

30 days 

Effort Level

Minimal

Rating

Rating: 5/5. 

This method can be a little expensive, especially considering you will
probably have to advertise a few months before you find someone but it is often quite effective as you should experience a number of enquiries through this avenue

What’s Involved?

This method needs no introduction as you probably use it regularly to advertise for nurses, receptionists and medical assistants. Highly professional and the go to website for many job seekers (including doctors). If you wish to remain anonymous, you can email Seek and ask to be a private advertiser.  However I think when advertising for a doctor, it is best to be open about which practice is seeking a new GP to join their team.

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Advertise on Australian Doctor

Cost

Starting from approximately $840 plus GST for a one block advertisement that will appear between pages 34-35 for 4 weeks, other packages available for higher price. 

Advertising Period

4 x weekly advertisements 

Effort Level

High.  Australian Doctor do not advertise their prices online and you have to fill out a form on their website for a sales representative to call you to ascertain your needs.  In my experience, the sales representative wanted to ‘put a package together’ and email me the options. So then the emailing back and forth begins and it is definitely not a quick or painless process.  Personally I would prefer to see a list of pricing options online rather than deal with a sales rep. When there is no pricing online always makes me wonder if I am getting a good deal. So there are a high number of emails you need to send to approve pricing, job advertisements you need to write and then subsequently approve. Plus I found the sales rep from Australian Doctor will only help you with the advertisement if you ask them (personally I found writing an enticing 40 word advertisement a little tricky).  

Rating

1/5.  In the 1990s and early 2000s, Australian Doctor used to be theplace to advertise for doctors and now I feel it is unfortunately not.  In my experience, we didn’t get a single enquiry after our Australian Doctor print advertisement but we did get the cheapest (smallest) advertisement. Perhaps more expensive campaigns have better response rates. 

What’s Involved?

Australian Doctor is a printed weekly magazine which is a posted (mailed, in hard copy) to all doctors around Australia.  Australian Doctor will help you draft the advertisement ( if you ask them) to fit the very limited word count as well. Bottom line, it was extremely expensive (comparatively) and we had zero enquiries which was incredibly disappointing.  So it is difficult for me to recommend Australian Doctor as a method for recruiting a GP.

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Advertise on AusDoc Jobs

Cost*

Quick Post – $199 + GST: Job will be live for 30 days, featuring your logo, desktop and mobile friendly.
Quick Post Standout – $349 + GST: Job will be live for 30 days, featuring your logo, desktop and mobile friendly, standout boarder and highlight.
Expanded Reach – $499 + GST:  Job will be live for 30 days, featuring your logo, desktop and mobile friendly, AND featuring on our digital jobs boards, on the right hand
side of our GP Network websites (Australian Doctor & Medical Observer), increasing the chances of your advertisement to be seen by such a large reach. They also feature in our e-newsletters, where there is a 45% open rate from the jobs board on the e-mails to the GP Network: www.medicalobserver.com.au ,
 www.australiandoctor.com.au ,
www.6minutes.com.au. Totalling 56,000 emails on a daily basis.

*These prices were valid late 2018 when the website was medicaljobs.com.au but it has since been rebranded to AusDoc Jobs…Best to confirm pricing with Aus Doc directly.

Advertising Period

30 days 

Rating

2/5. AusDoc Jobs (formerly Medicaljobs.com.au) is owned/closely affiliated by Australian doctor as advertising on the website is offered as part of their packages for the printed weekly magazine. In my experience I had zero enquiries after 60 days of advertising on here.

Effort Level

 High- see comments above re Australian Doctor.  Also your job advertisement you use for PHN, Seek etc needs to be modified to suit this website’s template.

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Advertise on Healthworkforce (if you are located in Queensland!)

Cost

Free!

Advertising Period

30 days 

Effort Level

Minimal

Rating

5/5. Only downside is that there is a lot of competition because it is free.

What’s involved?

Very easy to do, all you need to do is complete an online form and it will be posted around 24 hours afterwards.  You will receive an email when it is posted.

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Engage Medical Recruiters

Cost

The cost is approximately $25K (ex GST) for a full-time placement VR doctor and $20k (ex GST) for a GR doctor.

Advertising Perio

Not applicable, but you should check in with them every week or two to ensure they don’t forget about you. 

Effort Level

Minimal.

Rating

4/5.  Only downside is that it is expensive.

What’s involved?

Contact some of the more popular recruiters (Cornerstone Recruitment, People Medical, Med Future) and explain your requirements for a new doctor. Try to sell your practice to the recruiter as though they are a potential new doctor. Sign the recruiter’s terms and conditions, then keep in touch with them every few weeks.

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Advertise on RACGP jobs

Cost

Approximately $374 plus GST per ad if you are not a member of the RACGP. Best value is to join the RACGP and then advertise for free.

Advertising Period

30 days 

Effort Level

Minimal

Rating

4/5. RACGP is highly regarded by Doctors.

What’s involved?

Very easy to do, all you need to do is complete an online form and it will be posted around 24 hours afterwards.  You will receive an email when it is posted.

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Advertise on Facebook Groups

Cost

Generally free

Advertising Period

Loses visibility after a few days

Effort Level

Minimal

Rating

4/5

What’s involved?

Very easy to do, all you need to do is draft an advertisement and add some eye catching photos. Facebook groups to consider advertising in is GP Jobs Australia, Doctors Jobs, General Practitioner Australia, AMC, AHPRA and the Australian GP jobs portal.

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Have your say! Is there anywhere else you have found an effective method of recruiting a new doctor? Comment Below!