Cold calling groups

[Bingo84]

Currently looking for some jobs in a Midwest city with a population of about 500,000. Pretty set on location as my husband is also a resident and will finish 2 years after me.

I have a few contacts who I could potentially call. If anyone has experience with cold calling groups I would appreciate it. To be honest I don’t know much about the groups so it seems awkward to be making cold calls. Any recs would be appreciated! Also should I have a cover letter and CV ready to go before I call? Anything else I should have ready to go?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[chocomorsel]

Currently looking for some jobs in a Midwest city with a population of about 500,000. Pretty set on location as my husband is also a resident and will finish 2 years after me.

I have a few contacts who I could portentoaly call. If anyone has experience with cold calling groups I would appreciate it. To be honest I don’t know much about the groups so it seems awkward to be making cold calls. Any recs would be appreciated! Also should I have a cover letter and CV ready to go before I call? Anything else I should have ready to go?

I do. It sucks. If you have friends in the areas you are looking call them first.

Cold calling tends to go like this -

You calling the OR - Hello, I am Dr. Choco and was wondering if I could speak with an one of your anesthesiologists?
OR front desk - "What is this in regards to?"
You - Well I am currently job hunting and looking to speak to one of the docs about the possibility of joining their practice
Them - Oh, well Dr. So and so is busy in the OR, dr. So and so is at lunch, Dr. So and so is busy in preop. Sorry, they are all busy.
You- Well do you happen to know the name of their group?
Them - They have a group? Sorry I don't know. But I will be glad to take a message.
You - Ok here's my name number 00000000
Them- Ok will pass it on.
--------Crickets-------

OR
You look up the anesthesia group and call that number directly

You - Hello I was wondering if I could speak to one of your anesthesiologists?
Them- Uhmm, I am sorry, the anesthesiologists are all in the hospital right now. This is the billing department.
You-- Oh, well is there any one of the docs in the group you can forward me to?
Them- Honey I am sorry, I am only the billing lady. I don't have the doctor's numbers but will be glad to take a message.
You -- Ok, my number is 0000000
And then --- Crickets------

And my favorite is this one

You Calling the OR front desk - Hello, I was wondering if I could speak to one of your anesthesiologists?
Them - You mean the CRNA
You- No I mean one of the doctors who's in charge of the CRNA's
Them - Sorry, we don't use doctors. Only CRNA's.

So ....
All this to say that cold calling is disappointing and most anesthesia groups who have a website only have the contacts of their billers and not themselves directly; most ORs, have no clue the name of their anesthesia group. People on this site state that cold calling is the best, but what they really mean is ..... call your friends/contacts in these groups or regions. It's all about who you know.

 

[ethilo]

I cold-emailed groups from their website for my first job and that was effective. The important thing is to make your email as personal as possible (Assuming you actually GENUINELY CARE about joining their group!). If the only email address present on the website is something off, like the billing department, you'll probably be routed to the group recruiter.

I always had my CV and cover letter ready / attached to my email.

I had plenty of groups respond positively with this. You just gotta make it personal and genuine. Avoid the cut/paste here.

 

[Ronin786]

My n=1 was cold calling a number through Google Maps. Ended up in contact with the recruiter and got an interview out of it. Job was a P.O.S. but that's not the cold-calling's fault.

 

[dchz]

I'm not an extrovert by nature. So I totally get why it's hard to cold-call people. But the redeeming quality here is that you have something to offer them that they might ACTUALLY NEED. This isn't a telemarketer that is trying to sell them knives that can cut steel pipe, or a timeshare.

To put it into perspective, tons of recruiting agencies do the cold-calling for you and charge $30-40k if they are successful in connecting your with a job. What if someone paid you $500 to make those cold calls? would you do it? that's a lot of room for money to be made. you should make it yourself.

 

[Bingo84]

I do. It sucks. If you have friends in the areas you are looking call them first.

Cold calling tends to go like this -

You calling the OR - Hello, I am Dr. Choco and was wondering if I could speak with an one of your anesthesiologists?
OR front desk - "What is this in regards to?"
You - Well I am currently job hunting and looking to speak to one of the docs about the possibility of joining their practice
Them - Oh, well Dr. So and so is busy in the OR, dr. So and so is at lunch, Dr. So and so is busy in preop. Sorry, they are all busy.
You- Well do you happen to know the name of their group?
Them - They have a group? Sorry I don't know. But I will be glad to take a message.
You - Ok here's my name number 00000000
Them- Ok will pass it on.
--------Crickets-------

OR
You look up the anesthesia group and call that number directly

You - Hello I was wondering if I could speak to one of your anesthesiologists?
Them- Uhmm, I am sorry, the anesthesiologists are all in the hospital right now. This is the billing department.
You-- Oh, well is there any one of the docs in the group you can forward me to?
Them- Honey I am sorry, I am only the billing lady. I don't have the doctor's numbers but will be glad to take a message.
You -- Ok, my number is 0000000
And then --- Crickets------

And my favorite is this one

You Calling the OR front desk - Hello, I was wondering if I could speak to one of your anesthesiologists?
Them - You mean the CRNA
You- No I mean one of the doctors who's in charge of the CRNA's
Them - Sorry, we don't use doctors. Only CRNA's.

So ....
All this to say that cold calling is disappointing and most anesthesia groups who have a website only have the contacts of their billers and not themselves directly; most ORs, have no clue the name of their anesthesia group. People on this site state that cold calling is the best, but what they really mean is ..... call your friends/contacts in these groups or regions. It's all about who you know.

I almost spit out my coffee reading this. Well I think now I have a healthy expectation of reality.

 

[Bingo84]

I cold-emailed groups from their website for my first job and that was effective. The important thing is to make your email as personal as possible (Assuming you actually GENUINELY CARE about joining their group!). If the only email address present on the website is something off, like the billing department, you'll probably be routed to the group recruiter.

I always had my CV and cover letter ready / attached to my email.

I had plenty of groups respond positively with this. You just gotta make it personal and genuine. Avoid the cut/paste here.

Thanks for the tips! Question...how do you find out if it’s a group you’re interested in prior to talking with them? I was going to talk to multiple...well maybe all the groups in town as I don’t know much about any of them.

 

[Bingo84]

Changing the subject a little, since we’ll be planning on moving after a year I was thinking locum tenums might be the way to go. Is this something you would talk to a group about 8 months out or is that too far?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Currently looking for some jobs in a Midwest city with a population of about 500,000. Pretty set on location as my husband is also a resident and will finish 2 years after me.

I have a few contacts who I could potentially call. If anyone has experience with cold calling groups I would appreciate it. To be honest I don’t know much about the groups so it seems awkward to be making cold calls. Any recs would be appreciated! Also should I have a cover letter and CV ready to go before I call? Anything else I should have ready to go?

I might would try and contact the hospital recruiter or medical staff services can probably give you decent contact information for the anesthesia group.

 

[pjl]

I got a call from someone yesterday. Somehow they got transferred through to my OR phone. I had just finished intubation, and turned on the gas.

Of course, I answered the phone as the music got turned up so I could hear nothing except someone asking if we were hiring anytime soon, whether we have job postings, and what the name of the group was. Completely missed the introduction.

I’m pretty sure their impression of me was not flattering as I was short and basically hung up when we did the time out. I have no idea if it was a resident, practicing guy, or recruiting agency.

Moral: Getting in touch with someone by phone is unlikely to get the best response. Try email, then schedule a phone call. Absolutely have a CV and possibly some sort of cover letter made, although the email can act as the cover letter. Send the CV with the email. If no response, try someone else in the group. Some people have emails on the state society pages when viewed by other state society members, you could try that.

 

[ryanjmy]

I might would try and contact the hospital recruiter or medical staff services can probably give you decent contact information for the anesthesia group.

This is the way to go. Especially if you can demonstrate some kind of connection to the area.

The chances of you cold calling an or front desk and getting to talk to someone that has time, cares and can make decisions is pretty low.

I would probably start with an email or text with an introduction and asking them to call you at their convenience.

 

[AdmiralChz]

I got a call from someone yesterday. Somehow they got transferred through to my OR phone. I had just finished intubation, and turned on the gas.

Of course, I answered the phone as the music got turned up so I could hear nothing except someone asking if we were hiring anytime soon, whether we have job postings, and what the name of the group was. Completely missed the introduction.

I’m pretty sure their impression of me was not flattering as I was short and basically hung up when we did the time out. I have no idea if it was a resident, practicing guy, or recruiting agency.

Moral: Getting in touch with someone by phone is unlikely to get the best response. Try email, then schedule a phone call. Absolutely have a CV and possibly some sort of cover letter made, although the email can act as the cover letter. Send the CV with the email. If no response, try someone else in the group. Some people have emails on the state society pages when viewed by other state society members, you could try that.

Yeah, this is a great example of what NOT to do. Get the contact info of an administrator or high level doc and reach out to them via email, or try to set up a meeting. How? Do a google search or some research and figure out who the groups are! Don’t just call the charge nurse and ask to be put through to the head physician.

This is how I got my current job, BTW.

 

[B-Bone]

It's 2018. Groups who are interested in recruiting high-quality applicants should have a website with appropriate search terms that shows up on google and has contact info for candidates to use. Ours has a hyperlinked email to our recruiting guy:

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR TEAM?

Contact our recruiting director by emailing xxx

If you google "<insert my city> anesthesia group", you get the websites of the four biggest PP groups as the top four hits, all with contact info for recruiting. We get pretty regular interest from applicants whether we're hiring or not. While this may not currently help applicants, maybe a few PP folks on here will take the hint and things will get better in the future.