Head Hunters

[clement]

How do you go about vetting head hunters/recruiters? Anyone willing to recommend one that might have ties to non clinical opportunities in particular? Especially interested in consultant roles with a background in med/psych, integrative care.

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[comp1]

Never been head hunted for non-clinical opportunities. Do those even use head hunters? Honestly, I have a viscerally negative reaction to them in general. It's always my assumption that they must be recruiting for less than ideal positions if head hunters have to be brought in.

 

[Sushirolls]

Or just an unnecessary middle man.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

i prefer the ones directly affiliated with the hospital system itself, they're less like a used care salesman. just my experience. In general I dont trust any of them lol

 

[comp1]

Absolutely stick with the hospital recruiting staff themselves. There is no shortage of jobs. You shouldn't need anyone to find one for you. Throw a dart on the continental US and you can find a job there. Now...non-clinical, that I know nothing about.

 

[clement]

i prefer the ones directly affiliated with the hospital system itself, they're less like a used care salesman. just my experience. In general I dont trust any of them lol

They are spammy slime.

 

[shoomer]

Absolutely stick with the hospital recruiting staff themselves. There is no shortage of jobs. You shouldn't need anyone to find one for you. Throw a dart on the continental US and you can find a job there. Now...non-clinical, that I know nothing about.

Silly question but how can you differentiate between a hospital recruiter and a head hunter?

 

[comp1]

The hospital recruiter will tell you they work for a hospital or a system, like the VA or University of Pennsylvania Health System. Anyone who doesn't tell you who they work for either verbally or in their signature line or describes working for a recruiting agency, is a head hunter. If it seems unclear for any reason, it's a head hunter. If they text you, it's a head hunter. If you didn't start the conversation, it's a head hunter.

 

[FlowRate]

Silly question but how can you differentiate between a hospital recruiter and a head hunter?

Usually hospital/system recruiter is just someone in the HR department and will not actively outreach you. "Recruiters" (non-qualified) are the folks who spam your voicemail/texts/email/linkedin.

 

[dl2dp2]

How do you go about vetting head hunters/recruiters? Anyone willing to recommend one that might have ties to non clinical opportunities in particular? Especially interested in consultant roles with a background in med/psych, integrative care.

What is a "nonclinical consultant role"?

Headhunters are very useful, to the point of essentially being required, for the following:
1. non-clinical pharma/biotech
2. non-clinical executive/CMO/management

If you are looking for other odd jobs in an adjacent industry, usually the first job out of medicine is not headhunter driven but referral driven, but later on headhunters can be useful for the 2nd job, etc.

Headhunters are dumb and unnecessary for clinical jobs, unless you have literally no tolerance for any kind of leg work (i.e. call a hospital/practice and investigate, etc)

 

[clement]

What is a "nonclinical consultant role"?

Headhunters are very useful, to the point of essentially being required, for the following:
1. non-clinical pharma/biotech
2. non-clinical executive/CMO/management

If you are looking for other odd jobs in an adjacent industry, usually the first job out of medicine is not headhunter driven but referral driven, but later on headhunters can be useful for the 2nd job, etc.

Headhunters are dumb and unnecessary for clinical jobs, unless you have literally no tolerance for any kind of leg work (i.e. call a hospital/practice and investigate, etc)

I meant like, if someone did an addiction fellowship, saw lots of malingering and alcoholism at the VA, then signed up for a gig with a healthcare consulting company.

 

[clement]

I meant like, if someone did an addiction fellowship, saw lots of malingering and alcoholism at the VA, then signed up for a gig with a healthcare consulting company.

PS True story…
Although I think this person did a corrections stint in between.

 

[dl2dp2]

I meant like, if someone did an addiction fellowship, saw lots of malingering and alcoholism at the VA, then signed up for a gig with a healthcare consulting company.

Do you just see this on LinkedIn or do you know this person personally? If you know this person personally you should just ask him/her. Don't be shy and socially awkward.

Likely the gig is part-time or semi-retired. There are biz consulting roles that pay better than a corrections psychiatrist, but not many, and usually require a number of years of collecting a book of business, and usually, these are affiliates of larger firms (Big 3, etc). Exceptions exist and people could in theory get into a boutique due to very specific niche expertise/relationships, but that's rare.

More broadly, there are lots of resources for physicians who are interested in transitioning into a non-clinical role. You can Google and find them. Generally, the starting point is not a headhunter in these scenarios.

 

[clement]

Do you just see this on LinkedIn or do you know this person personally? If you know this person personally you should just ask him/her. Don't be shy and socially awkward.

Likely the gig is part-time or semi-retired. There are biz consulting roles that pay better than a corrections psychiatrist, but not many, and usually require a number of years of collecting a book of business, and usually, these are affiliates of larger firms (Big 3, etc). Exceptions exist and people could in theory get into a boutique due to very specific niche expertise/relationships, but that's rare.

More broadly, there are lots of resources for physicians who are interested in transitioning into a non-clinical role. You can Google and find them. Generally, the starting point is not a headhunter in these scenarios.

I know this individual. She was a notoriously toxic attending during my residency years with whom I had a disagreement. Seemingly now chilling in this consulting role in a high end coastal SoCal city. Her natural trajectory was likely to be pulled away from the clinical world of peers and patients. Sometimes being toxic has its perks.

Bottom line, head hunters are not the way to go and often quite annoying to deal with when not directly attached to the hiring entity. I’ve also known psychiatrists working for Goldman Sacks in the role of a physician. There’s a lot that can be Googled, yes, but there’s little that substitutes for helpful SDN pointers.

 

[Stagg737]

Usually hospital/system recruiter is just someone in the HR department and will not actively outreach you. "Recruiters" (non-qualified) are the folks who spam your voicemail/texts/email/linkedin.

Depends on the size of the hospital/system. Where I did residency was a large system, over 1,000 physicians at our main hospital and clinics within the city. Apparently it also just bought out another local hospital I had rotated through at one point. During the start of my 4th year there was a meeting with the physician recruiters and any interested 4th years about jobs. They had told us the hospital has a small team of individuals whose entire role is physician (and maybe mid-level?) recruitment. Searching the jobs posted on their site there's currently 58 positions posted for physicians, so I'd imagine that most systems that are large enough could certainly justify employing an in-house recruiter or two.

 

[FlowRate]

Depends on the size of the hospital/system. Where I did residency was a large system, over 1,000 physicians at our main hospital and clinics within the city. Apparently it also just bought out another local hospital I had rotated through at one point. During the start of my 4th year there was a meeting with the physician recruiters and any interested 4th years about jobs. They had told us the hospital has a small team of individuals whose entire role is physician (and maybe mid-level?) recruitment. Searching the jobs posted on their site there's currently 58 positions posted for physicians, so I'd imagine that most systems that are large enough could certainly justify employing an in-house recruiter or two.

We have over 1000 physicians. Our in-house recruiters are employees of the HR department. They don't cold call people (like "recruiters"/head hunters) but they do manage job listings, screening electronic applications, arranging/scheduling interviews with clinical stakeholders, etc. etc.

 

[Stagg737]

We have over 1000 physicians. Our in-house recruiters are employees of the HR department. They don't cold call people (like "recruiters"/head hunters) but they do manage job listings, screening electronic applications, arranging/scheduling interviews with clinical stakeholders, etc. etc.

Gotcha, I don’t think where I went would cold call anyone either, but they do send out job postings. I’m sure they were probably part of the HR team as well, but that was an academic center and not a private group, so idk.

 

[dl2dp2]

Bottom line, head hunters are not the way to go and often quite annoying to deal with when not directly attached to the hiring entity. I’ve also known psychiatrists working for Goldman Sacks in the role of a physician. There’s a lot that can be Googled, yes, but there’s little that substitutes for helpful SDN pointers.

This kind of thing is a thing. You *could* try to get a job at a hedge fund like Wendy Rhoades but beware:
1. salary isn't necessarily that high.
2. job often has weird components that are more related to HR related issues

There is also no obvious direct pathway. These jobs are generally by referral only.

Relatedly there are consulting focused jobs that are servicing multiple large organizations. Those can be quite lucrative. However, again there's no formal pathway and in general people collect clients along the way.

Without connections, it's fairly difficult to "break in" so to speak. You'd need some creativity and networking. You need a marketing plan and an industry focus. If you basically have no starting point to speak of, I would consider hiring someone who's experienced in marketing small businesses to get a start. For example, if I were you and I want to focus on hedge funds, I would get a list of 500 hedge funds and create a very focused pitch for a specific narrow niche service, then try to get meetings set up.

Headhunters are useless. This is not a standardized "job" that would retain a headhunter.