In my first article on this subject (TFL, 9/07), I outlined a historical convergence of four problems facing healthcare employers today. They are: declining revenues from reimbursement cuts (federal, state, and third-party payers); shortages of skilled professionals; inadequate services; and misconduct by recruiters. Hanging over it all is the political uncertainty created by the looming 2008 presidential elections – and complicating everything is the relative scope of these problems.

As I described these symptoms, I also promised to reveal an antidote, or at least the proper mixture of pharmacological agents required to bring a healthcare recruiting operation back to life. Don’t you love those puns?

All through September, I could hear the faint whispers of those readers who have always been bearish on the healthcare industry saying, “I knew it; the healthcare industry is flat while other industries thrive.” Well, I may have given the bears a month to gloat, but this bull isn’t about to miss a good fight. I am here to tell you that the healthcare industry is as strong, if not stronger, as it’s ever been. If you have been feeling the sting of missed placements or declining momentum in your health-care recruiting operation, maybe it’s because you’re part of the problem.

If that hurt your feelings, I’m not sorry. It’s time someone started shooting straight about what’s going on, and if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

While you were reading the last article, you may have thought I was overly hard on recruiters. Well, I’m not here to give slackers a bye, but to give the most committed healthcare recruiters a sense of reality.

For more than two decades I have watched healthcare cycle through declining revenues from reimbursement cuts (federal, state, and third-party payers) and shortages of skilled professionals, while getting all wrapped up in the uncertainty of the geo-political course as a result of a presidential election. It’s just the way the industry works. It’s the fuel the industry runs on. And anyone who’s been in this industry for any length of time at all knows this. I like to call it growing pains. The more pain coming from these areas, the more rapid the growth occurring in the industry. So the first lesson is: if you’re planning to make a living in this industry, get used to them because they’re not going away.

But why has this industry all of a sudden taken this opportunity to focus on recruiters as scapegoats? To better explain, let me paint a picture for you. Let’s say you’re driving down the road and notice your car is running low on gasoline. As you pull into a gas station, people start running up to your car trying to sell you diesel fuel. They chase you all the way up to the gas pumps, telling you that your car will run just fine on diesel fuel. You notice car after car leaving the gas pumps running just fine on their diesel fuel. On top of this, they are even willing to sell this diesel fuel to you for half the going rate of gasoline. You are skeptical at first, but decide to give it a try. As you drive off, the diesel pusher waves and smiles like nothing’s wrong. What do you suppose is going to happen to you and all those other gasoline-powered cars in about two or three miles? Your engines will start blowing smoke, then stall, leaving all of you stranded beside the highway. Unfortunately for all those people victimized by these diesel pushers, they have learned a valuable lesson not soon forgotten. Could this ever happen to you? No way, you say.

Well, this is what’s going on in recruiting these days in healthcare. Over the past few years, inexperienced recruiters have flooded the market, peddling whatever they could to make money. Without regard to what the market needed, they pushed these candidates onto the market at any price. Unfortunately, many employers fell victim to the wrong candidates, candidates fell victim to the wrong job orders, and recruiting (in general) fell victim to a loss in credibility.

What most newbie healthcare recruiters don’t know is that there’s a finite number of employers in healthcare. That number is very small compared to other industries. At last count, nationally we have fewer than 6,000 hospitals. And although there are many more specialty clinics and doctors’ practices, bad news spreads like wildfire in healthcare. Everything flows back and forth through the hospitals. You do something to hospitals and the entire industry will know about it in short order. So to go back to our story, the diesel pushers started selling the wrong fuel for gasoline-powered cars and pretty soon, even if you actually needed diesel fuel, you wouldn’t buy it from someone off the street.

This one point has changed healthcare recruiting forever. At the core of this problem isn’t price or value or competence, but rather the delivery of a conscientious product in the most professional way possible. I’m not saying that price, value, and competence have no role – they do. But if brain surgeons did their job the way recruiters in general are doing their job, you could get a lobotomy these days down at your local hardware store along with your choice of hand drills – cheap!

Secondly, the people managing our healthcare system today are the best of all people. They are the few remaining people who would still give the shirt off their back to help a total stranger. For a better explanation, see my article “What You MUST Know to Work with Healthcare Candidates” (TFL, 4/06). Yet these are the same people being victimized. For recruiters to victimize the people of this industry equates to not just stealing a baby’s lollipop, but also slapping it in the face as you leave just because you can. I had one recruiter tell me that he likes to work with healthcare professionals because they are (by and large) still naive. Although he had no plan to take negative advantage of this point, there are many who have taken advantage of it. Ask yourself how you are looking at your position within healthcare recruiting. Are you saying to yourself, “With much power comes much responsibility?” Instead, I would ask you to think of it this way: “With much responsibility comes much power.”

What you bring to the table represents their (employers and candidates) greatest needs. Treat it that way. Treat your profession as a profession. I can’t ever remember a “snake oil salesman” being described as a professional. If you are serious about becoming part of the solution, let me offer some suggestions.

First, as a recruiter, learn as much as you can about why this industry goes through the three legitimate issues I have described.

Second, slow down. Take more time to interview your candidates. Take a personal interest in their needs, and in return you will learn about the industry from the inside out. Metaphorically, be willing to get in the car with them as they drive away with the diesel fuel you sold them. Be confident enough in what you’re peddling to not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. Make a commitment to these candidates and they will give you the power to represent them.

Third, own the car. If you were the employer needing refueling, what would you be looking for? If you are saying, I can’t get an employer to talk to me, then learn by speaking to the employers as candidates. As I said, connecting to candidates will help you learn about the industry from the inside out – so if you want to know what employers need, call them up and interview them as candidates. In the beginning you will talk about what they need, but could you also ask them their opinion on what the industry needs today? After they have learned they can trust you, would they not talk with you about what they need as an employer? Sure they would.

And finally, be willing to make a car payment or two to win a customer. “Delivering a conscientious product in the most professional way possible” means you’re willing to fall on the sword if something goes wrong. You’re so confident in your scrupulous, honest, painstaking precision that you’ll hold their hand until things are certain. An example of this is our retention and attrition programs. For employers that require more, we offer fee and guarantee options that include increased retention and reduce attrition. You ask how we can do that? Because of the confidence we have in the scrupulous, honest, painstakingly made product we deliver. Without giving away proprietary information, these programs include higher fees and much longer guarantees. We have come to know and understand the needs of our industry and the professionalism with which we deliver our product.

I hear people talking about their candidate-to-send-out ratios, or send-out-to-placement ratios, but you never hear about a recruiter’s length of stay after a placement ratio. What I’m telling you is that this is the only ratio that matters to your healthcare employers and candidates.

In healthcare, you not only have to provide the highest degree of service, but you also must know the proper fuel needed for the vehicle, and the efficiency at which that fuel will burn. The better you are at those three things, the more business you will come to have.

So where did the smokin’-hot healthcare market go? Well, it’s about two or three miles down the road, waiting for a ride. But before you race out to save the world, do your homework. Decide to change the way you approach the industry. Become a professional by understanding what it means to be a true professional healthcare recruiter.

John “Clay” Abbott is a true “Healthcare World Changer.” He believes recruiters should learn from caregivers by giving more of themselves to others. As president and founder of the Academy of HealthCare Recruiters, Inc., Clay is one of the healthcare recruiting industry’s leading recruiters, trainers, and consultants. With more than 21 years of direct healthcare experience and 10 years of experience in healthcare recruiting, he has successfully developed the only guaranteed HealthCare Recruiter Training programs in the industry. Many solo recruiters and recruiting managers are finding the crossover into healthcare possible with Clay’s leadership and knowledge. Clay is a widely known public speaker on issues pertinent to audiences ranging from independent recruiters to hospital management groups. He guides recruiters on how to find qualified healthcare candidates, how to utilize a systematic approach to keep a full pipeline of candidates, and how to stay ahead of the trends. Clay continues to operate his own healthcare recruiting firm while training others to do the same. He remains an expert in the market and an activist for positive change in healthcare recruiting and management. To learn more about his training products and services, visit his website at www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com. Clay can be reached at (812) 522-2992, or email him at clay@academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com.

That’s a great question. Unfortunately, the answer is both simple and complicated.

Whether you’re new to the industry or have been around for years, I’ll bet you came to healthcare with grandiose ideas of how recession-proof this industry was. Maybe you came to feel this way because of the articles you read about the large number of candidate shortages. Or maybe you came to this industry in an attempt to try and make a difference. Well, regardless of what brought us to the healthcare market, we probably all need reminding from time to time of how cyclical this market can be.

We need to know that, regardless of how things are going in other industries, healthcare is a world unto itself. But this time it isn’t just a cyclical shift. Rather, it is a historical convergence of four factors: declining revenues from reimbursement cuts (federal, state, and third-party payers), shortages of skilled professionals, inadequate services, and misconduct by recruiters. And it’s all wrapped up in the uncertainty of the geo-political environment leading up to the 2008 presidential election. See, simple but complicated.

Many of these factors have been affecting healthcare for years, so why have they all converged at this time? This article will attempt to break down each area, give its importance, and suggest how to counteract the negative effects from the convergence of these factors.

First of all, recruiters have created the situation in which we find ourselves. Although that may seem an overstatement considering the players in the market today, the resistance we find to our presence is a reaction by the market to recruiters in general. Now, not all recruiters have created this problem, but the 10% of recruiters who did create the problem have left the remaining 90% of us with a challenge to provide a solution. Most of the more experienced recruiters and trainers I know are suggesting that we should all just make more phone calls. I would suggest this is the last thing we should be doing.

Let me paint you a real-world example of why I say this. I can remember a TV commercial where a sports celebrity was running through an airport. Hurdling seats and zigzagging through passengers. The TV commercial was conveying the message of a late-arriving passenger racing to secure his rental car. In this day and age, if a person were running through an airport, the airport would be shut down for fear of a terrorist attack. I could name many other examples of how our world has changed so that we now fear either the actions or words of a person that we wouldn’t have given a second thought in the past. As recruiters, the things we used to say and do had little to no immediate effect on the market, but in light of this present set of issues, we find the market taking a very different response to our methods. So the very methods we are using are intensifying the negative reaction the market in general is having toward recruiters.

We are experiencing a negative paradigm shift – an overused phrase with an unfavorable connotation. What recruiters need to understand is that this could be a time of “positive paradigm shift,” but our actions have pushed the market away from us. As we all know, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Well, we (or at least some of us) have taken action in a way that has caused a reaction opposite to what we wanted, and consequently, many employers have chosen not to work with any recruiters.

More hospitals than ever before are implementing “no recruiter” policies. Why do you think this is so? Well, it’s certainly not because we’ve done remarkable and/or high-quality work in filling their job orders. Well, I plan to name names and describe the crimes I have witnessed over my last 12 months of healthcare recruiting. But before I do that, let me explain the importance of the other issues that the healthcare market is struggling with.

Money! It makes the world go around, right? Or at least that’s what they say. Well, these days there isn’t as much money to go around as there used to be, at least for the hospitals. Declining revenues over the last 10 years have created a situation where hospitals, clinics, and medical centers are forced to give away a lot of their services to the poor or uninsured. Additionally, it has forced them to operate with skeleton crews or reduce the quality of the services they offer.

Now don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of money “in” the healthcare market; it’s just not getting to the people who provide the services. There are so many different subgroups tapping into the revenue stream these days that, by the time the money passes through, there’s very little for the person at the end of the line – the one actually providing the service. But that’s not the half of it. Even when a hospital finds itself at the end of the line, receiving a smaller portion of the revenue for the services they provide, they can even be asked to pay for being a part of the healthcare community (call it a membership charge).

Let me give you an example. When the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 was passed, it was described as a stroke of genius and hard negotiating by the Clinton administration to force government to live within its means. The truth is that the Balanced Budget Act required every hospital in this country to pay an average of $2 million per facility back to the government just for being a part of the healthcare community. The government extracted these fees from hospitals by substantially reducing reimbursement rates. As a justification, the legislation tied it to a hospital’s participation in the Medicare program. No other industry in the United States paid as much as the healthcare industry did during this time. So after all this smooth talk and wrangling, our wonderful government stuck it to our healthcare system. This caused a number of community hospitals to go out of business; and, additionally, placed a larger number of hospitals on the brink of disaster by draining their reserves.

The contributors to this problem aren’t just our federal government (Medicare, federal laws, etc.) but also our state governments (Medicaid, state laws, etc.); insurance companies (through reduced reimbursements, or cutting reimbursement altogether for some tests, treatments, or drugs); other third-party payers; the uninsured; and other service providers. This is not a good time to be a hospital, clinic, or medical center.

Most hospitals consider it a good year when they have an end-of-the-year reserve of 3 to 5%, but a large number are barely breaking even.

In light of this information, about three years ago a small group of hospitals started developing policies and procedures that were designed to increase year-end reserves to the 15 to 20% range. This is where our paradigm shift comes in. The programs that these hospitals implemented have become very successful. So much so that other hospitals started to follow their lead by implementing the very same programs. So what were these programs? The senior management of these progressive hospitals started putting into place measures that reduced the prices of some vendors and eliminated other vendors. And the way senior management has structured who gets cut versus who gets eliminated is based largely on how much clout the vendor has. For example, with pressures being placed on doctor practices by Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance companies, many doctors are now more than happy to make the shift to becoming employees of hospitals instead of independent practitioners, which would have been unheard of five years ago. Other examples are the product vendors (implants, surgical supplies, office supplies, drugs, etc.), who have all been given ultimatums on pricing structures. Contracts have been established for approved vendors, and the other vendors (unable to capitulate) have been cut from the herd.

On top of this are the record shortages of skilled professionals. If you go to any hospital website and check out the “Current Openings” link, you will see a long list of the hardest-to-find professionals these facilities are trying to recruit. But at the same time, a recruiter who calls this facility will be told that they don’t have any openings. What’s the truth? I suggest that you read more into people’s actions than their words. If they take the time to post a position on their website, then there is most likely an opening. The real truth is that for every opening they post, there are five other openings for lesser-skilled titles they don’t have time to post.

We all have been reading for years that 7 out of 10 jobs by 2010 will be healthcare-related, and there’s a reason for that – it’s called baby boomers (78 million strong). But in light of an increase in patient traffic, with fewer skilled professionals (caregivers) to meet the new demand, why have hospitals decided to misrepresent their employee needs to inquiring recruiters? Why do hospitals feel justified in misrepresenting their openings to the one group that could help relieve the pressure of these issues? Rodney Dangerfield put it best when he said, “I get no respect!” Client hospitals have lost so much professional respect for recruiters that they feel it’s not unethical at all to misrepresent their situations to recruiters. Quite frankly, they feel it’s absolutely none of the recruiter’s business as to what openings they have or don’t have. Besides, the hospitals I work with feel that recruiters are the cause for all these openings in the first place. They (management) share no responsibility for employee falloffs, or employee separations.

And finally, let’s wrap all of this up in a geo-political football and kick it around a little. As far as the healthcare market is concerned, history is about to repeat itself. This 2008 presidential election is being reported far sooner than any other election in history, and in these reports, our industry (healthcare) is being reminded that the person they defeated in 1994 (Hillary Clinton) as the First Lady, assigned to the task of overhauling healthcare, may, as president, take a second shot at the healthcare industry.

To remind you of the climate in 1994, healthcare was a bundle of nerves because of two years of secret sessions (by Hillary Clinton) to create a type of “Universal Healthcare for all.” It was compared to the system in Canada. They wouldn’t admit it, but they wanted the U.S. healthcare system to become “socialized medicine.” This is bad news (big time) for more reasons than can possibly be explained in this article.

During this 1993-1994 cycle, healthcare went through many of the same symptoms that it’s experiencing today. It tightened up, and overreacted to a situation that never came to pass. But from this overreaction came managed care, and set in motion many of the healthcare issues and problems we all face today.

So let’s review. We are working in a market that is forced to accept reduced revenues from a big brother (the state and federal government) while at the same time is required to provide more services with less-skilled professionals for a customer base that is the largest in modern history. Now, when surviving seems almost impossible, our market is being reminded that “Big Brother” might become the worst nightmare ever, due to a power-wielding president hell-bent on saving face from a defeat she suffered as first lady. If the market were a turtle, it would be so far back in its shell it would be hard to tell if it were dead or alive. The market is scared stiff, convinced that the world as they know it may be doomed.

Regardless of your political beliefs or affiliations, this is how this market reacts when confronted by changes within the federal government. If we want the healthcare industry to function, then leave it alone. I suggest that the same people we count on to save our lives or treat our family members can also be trusted to police the very industry they call their own.

So, I bet you’re thinking how did we, as recruiters, cause any of this? And on the surface, you would have a point because the picture I have painted in the past paragraphs would have happened regardless of our existence. But let’s go deeper. Let me ask you a question. What do some people do when they are forced to operate in a way that they do not like? Do they become bitter and resentful toward others? Do they become disgruntled toward their family and coworkers? Would some of them even seek out others to vent their frustrations? Yes, Yes, and Yes. What I mean by this is that healthcare has no choice but to operate in a dysfunctional system of checks and balances forced upon them by the administrators of the system. But where they do have a choice is the question of with whom they will work during their time of misery.

For years, recruiters have been tolerated as a necessary evil of doing business in an industry of candidate shortages. But in the last four years, we have seen an explosion of wannabe recruiters thrashing their way through healthcare in a way that would embarrass even the worst of recruiters.

These wannabe recruiters, unbeknownst to them, entered a difficult and complicated market where placements (even if they knew what they were doing) could take four to six months to complete. As months turned into a year, these recruiters became more desperate, so in an attempt to survive financially they took aggressively to the phones. They told any employer who would listen that they would work for any fee: 20% fees, then 15% fees, then 10%, to finally flat fees of $2,500 to $5,000 per placement. This gave employers the idea that we were all for sale. At first the market tolerated these calls, but then it became apparent that something had to be done. So in a time when hospitals saw a need to cut vendors from the herd, we have seen a huge shift toward “No Recruiter” polices.

During this time of historical convergence of three legitimate issues, recruiters stuck their heads up and became the whipping boy for the whole situation. Unfortunately, it seems that recruiters have become the mental scapegoat for all that’s wrong in the healthcare industry today (at least for management). Hospitals have found someone else farther down the food chain and are rejoicing because they feel powerless to control the outcome of their present situation – misery loves company.

But for all of these symptoms, there is an antidote – and I will reveal them in my next article.

Clay Abbott is the president and founder of the Academy of HealthCare Recruiters, Inc. Clay is one of the healthcare recruiting industry’s leading recruiters, trainers, public speakers, and consultants. He has 21 years of healthcare experience and has successfully developed the only guaranteed Home Study HealthCare Recruiter Training programs in the industry. Many solo recruiters and recruiting managers are finding the crossover into healthcare possible with Clay’s leadership and knowledge. To learn more about his training products and services, visit his website at www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com. Clay can be reached at (812) 522-2992 or e-mail him at clay@academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com.

When a reporter asked Michael Jordan (the greatest Chicago Bull to ever play the game of basketball) “What gives you the confidence to take those last second shots?” Michael replied, “I’ve never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot … when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.”

Michael has also related this to being in the “Zone.”

The “Zone” is, of course, that magical place where all professionals find themselves when their confidence, attitudes, and abilities come together.  It’s hitting the trifecta or pinnacle of their profession.  The mind, body, and planets align in a way that makes all things possible. The funniest thing about the “Zone” is that it can last for a single moment or for weeks.

Have you ever experienced the “Zone” in anything?

Think back to maybe when you were a senior in high school or college throwing the football down the field and having it land like a feather in the arms of a sprinting receiver.  Or maybe you are/were a singer and (effortlessly) delivered a passionate and goose bump raising rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at an athletic event …. if you think hard enough there have been times in all of ours lives that we’ve experienced the “Zone.”

Have you ever experienced the “Zone” as a recruiter?  Do you know how to reach the “Zone” in recruiting?  Well, I think you’ll be surprised to know that it has as much to do with the things you do as the things you don’t do.  Did you know that experiencing the “Zone” can’t happen unless a recruiter’s mental outlook is fueled by momentum.  Momentum creates a positive outlook that makes the recruiter feel energetic and tenacious.  The real trick is to keep the momentum building by balancing three very important areas (candidates, job orders, and mental attitude); which in return, keeps the recruiter “on the top of their game.”  A flash point occurs to the recruiter as they reach the “Zone.” Candidates sense the recruiter’s confidence, the employer invests in the recruiter’s euphoria, and in turn the recruiter feels as if things are easier to accomplish.

Is there a way to reach your recruiter “Zone” and stay there permanently?  Although it may seem incredible, it is possible.

Without momentum a recruiter is dead.  Momentum cannot be created without an impetus.  The recruiter is the impetus to their own production.  Their production is only a process of their efforts, or energies.  When you place an engaged recruiter (the impetus) at a desk and you turn them loose on candidates and job orders … things begin to happen.  It’s not always successful, but things start moving.  But a recruiter needs more than just candidates and job orders.  They need a positive mental outlook to energize the candidates and job orders.  Whether you’re managing yourself or a group of recruiters, attitude is everything.  All the job orders or candidates in the world will not generate true success without a skilled, energized, and tenacious recruiter at the helm.

I know what you’re thinking now: “It’s easy to teach candidate and job order skills, but teaching mental attitude is a different story.”  Well, as you’re about to see illustrated in this article, mental attitude is a process from which candidates and job orders are created.  It’s a by-product. Mental attitude is either the sweet nectar or the smelly crap generated from your candidates and job orders.  I call them the “3” Momentum Killers: Candidate Momentum Killers, Job Order Momentum Killers and Mental Momentum Killers.  If you teach your recruiters to avoid these 3 deadly momentum killers you will see mental attitude greatly improve. So, let me break them down for you.

•    As recruiters we locate, interview, and score candidates, right?  Failing to fulfill these simple tasks can kill a recruiter’s candidate momentum.

•    As recruiters we locate, interview employers for job orders and make sure that fee agreements are signed or collected.  Failing to fulfill these simple tasks can kill a recruiter’s job order momentum.

•    But a recruiter’s mental attitude is different because it’s determined by the results or benefits the recruiter receives from the recruiting process.

Now let’s look at each area more specifically.

The Candidate:  The recruiters I train are specifically asked to field recruit in certain areas. They locate a candidate and make arrangements to thoroughly interview each candidate.  During the time of the interview, the recruiters are to “Go Deep” or “Pounce” on the candidates’ work related and family issues to develop broker status with the recruiter.  After interviewing a candidate, the recruiter scores the candidate, then, depending on how many areas the recruiter went deep in, a recruiter will give each candidate a “candidate index score.”  This is done with every candidate, whether they’re good, bad, or ugly.

Candidate Momentum Killers:

•    Using name lists to locate candidates
•    Using a resume board to locate candidates
•    Abbreviating the interview
•    Failing to “Go deep” or “Pounce”
•    Exaggerating a candidate’s score
•    Marketing a candidate without an Index score
•    Working any one candidate longer than 3 days
•    Using voicemail or email to communicate
•    Working with candidates without an exclusive

The Job Order:  The recruiters I train locate job orders by marketing their top candidates. As these marketing calls attract employers, the recruiter shifts their focus away from the candidate and focuses on the job order.  The recruiter performs a thorough interview with the employer by collecting a job order.  The recruiters “Go Deep” and “Pounce” on the employer (or department head) to establish broker status and develop a complete understanding of the job order, department challenges, and facilities issues.  The recruiter must be allowed to speak directly to the department head during the job order collection process.  Speaking to H/R is tolerated, but only to gain specifics concerning benefits, interviewing process, and facility principles.  At the closing of the job order interview, the recruiter secures three send-out slots over the next 10 days for all top candidates that are discovered during the search.  After completely collecting the job order, a fee agreement is signed by the employer and secured by the recruiter.

Job Order Momentum Killers:

•    Marketing Phantom Candidates
•    Using Job Boards to locate Job Orders
•    Abbreviating the Employer Interview
•    Marketing candidates thru voice mail
•    Failing to “Go Deep” with employers
•    Working job orders without three send outs
•    Working with employers that are non-responsive
•    Working Job orders collected only through H/R
•    Sending blinded resumes to secure a fee agreement
•    Working a job order without a secured fee agreement
•    Using voicemail and email to communicate

A Positive Mental Attitude:  The recruiters I train specifically work their desk through a balanced daily plan.  In the beginning, (before the recruiter has any momentum) the recruiter collects candidates, markets candidates and collects job orders.  In the process, they start to see daily “VP” (visual progress) because they’re the soul impetus of their desk.  With this “VP,” the recruiter begins to feel the effects of positive momentum … they see themselves accomplishing exactly what they have been taught.  This fuels a positive mental attitude.  But we both know, managing start up recruiters is not a hard process because everything is new to these people … and the recruiter is either going to do the work and succeed or they are not and will fail.  But you can transition the beginner recruiter into a seasoned and successful recruiter by teaching them to avoid the momentum killers.  The confidence a recruiter has in the training that they’re receiving is crucial in their transition.  When you point out the subtle and intangible negative effects momentum killers have on their production, they become more confident in their ability to avoid the pitfalls in recruiting.  We all know the complexity of the recruiting business, but rookie recruiters do not … and with their mental attitude being so important to their future development, it is our responsibility to teach them the more advanced art of recruiting.  We all know recruiters who have worked for years with anemic results, without a clue as to why they continue to struggle.  But in the case of the recruiters I train, by the time that they reach three months at the desk, they know how to build momentum and maintain the momentum by recognizing momentum killers before they have had long-term negative effects on their production.

Mental Momentum Killer:

-    A candidate with a low candidate index score is sent out, the employer makes an offer but the candidate accepts a counter offer.
-    After a recruiter has located multiple candidates on a job order that they have collected through H/R, the department head decides to delay the send out until they can interview other candidates.
-    While marketing an outstanding resume board candidate, a job order is secured, but the candidate has already sent their resume to the employer.
-    Through the process of collecting candidates and marketing to employers you find it necessary to leave a high percentage of voice mails.  As a result, your numbers start going down.
-    A successful recruiter becomes over-confident and starts abbreviating interviews in order to increase their daily numbers. Their production starts to slip, and they don’t know why.

The lists of Mental Momentum Killers are numerous, because of the vast number of combinations in Candidate and Job Order Momentum Killers, but I think you get the idea.

As a recruiter, you protect your Mental Momentum by completely doing your job as a recruiter; any change from that path will cost you Mental Momentum.

As momentum killers begin to drag the recruiter down, subtly momentum is lost.  A mental shift begins to occur and the recruiter begins to second-guess their efforts, their training, their candidates and their job orders.  They become caught in a spiral of paranoia leading to further failure.  It is at this time that a recruiter can reverse their situation if they’re armed with a compete understanding of these three deadly momentum killers.  In each case, I have been able to diagnosis a recruiter’s negative mental outlook after looking at the recruiter’s efforts in these three areas.  I mean think about it . . . a recruiter only loses that momentum when they stop doing the things that developed their momentum in the first place.  The real difference between a beginner recruiter and a more experienced (zero momentum) recruiter is their mental outlook of the process.  Control the mental momentum of your recruiters and your turn over will decrease and production will increase.

To further reduce negative mental momentum, a recruiter must eliminate the depressive thoughts affecting their presentations.  It’s very hard to deliver a passionate presentation to a candidate or an employer when you’re racked by depressive paranoia.  Try some of these techniques when you just can’t break the cycle:

1)    Read a book.  More specifically, “Leading Change in Your World,” “Die Broke,” “Live Rich,” “Who moved my cheese,” are some of my favorites.
2)    Fatigue kills mental momentum, so exercise.  “Sound body, sound mind.”  How can you expect to be on top of your game when you’re feeling lethargic, bloated, and un-energized?  So eat right, and exercise.  For it’s far easier to “Act your way to feeling, then it is to feel your way to acting.”
3)    Take the day off.  When you’re down and out, the last thing you should do is get on the phone.  Your negative attitude will be felt by the person on the other end of the phone in each call you make.  I like to go to the movies.  I like to match a movie that matches my mood.  If I’ve experienced a lot of disloyalty or dishonesty in my employers or candidates, I go to a blood and guts movie like “Die Hard,” or the “Gladiator.”  Its good to vent those frustrations out through a healthy medium.  And it is also a great way of rewarding yourself.
4)    Start a testimonial drive.  Its good to hear from the employers and candidate that you’ve assisted in the past.  It will reinforce why you’re in this crazy business.

Finally,

5)    Go back to the beginning.  I don’t care how experienced you think you are, starting
over in this business is a part of the process.  Go back to the fundamentals, pick a new
market, collect new candidates, interview new candidates, and finally market
your best new candidates.  When you work the fundamentals you force yourself to do
all the steps and in return you begin to create new momentum.

At the beginning of this article I related to Michael Jordan’s attitude about success.  Do think when he failed to hit a winning shot he thought it was a positive experience?  I’m sure it was disappointing to lose or fail, but like any true professional Michael chocked up his loses as experience and moved on.  As a matter of fact, he was quoted later in his career as saying, “If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”  He learned to focus on the totality of his experiences to gain control over his mental outlook towards success.

Finding your “Zone” in recruiting is a matter of focusing on finding the needle in the haystack.  The recruiters I train know that they will find outstanding candidates 6% of the time and outstanding employers and job orders 8% of the time, and within those numbers lie the secret to their future success.  By avoiding the garbage in, garbage out collection process of below average recruiting efforts, they maintain balance, achieve success and reach their “Zone.”

Clay Abbott is the President and Founder of the Academy of HealthCare Recruiters, Inc.  Clay is one of the HealthCare Recruiting industry’s leading recruiters, trainers, public speakers, and consultants.  He has 20 years of healthcare experience and has successfully developed the only guaranteed Home Study HealthCare Recruiter Training programs in the industry.  And many solo recruiters’ and recruiting managers are finding the cross over into healthcare possible with Clay’s leadership and knowledge.  To learn more about his training products and services, visit his web site at: www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com.  Clay can be reached at (812) 522-2992 or e-mail him at clay@academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com.

As I discussed in the Laws of Motion in Recruiting (2/06 TFL), I mentioned being in balance with: Connection, Urgency, and Broker Status! I know there’s nothing more important than that, and finding that perfect balance is a combination of blood, sweat, and experience. So as I reflected on how I communicate with Healthcare candidates to create this balance, I felt there were some additional details that you MUST know to be effective at creating balance with this very elusive group of people.

Let’s walk a mile in the shoes of Sally the healthcare candidate for a second…

As a Healthcare candidate, Sally started out her life as a small child longing to help animals, birds, insects or anything else that walked or crawled the earth. She couldn’t stand to ever see anything killed or harmed. Her favorite book was “Where the Red Fern Grows.” She has seen every episode of Lassie, Flipper, Little House on the Prairie, and has watched Old Yeller’ scores of times and cried each time. During her high school years, she volunteered as a Big Sister mentor for the less fortunate. The turning point in her life was the day she participated in a High School field trip to a nursing home. Sally found herself wanting to stay and help each of the people living there. She felt that the reason that she was put on this planet was to help others. Sally would become a care giver.

Let’s fast forward to 3-5 years after Sally has graduated from college.

Sally loves what she does. She makes a real difference in so many people’s lives. But she is beginning to become concerned. You see, she finds herself having to fight with the management just to deliver the quality of patient care she feels needs to be delivered. It’s different than she felt it was going to be. Her administrator tells her that it’s just part of the business of healthcare and things will get better soon. Sally sure hopes her administrator is right!

Now let’s fast forward to 7-10 years after Sally has graduated from college.

Wow look at Sally, she just finished her Masters degree, so she can really make a difference. People have to listen to her now. Sally can remember feeling that as a care giver, nobody cared about her, or the concerns she had for her patients or the industry. Well, now they have to listen. She has been promoted to the Director of her department and will advocate for the care givers who report to her and the patients they serve. Although her administrator couldn’t make positive changes, SALLY WILL! She can still make a difference!

We finish this walk, 15-20 years after Sally’s journey started. Sally finds her time being consumed with putting out fires that have nothing to do with the patients. She never has time to do the things she loves to do. Sally now hates her job. She’s lost that loving feeling! She wonders … how did she get to this place? She asks, “Is there anyone who can help me?” The CEOs, the Doctors, and Industry are so callus! They just don’t care about the little people, our customers and/or, patients anymore. How can she EVER make a difference? It’s impossible! What is she going to do with her life? Sally feels that she’s made a horrible mistake in her life! But is there anything she can do?

I bet you thought I was joking in my first paragraph of Sally’s journey. Well, can you feel for that person? If you can’t, then you need to stay out of HealthCare Recruiting, because you’re going to do more harm than good (I will explain “Why” later). However, if you can feel for that person, you’ll be a sight for Sally’s sore eyes.

The reason I have pointed out the FEELING elements of our care giver’s journey is because she was born and walks this earth as an emotionally driven individual. In a female dominated industry, that is the first thing you MUST know. Even the males you come in contact with got into healthcare for emotional reasons and will be more compassionate towards others than most of us guy types. Learning to relate and communicate with healthcare candidates emotionally is the first important step to take as a recruiter.

During the 20 year journey of our care giver, she came into contact with elements that began to change the way she looked at her avocation. Sally started to feel underappreciated, misunderstood, taken for granted, and then finally (and ironically) not what the industry wanted. I hear people like Sally tell me, “How could they (the powers to be) not want to do this for the patients?” “It just doesn’t make sense!” These care giver candidates are trapped in an industry where they can feel certain things, but they are not equipped to reason with them. They’re not equipped to logically work out the problem, so they ignore or put it out of their mind. Years down the road, while living the largest part of their career in denial, it finally hits them. They love the fact that they want to help others, but they hate the industry they work in.

Thus, the greatest crisis facing Healthcare today is losing the experienced care givers who are in the industry right now.

Here is a little factoid for those of you who are new to the healthcare industry. In a rush to produce more healthcare professionals to meet the pressing demand, our schools and universities are not doing as good of a job educating new healthcare professionals before they’re released into the market. Many of these clinical programs are sponsored by hospitals and require professional tutors or, at the very least, an experienced mentor on the job to teach these new students the ropes. If these experienced mentors have left the industry, then who is going to train our new professionals? Answer: Nobody! As a matter of fact, this situation has become so commonplace that they now have a phrase for it, “We eat our young in Healthcare!” You think I’m kidding, well I’m not! It is already happening. I won’t tell you in which areas, because I’m not interested in creating a panic, but this is a serious problem.

Before I digress too much, let me get back to Sally the care giver. She wants someone to talk to about what she sees as a slow downward spiral to nowhere. Sally can’t see it as a career problem, because she can’t relate in that way. As a care giver, she has never run away when faced with a problem, she stays until the patient either walks away healthy or flat lines. So if Sally’s in a bad environment, or surrounded by bad managers, or facing difficult decisions about patient care because of the facility where she works … she will just do the best she can to make the patient comfortable. IT’S NEVER ABOUT THE CARE GIVER, (in their minds), IT ALWAYS ABOUT HELPING THEIR PATEINT.

Our care giver believes their current hospital is like all the rest, so what’s the big deal … she’ll just stay there and try to make a difference. As an emotionally driven professional, she may (just by the nature of this characteristic) imprison herself in the wrong facilities until it kills her career.

In my experience, the care givers who reach 20 years of experience are either too disgruntled to compete anymore or they have been fortunate enough to find a mentor along the way to help them stay focused on the positive. I see healthcare candidates as little flowers. If the little flower is removed from the sunlight, it will begin to wither, and will soon dry up and die. But, even if the little flower has spent sometime out of the sunlight, if you can bring it back into the sunlight before it’s totally gone, you can reverse its situation.

Sunlight to a care giver is both the direct and indirect interaction with their environment. Here’s a small list of what I mean:

• An administrators’ positive reinforcement during their performance review,
• An administrator knowing them and their families well enough to provide for time off during difficult family times,
• An administrator knowing and caring about their future goals for their continued education,
• A co-worker caring enough to jump in to help them with a difficult or heavy patient,
• Being asked to contribute ideas about the way the departments schedule is organized,
• Being given the opportunity to do what they were trained to do,
• Being ask for their input towards patient care improvements,
• Having access and the ability to offer input to other people in the facility that impacts their department.

This is just a short list, but there are so many things that contribute towards a care giver’s happiness or their loyalty towards their facility. It is an unfortunate statistic, but in my experience I’ve found that over 90% of the hospitals across this great country provide ZERO sunlight to their little flowers we call healthcare candidates.

Armed with this information, now walk with me for a second…

As I also mentioned in The Laws of Motion in Recruiting (2/06 TFL), I interview 18 healthcare candidates about every two to three days. During those 18 calls, I conduct a very thorough and personal interview; probing deep into the candidates’ work environment. I am looking for “dark” areas in their current work environment that could contribute to the long term destruction of their career. I call it “pouncing.” Once I find an area of concern it goes something like this, “You mean you haven’t resigned yet?” “And you’re going to let them do that to you and your family?” Most healthcare candidates need to be shocked back to life. They’ve been living in denial for so long that they’ve become numb to the slow death of their own careers.

By becoming a valued career advisor to these healthcare candidates, I become the one person they feel they need to complete their care giving life. I’m a person they have never had the experience of meeting before. The care giver now feels they can still make a difference; and through my leadership, they come to understand that the only way they can find the right facility…the facility that matches “Who they are!” . . .is by having someone like me assist them.

Thoroughly interviewing these healthcare candidates is the only way to make a placement with them. I mean, thoroughly connecting with them like they’re a part of your family or they’re a long lost buddy that you’re trying to reconnect with. Having a conversation with them which debates the pros and cons of their ideals for their career is extremely important to them. I find that by challenging everything these candidates believe about their careers is the best way to earn the credibility I need to maintain Broker Status. These healthcare candidates will not consistently respond to any other approach.

The best way to understand how candidates actually think is to hear directly from a candidate who has experienced this approach. Here is a link to an interview with one.

http://www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com/juliecandidate/JulieCandidate.html

Please be aware that this interview is what I use on my website to market myself, so while this is clearly educational, it also markets me. Ignore the marketing and as the interview plays, ask yourself, “How has this candidate responded to this approach and what can I learn from it?”

Here’s another little test to that last statement, “How many of you have had healthcare candidates who sent you a resume, answered your call, listened to you recite your job order, only to disappear for no reason?” I’m sure all of you who have ever recruited in healthcare can answer in the affirmative. Well, what happened? Was it your breath? Was it your lack of clinical knowledge? Was it your pathetic job order? I’ll bet you never figured it out, did you? It just went down in history as another one of those mysteries. Well, I’m giving you the answer. You’ll never place the best in the healthcare industry without thoroughly connecting with them first. The healthcare candidate will not stick around long enough to place without feeling a connection.

One of the biggest reasons I encourage recruiters who can’t relate to the emotional concerns of healthcare candidates to stay out of this industry is because trust is a fragile commodity we, as recruiters, can’t afford to lose. If a recruiter locates a healthcare candidate, leads them to make a change, and the new position turns out to be as bad or worse than their current position, a recruiter is reinforcing to the healthcare candidate that all facilities are alike and will contribute towards their frustration with the industry.

In the past 3 years, I’ve noticed a growing reluctance of healthcare candidates to trust recruiters. I’ve been told by healthcare candidates that they don’t return calls to recruiters because (they feel) recruiters are only interested in their placement fees, and not what the healthcare candidates want. I have found a way to reverse this reluctance, but feel I need to warn recruiters of the long term consequences of misleading a healthcare candidate out of a good position and into a bad one just for a placement fee. As a healthcare recruiter you must know your candidate’s needs and the details of your job orders well enough to make an affective placement for the candidate … otherwise you’re doing more harm than good to the industry.

My goal when I get on the phone with a Healthcare candidate is to become closer to that healthcare candidate than their own managers are. To know bigger and better secrets than their boss ever cared to ask about. To find out what’s wrong and to provide them an ear for their great ideas. In 30 minutes, I want to go so deep into the candidate’s life that the healthcare candidate feels like I’m the only one who cares about what they are feeling. When a manager is faced with that kind of outside opposition, they are powerless … and if that manager has not provided the sunlight needed for that little flower … its check mate!

During one of my public speaking events for hospital managers, I showed an audience of over 100 hospital managers what I do to undermine management authority. I did a mock interview with one of the attendees and did a standard interview with all the questions I normally ask. I probed deep into that person’s life … the crowd was shocked, outraged, and completely unequipped to provide a solution.

After the session, I had a standing line of people wanting to ask me questions. These questions ranged from, “Is that legal?” “Should I really get to know the people in my department that well?” “Can you help me understand the importance of connecting with my associates?” I couldn’t believe it! These people didn’t have a clue. And this was one of the more progressive facilities I had worked with … as you can image, since they had invited me in to speak. But these are the same people who are causing Sally the care giver such problems.

What you MUST know to work with Healthcare candidates:

• They don’t want an email describing all the money they can make at some other facility,
• They aren’t interested (deep down) in hearing about your (so-called) great job order,
• They don’t trust resume, job boards, or most recruiters,
• And they love their jobs.

A healthcare recruiter finds success with Healthcare candidates by genuinely showing an active interest and listening to the care giver’s accomplishments, goals, worries and concerns. A healthcare recruiter who wants to provide a positive change in the healthcare industry will only take a great candidate out of a bad situation. A healthcare recruiter will become a person that the care giver can trust for their career advice, whether it makes that recruiter money that day or not. What goes around comes around. If a healthcare recruiter works to become the one person the healthcare candidate trusts and relies upon for career advice … the healthcare recruiter will always find themselves successful at the end of the day.

But the most important part to all of this is that the healthcare recruiter helped the healthcare industry keep another one of its scarce resources … the care giver.

Job well done!

Clay Abbott is the President and Founder of the Academy of HealthCare Recruiters, Inc. Clay is one of the HealthCare Recruiting industry’s leading recruiters, trainers, public speakers, and consultants. He has 20 years of healthcare experience and has successfully developed the only guaranteed Home Study HealthCare Recruiter Training programs in the industry. And many solo recruiters’ and recruiting managers are finding the cross over into healthcare possible with Clay’s leadership and knowledge. To learn more about his training products and services, visit his web site at: www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com. Clay can be reached at (812) 522-2992 or e-mail him at clay@academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com.

During a recent honey-do session over the holidays, for some reason, I began thinking about Sir Isaac Newton. His Laws of Motion can apply to just about anything. Take recruiting, for instance. Sometimes the funniest coincidences turn out to discover great insights about life.

As a recruiter, have you ever been abandoned by one of those so-called great candidates . . . you know the ones… they talk a great story only to take your money, time, advice, or anything else that’s not nailed down. Well, don’t despair. Apparently, if we sit under the right apple tree long enough, things will begin falling our way.

Sir Isaac Newton discovered that “each object in the universe is being attracted to the other.” It’s about Gravity. Are you working in concert with or trying to defy the laws of gravity at your recruiting desk?

Last month, I was waiting to facilitate a HealthCare Recruiter training session for about 20 recruiters. The topic was “How to Find and Collect the Most Qualified Candidates in HealthCare.” A hot topic to say the least, but everybody was sharing that they had a much bigger problem … eliminating tire kickers, people on fishing expeditions, or people with little or no commitment. And I remember thinking, that’s as easy as stepping on the scales and watching the dial spin.

I am a HealthCare Recruiter and I’m constantly surrounded by emotionally driven candidates wanting something that they can’t put a finger on. They’re not driven by their careers. They are care givers. They focus on others more than they focus on themselves. So they can find themselves (unconsciously) underappreciated, in the wrong environment and not knowing how to correct their path. The gravity of my recruiting operation is pointing out career problems to them (what I call, “pouncing”) and then placing them on the right track. Sincerely leading them to make a change that will benefit their careers is the most important thing and candidates are attracted to that sincerity. They find our connection rare (perceived value). It’s natural and like a breath of fresh air! Like the laws of motion, some things you just can’t fight. Let me take you deeper into my world.

The Laws of Motion in Recruiting

M(a) = Clay the Recruiter
You see I know what I’m doing. Any candidate that comes within a mile of me knows that. I communicate in a way that conveys this information.

M(b) = Sally the Healthcare candidate
Sally knows her stuff as well. She’s the best in the game. And maybe the only candidate left on the planet. Sally loves her job including the people she works with and the patients she serves. But she’s not really looking to make a change.

F = Broker Status
The old-fashioned way of leading a professional candidate towards their next career change.
A means of slowing down long enough to keep the candidate in the back seat, with their seat belt properly fastened. The process of the Candidate appointing the Recruiter to drive or lead the entire process, WILLINGLY!

G = Perceived Value
Both the recruiter and candidate are attracted (equally) to each other for very different reasons. But, in an odd way, they couldn’t achieve the same level of benefit without the other.

r2 = Urgency felt between the two people
The Laws of Motion in Recruiting can not exist without a felt urgency between both the recruiter and candidate. Balanced with F, creates a seamless placement experience for both the recruiter and candidate.

Broker Status = Perceived Value between a Recruiter and a Candidate / Urgency²
F = G M(a) M(b) / r²

If the Earth and Sun are not in balance, we cannot survive. If the balance of their rotation is ever off by more than 500 feet, we’ll either burn up or freeze to death from the imbalance. I argue that the science of recruiting is equally as sensitive. What I have done to greatly reduce working with the tire kickers is to create a proper balance of what my candidate wants, after I have led them there! It’s not a card trick or smoke and mirrors. It’s knowing healthcare and the people in healthcare well enough to lead them. I make direct contact with each candidate using interview techniques that probe deep into the candidate’s life to establish a thorough connection.

Here’s a typical day in the life of Clay Abbott:

I will be on the phone over 6 hours a day. And I average from 35 to 40 calls per day. (I’ve tried to do more, but the connection that I make with each candidate is diminished when I increase my call count, which in turn lowers the urgency with my candidates … contributing to a lower perceived value in our relationship.) When I stay in this balanced zone, I interview 18 candidates about every two days, and then I select the one candidate that has the strongest urgency, has responded to my complete broker status and has even given me an exclusive.
I average 2-3 committed candidates per week; after which, I take their specific needs to the market. My marketing goal is to only collect those job orders that relate to the candidate’s needs. I will then review each of the best job orders with the candidate, referring them to the one or two that will place them on the right track. With this balance, I experience a 1½ to 1 placement ratio. Of those placements, the average length of stay of those candidates in those positions is 5 years. Everything is in balance: Connection, Urgency, Broker Status!
My employers do not resist the average fees I charge of 29% to 32% because they have told me that they spend an average of $5,000 for each candidate that they interview. If they had to interview 15 of my candidates to find one worth hiring, then they couldn’t afford to pay me the fees that I charge. So you can image they’re delighted when they only have to interview 1½ candidates to hire one. They’re curious about my selection process because they compare it to “a sure thing.” They know that when I send them a candidate, it’s a placement for the candidate and a fill for the employer. From my experience, if the employer senses this kind of value from my services … the offers will come easier, problems with the employer go down, and relationships grow faster. Everything is in balance: Connection, Urgency, Broker Status!

http://www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com/jim1/JimImlerPartOne.html

http://www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com/jim2/JimImlerPartTwo.html

I know that those last two paragraphs may require even more explanation, but understand that the way I recruit in the HealthCare industry is a by-product of this industry. I can’t say that it will work for all industries, but many recruiters have allowed themselves to be convinced that they can survive, or even thrive, by floating from one placement to another. They seem to believe that gravity and balance don’t apply to them. They want to push big numbers, get rich fast by limiting candidate contact through email, abbreviating candidate interviews, and/or loading up employers with large groups of candidates to increase the chances of a placement.

I can’t afford to run my desk that way and healthcare candidates or employers won’t allow me to. If I don’t make a real connection with my people in the placement process during that first impression time, I know from experience that it’ll never work. It’s akin to the earth rotating 5 miles farther out in space … I’d be a popsicle before I knew it. There are just some things that can not be disputed in this world.

I find it amusing when I hear people discussing the lack of candidates in Healthcare. Because I know that they are all over the place. You just need to know how to talk with them. You need to talk their language. You need to understand that these people are looking for a sincere, honest, and committed recruiter to lead them somewhere other than down the primrose path to disaster.

Zig Ziglar put it best in his best selling book “See You at the Top” when he said, “I can promise that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” This is so true for the recruiting business as well.

Many recruiters, however, have decided that the best way to protect themselves from the tire kickers is to disconnect, or abbreviate their contact with each candidate … becoming more quantity, than quality driven. Well, that’s just not a successful formula. Experience has taught me that the road to real lasting success comes with me having my feet planted here on a balanced earth, by establishing a balance in perceived value, broker status and urgency through connecting with each candidate.

As Paul Hawkinson once told me, “Recruiting is still a full contact sport!” How true! If you’re afraid of trading some bark with a candidate, or getting a little bruised from the contact, then it’s only a matter of time before your world turns you into that Popsicle. Take a lesson from Sir Isaac Newton, and apply a little science to your desk…I think you’ll find that getting back to the old traditions of recruiting will be like a breath of fresh air to your candidates, and your production … thus making life, for you, more like a tropical beach than an iceberg.

Clay Abbott is one of the HealthCare Recruiting industry’s leading recruiters, trainers, public speakers, and consultants. He has 20 years of healthcare experience and has successfully developed the only guaranteed Home Study HealthCare Recruiter Training programs in the industry. And many solo recruiters’ and recruiting managers are finding the cross over into healthcare possible with Clay’s leadership and knowledge. To learn more about his training products and services, visit his web site at: www.academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com. Clay can be reached at (812) 522-2992 or e-mail him at clay@academyofhealthcarerecruiters.com.