Pediatric anesthesia is a specialized field, requiring advanced training and expertise. Out of the estimated 120,000 anesthesia providers in the United States, less than 7% specialize in pediatrics. With labor costs increasing as demand for anesthesia grows, understanding how to recruit and hire from this small pool of specialists is critical. This article covers challenges pediatric organizations and anesthesia personnel face in finding jobs in the specialty.
Personal Networks
Personal networks are often a great resource for anesthesia personnel looking for a job. Because the pediatric anesthesia community is small, chances are someone will have information about job opportunities in pediatric anesthesia. Word-of-mouth remains the number one way in anesthesia for recruiting new providers to the team.
The problem with personal networks for organizations is that they are difficult to access. For example, it is not uncommon for hospital leaders to ask anesthesia providers they employ to reach out to their personal network to help recruit. While this works in some instances, successfully recruiting this way depends on employees liking their job and being willing to paint a positive picture for interested applicants—which isn’t always guaranteed.
For anesthesia providers, the problem with personal networks is that they aren’t always useful. Providers may not have colleagues in pediatric anesthesia, or may not know someone in an area they are interested in. For advanced practice providers (APPs) in pediatric anesthesia, this problem is compounded by small cohorts in pediatric anesthesia training, meaning fewer people who can help.
While personal networks may be one of the primary ways pediatric anesthesia providers look for jobs, especially for physician anesthesiologists (MDAs), it isn’t a one stop shop for organizations or providers in the job market.
Professional Events
Professional events is an umbrella term for networking opportunities that providers and organizations can make use of when in the job market. Examples are conferences, association networking events, job fairs, etc.
The problem with professional events for organizations is that they provide access to a limited pool of potential candidates, while being costly. Paying for lodging, travel, and conference advertising fees must be weighed against the potential benefit, which can be limited to a couple of interested providers.
For anesthesia providers, the problem with professional events is that they do not offer comprehensive information on available jobs, while costing providers to attend. Another challenge is that pediatric anesthesia conferences are few and far between, catered primarily to physicians when it comes to job resources, and leave out the APP community in terms of job resources.
While professional events will continue to be a job resource for organizations and providers, they are not effective enough to be a primary means of recruiting or finding a job.
Social Media
Social media is a newer player in the job market. Platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook have become job resources in pediatric anesthesia in the last decade.
The problem for organizations when it comes to social media is that targeting the right community is challenging. For example, social media communities of pediatric anesthesia providers tend to be closed to outsiders, making it impossible for recruiters to access. These communities also rely on word-of-mouth and there is no guarantee that potential candidates will hear good things about an organization. Finally, not all anesthesia providers engage with these job resource communities on social media, limiting their use.
Having a plan to advertise open positions on social media is crucial to any recruitment effort in pediatric anesthesia. Making sure your plan is effective, reaching the right target audience, and communicating effectively is a must in the social media space.
Specialty Job Boards
Specialty job boards are a great resource for both organizations and providers. Resources like gaswork.com, Indeed, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, etc., are useful ways for applicants to find jobs, which makes them useful as advertising platforms for organizations looking to hire. The challenge is none of these platforms specialize in pediatric anesthesia.
The problem for organizations is that specialty job boards don’t guarantee access to the right type of provider. None of the above platforms focus on pediatric anesthesia, making them less useful to pediatric anesthesia providers, and decreasing the overall impact to dollar ratio for organizations.
Pediatric anesthesia providers may peruse anesthesia job boards, but finding pediatric specific jobs is surprisingly hard, making it “work” for providers to use these job boards to find jobs.
When choosing where to spend advertising dollars for open positions, understanding the audience you are gaining access to is key. Questions to consider are, which platform gives me access to the right audience, provides useful metrics on how paid advertisements are performing (views, impressions, clicks), and what kind of support is provided to ensure your job positing contains the core elements that pediatric anesthesia providers are looking for.
How Expercis Can Help
The expercis job board is a one-stop-shop for every type of pediatric anesthesia provider. By creating a pediatric anesthesia specific job board, for MDAs, CRNAs, and AAs, that has a national focus, candidates can easily search for jobs in areas they are interested in working.
The benefit to organizations employing pediatric anesthesia providers is that the expercis job board provides the opportunity for employers to advertise their positions with information that will attract top candidates and increase the likelihood of a candidate going from interested to applying.
Unlike other specialty job boards, expercis partners with you to craft a job posting that works. Many of the people responsible for posting anesthesia positions on job boards are not experts in the specialty of pediatric anesthesia and are not experts in what pediatric anesthesia providers are looking for. By partnering with expercis, you guarantee that you have all the information needed to ensure your job description is going to convert casual browsers into applicants.
For more information on how to access our job board, please visit expercis.
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