According to Wikipedia…a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed. For a recruitment context, if we are recruiting for a Physical Therapist, the target audience would be the licensed Physical Therapists in Wisconsin and graduating students. As recruiters for specialized healthcare positions, we focus our advertising on the target audience. (…making Career Tree Network such a great resource for your organization…)
In the month of February, we will dedicate our weekly blog posts to help you gain a better understanding of your target audience. As you source candidates for current hiring needs, a firm understanding of the target audience will help you uncover top talent for your organization.
In the first part of our series, we share the result of an interview with Monique Serpas, PT, DPT, CGFI-MP2. Monique is active in the Wisconsin Physical Therapy Association and also writes a very informative patient focused blog covering a wide variety of topics in Physical Therapy. If you enjoy her perspective, I would encourage you to visit her blog and also to share her website as a resource for patients. (http://www.geaux2pt.com/)
–BEGIN INTERVIEW–
Many healthcare organizations in Wisconsin are looking for Physical Therapists to join their team. With such high demand, employers are looking to provide PTs with an optimal work environment, flexibility, hiring incentives, etc. What do you think Physical Therapists want from their careers?
Working in an environment where your co-workers constantly challenge each other by staying up-to-date with research and treatment techniques. Keeping the documentation as streamlined as possible to make therapists more efficient. Flexibility in terms of time off for conferences and vacations. Also, flexibility in terms of being able to set my own schedule and work on documentation from home so I’m not tied to my desk for hours on end.
Recruiters frequently attend events to source candidates for their open positions. At a career fair or conference, what could a recruiter say to perk your interest about a career opportunity?
It’s important to me to know about what a company offers their employees in terms of continuing education. Do they cover the cost of an APTA membership, coursework towards certifications, time off to attend conferences? How is the company going to help me achieve my career goals? Do they care about my career goals? Are there regular inservices, how often? These sorts of conversations keep me talking with recruiters.
Many organizations send recruitment direct mail to source candidates for their hiring needs. What information would you like to see on a postcard so that you can evaluate the career opportunity?
The setting of the career opportunity (inpatient, vs. subacute, vs. outpatient), location, career advancing benefits, and any special benefits that would set them apart from other companies. Perhaps the vision or mission of the company, so I get a sense of what is important to the organization as a whole. Do they have any special projects or treatment equipment that is unique? An example: Do they have a Swimex pool or programs for specific patient populations? Generic statements are less likely to grab my attention.
When you visit an organization for a job interview, who would you like to meet with? What questions would you ask?
It’s nice to meet with the staff that I would be directly working with on a day-to-day basis to see what the practice style is like and whether my treatment techniques and approaches would be a good fit with the other practicing therapists. What are the responsibilities and expectations of the therapist? I would ask about career advancement, productivity standards, mentoring, treatment length, documentation and billing practices, paid time off, continuing education. How does the company promote and foster evidenced-based treatment? How are evaluations processed and scheduled? Does the company practice utilizing direct access? Does the company participate in any community outreach projects or community service?
How can employers improve their ability to communicate career opportunity information with you?
Cards and information on websites and aggregators, such as Career Tree Network are great when I’m looking for a job. When I’m not actively looking for a job, personal letters and emails are a better option or reaching out to me at a conference. I think anything more personal including conversations and dialogue about the company- in person or virtually through email or websites and social media. Ads that highlight a really great benefit might catch my eye and get me interested in investigating it further.
Under what conditions would you leave your current employer for a new opportunity? In other words, if you were going to make a career change, what would your ideal employer need to offer?
I’ll highlight some of the things I like about my job currently: flexibility to set my own schedule, ability to participate in special projects such as designing programming and services, my coworkers (great to work with!), ability to provide therapy in whatever way I think is best for my clients (mostly one-on-one, occasionally in group formats), opportunity to advance from intern to physical therapist to physical therapist and clinic manager, ability to coordinate and present continuing education and inservices, mentoring and insights into clinic management and clinical practice, funding for continuing education, paid time off and the ability to take time off as needed, work-life balance, I don’t just feel like I’m working for someone, but I’m working with them. I feel like they value their employees’ opinions in word and action. Even though, I don’t own the business I own my practice and continue to create and promote my own brand of physical therapy.
My ideal employer would offer these things as well as flexibility to do documentation from home, funding of special certifications in areas that I have indicated on my professional development plans, supporting my goal of attaining my OCS one day.
–
A special thanks to Monique for her contribution. What questions would you ask a member of your target audience? Respond with a comment or question and we’ll include it in a future blog post this month.
Comments on this entry are closed.