The youngest of the nation's leading medical institutions, Duke Health has grown in 75 years from a regional hospital, medical school, and nursing school into one of the country's leading clinical and biomedical research enterprises. In an effort to expand their reach and serve the surrounding community, Duke partners with local, independent hospitals to provide specialty care. Recently, one of their partner hospitals, Scotland Memorial, had a need for a Radiation Oncologist in a rural community. The position had been open for a year and half, and traditional recruitment methods had led to limited results. In an effort to fill this position, Duke adopted Talent Finder Pro and hired a Radiation Oncologist within a few months.

Recruiting for Rural Community Presents Challenge

Located in Laurinburg, North Carolina and 100 miles from Duke’s main campus, Scotland Memorial Hospital is a not-for-profit hospital that staffs their oncology departments with Duke physicians. In early 2018, they began the search for a Radiation Oncologist, a position that would have academic ties to Duke Health but was predominantly a community position in a rural setting. “It was tough to find clinicians who were qualified to work at the health system academically but that would still be interested in dedicating a lot of their time to serving this community in need”, remarks Simeon Furman, the main recruiter for this position. This challenge is not unique to Duke & Scotland Memorial as it can often be challenging to recruit for positions in rural areas – many physicians are reluctant to leave the hustle and bustle lifestyle offered by urban and suburban areas. 

After trying traditional methods of recruiting with minimal success, Duke made the decision to add Talent Finder Pro to their tool belt. Simeon describes this decision when he says, “Because the nature of this search was so challenging, we knew we had to turn to Doximity Talent Finder to filter and narrow down to those physicians who would be the right for this position.” Talent Finder Pro is a “white glove” product where one of our Talent Finder Client Success Managers sends DocMails on behalf of a client (after a strategy session between client and CSM) to maximize the client’s subscription and ensure best practices are fully implemented into the recruitment strategy, saving the client time and maximizing results.

Talent Finder Pro Approach to Success

When Madeleine Wenstrup, Client Success Manager for Talent Finder Pro, started working with Duke Health for this position, she knew it was an unusual search. Due to the complexities of the search, it was important that Madeleine connect with Simeon early & often. Madeleine remarks, "Chatting with Simeon gave me more insight into who they were looking for & what types of physicians may be interested in such a unique position. Together we devised a strategy: to search for physicians with ties to the area that were academically inclined but not solely focused on academia."