Virtual Career Fairs have changed the way physician recruiters have connected with active job searching physicians. Before COVID 19, physicians could connect with recruiters across the nation at in-person career networking events such as career fairs.‌ Recruiters would travel across the country in hopes of finding a candidate interested in the areas that they recruited for. Companies would spend thousands of dollars just to get their staff to these venues on top of the marketing expenses, the exhibitor fees, and the time out of the office. PracticeMatch knew there had to be another way to connect busy physicians with hiring recruiters, and that is when Virtual Career Fairs became the solution. 

In 2017, PracticeMatch became the first in the physician recruitment industry to host virtual recruitment events. Virtual events were broken down by region. Physicians could attend as many fairs as they wanted, no matter where they were located on the map, by attending through their phone or computer. Virtual Career Fairs connected physicians directly to hiring representatives, and the best part, physicians have the control. Physicians can pick & choose which organizations they instant message with rather than feeling obligated to stop by and shake hands with someone they do not plan to work for.

Organizations will have a branded booth just like they would at an in-person event and share as much content as desired. PracticeMatch takes the information that recruiters provide to create the booth, taking the stress of setup from the recruiter. Once the event begins, physicians can view each organization’s open opportunities and start an instant messaged conversation. By physicians initiating the chat, recruiters receive the most qualified physicians connecting with them. When the physician connects to the available booth representative, the physician’s profile is available for the recruiter to view.

Since PracticeMatch started hosting virtual events, attendance has gone through the roof. From 2017 up until now, virtual attendance has jumped by over 475%! Physician recruiters are instant messaging with over 175 physicians in the three-hour time frame and moving over half of that number into their pipeline! This increase has come from the switch from live to virtual events. Physicians are finding this easy-to-use platform more convenient since they can log in anytime and log out after connecting with the employers of their interest. With no commitment to physically go somewhere, virtual career fairs are the way the industry of physician recruitment has shifted.

During the virtual event, recruiters can rate how their chat with each physician went ranging from not interested to interview. This makes the follow-up process run flawlessly. To keep the fun from Live Career Fairs going, PracticeMatch encourages exhibitors to offer a booth prize. Prizes tend to range from $25 to $250 gift cards - this helps increase booth traffic!  After each fair, PracticeMatch sends the final post-show attendee list directly to the physician recruiter to follow up with the physicians who they were unable to connect with. Following up with physicians is in the recruiter’s hands. PracticeMatch recommends doing follow-ups the day after each event!

Ready to attend a Virtual Career Fair? Contact Madison Tarrant to sign up or to schedule a walk-through!

Madison Tarrant - Director of Career Fair Operations. You can stay connected with me on LinkedIn for all of the latest PracticeMatch articles and upcoming events.