Hello, my name is Peter Stanos. I am a doctor, a board certified physician, and for twelve years I had a robust private practice in Columbus, OH, specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, or as we say, “phys med rehab.”
I still live in Columbus, but a number of years ago I stepped away from my practice and started building a recruiting firm specializing in the recruitment of physicians and nurse practitioners for hospitals and healthcare employers as a “headhunter.” We have expanded along the way into a multitude of specialties and roles.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the practice of medicine and providing quality care to my patients, I was attracted to the business side of healthcare. Recruiting was a natural migration in my career as I enjoy talking with medical professionals about their careers and staffing is a key strategic component to healthcare today.
Healthcare and medicine, I believe, are dynamic industries experiencing monumental change today. Healthcare employers are looking for knowledgeable strategic partners in recruitment who can deliver precisely qualified talent in either a short time frame or through an exhaustive search.
In my tenure of managing my recruiting company, I have experienced varying degrees on need by our clients. Some searches are critical and need to be extensive and thorough to find the best possible talent acquisition. Other assignments require quick action to produce a credentialed and qualified applicant. Still other assignments are less important or are easier to fill.
As an example, a CIO or cardiologist search is going to be far more extensive, thorough and time consuming than the search for a licensed respiratory therapist. If you need an LPN, it will probably take less time to find a suitable candidate than if we are looking for a cardiologist.
Yet the recruiting industry tends to approach healthcare the way they do every other industry. As I have worked with hospital CEOs, surgery center presidents, practice leaders and HR executives over recent years I have developed a highly effective pricing mechanism called “Prorated Search Billing.”
All it means is that we don’t work on a percentage fee, a flat fee or a retainer, across the board, absolute.
Rather, we have a 50 point checklist that lets us assess:
- How urgent a position is
- How critical the fill is
- The resources that the client already has in place
- The effort it will take to produce suitable candidates
We basically structure the fee around the search assignment. If it is an easy assignment we don’t charge a whole lot. If it is going to take a lot of resources we charge more. If we have to extend our capital in the search it will be for a higher fee, if we have an exclusive and a retainer we can lower the cost.
This system has been well received by the medical community. It works so well because our healthcare clients don’t want to blindly pay 25-30% on all recruiting searches. Fact is, they shouldn’t have to. Prorated Search Billing lets you, the client, get just what you need instead of paying inflated fees.
My own experience with recruiters (as a physician) had a huge impact on how Peter Stanos Associates works with prospective candidates today. Most recruiters are not knowledgeable enough about the industry they work and frankly aren’t professional enough either.
We differentiate our firm by utilizing more professional “executive search” operating procedures, regardless of the level of the positions. Executive search is typically reserved for high-end executives and physician searches where there is a segmentation of client development, candidate marketing and management.
Peter Stanos Associates uses this executive search operating model at every level of position and always renders services at a very professional and sophisticated level. As a result, the level of assessment and analysis of a candidate is much greater than what you get from your average recruiter.