--- title: Are You Recruiting for the Job Physicians Want? description: Physicians are considering more ways to practice medicine. Here’s what the rise of locum tenens means for physician recruitment marketing. image: https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/hubfs/GettyImages-1215372625.jpg --- [781.425.5005](tel:1-781-425-5005) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/HargerHoweAdvertising/) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hargerhoweadv) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/hargerhowe) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/hargerhoweadv/) [![HargerHowe_Logo_2024hr](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/HargerHowe_Logo_2024hr.png?width=327&height=79&name=HargerHowe_Logo_2024hr.png) ![HargerHowe_Logo_2024-204](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/HargerHowe_Logo_2024-204.png?width=204&height=49&name=HargerHowe_Logo_2024-204.png) ](https://hargerhowe.com/) - [home](https://www.hargerhowe.com/) - [Agency](https://hargerhowe.com/agency/) - [Services](https://hargerhowe.com/services/) - [Our Work](https://hargerhowe.com/showcase/) - [Blog](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/blog) - [Contact Us](https://hargerhowe.com/contact/) - [Home](https://hargerhowe.com/) - [Agency](https://hargerhowe.com/agency/) - [About Harger Howe](https://hargerhowe.com/agency/) - [Q & A](https://hargerhowe.com/q-a/) - [Services](https://hargerhowe.com/services/) - [Digital Media](https://hargerhowe.com/services/digital-media/) - [Inbound Marketing](https://hargerhowe.com/services/inbound-marketing/) - [Media Placement and Creative Services](https://hargerhowe.com/services/media-placement-and-creative-services/) - [Social Media](https://hargerhowe.com/services/social-media/) - [Recruitment Marketing](https://hargerhowe.com/services/recruitment-marketing/) - [HH Direct Search](https://www.hargerhowedirect.com/) - Our Work - [Case Studies](https://hargerhowe.com/showcase/) - [Featured Content](https://hargerhowe.com/featured-content/) - [Blog](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/blog) - [Contact Us](https://hargerhowe.com/contact/) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/HargerHoweAdvertising/) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hargerhoweadv) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/hargerhowe) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/hargerhoweadv/) [Refine your recruitment with HH Direct Search!](https://www.hargerhowedirect.com/) # Are You Recruiting for the Job Physicians Want? - [Home](https://hargerhowe.com/) - [Blog](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/blog) - Are You Recruiting for the Job... ![](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/GettyImages-1215372625.jpg?width=723&name=GettyImages-1215372625.jpg) [Sep082026](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/blog/archive/2026/09/08) **Audio version** Are You Recruiting for the Job Physicians Want? 6:11 Physician recruitment has always been competitive. Hospitals compete with other hospitals for the same physicians, often offering similar compensation, benefits and career opportunities. But there is another kind of competition worth paying attention to. More physicians are considering different ways to practice medicine, including locum tenens. Weatherby’s 2026 Physician in Locums Report found that 26% of physicians are now very or extremely interested in working locums, a seven point increase from the year before and the highest level recorded in the report’s history. More than six in ten locum physicians also begin working locums within their first ten years of practice. That does not mean physicians have stopped wanting permanent jobs. They haven't. Health systems will continue to employ the vast majority of physicians, and the fundamentals of physician recruitment are not suddenly obsolete. But the trend does tell us something important: physicians have more reference points when they think about what they want from work. A permanent position is no longer being evaluated only against another permanent position. For some physicians, the alternative might be locums. For others, it might be private practice, part time work, an academic appointment, a smaller group or simply staying where they are. That changes the conversation a little. For years, recruitment marketing has focused on the things that matter most in a job search: compensation, benefits, location, clinical resources, colleagues, leadership, growth opportunities and culture. Those things still matter. They matter a lot. But physicians are also paying closer attention to what the job actually feels like. How much control will I have over my schedule? How much time will I spend on administrative work? How much say will I have in clinical decisions? What will my call schedule look like? How much flexibility is there when life changes? Those questions aren't necessarily asking a hospital to become something it isn't. They are asking recruiters to be more specific about what the opportunity really offers. That distinction matters. A health system doesn't need to turn every employed position into a locum arrangement. It doesn't need to compete by offering unlimited flexibility or reinvent its physician employment model. It does need to understand why a physician might find an alternative appealing. Take autonomy. Doximity's 2026 Physician Compensation Report found that 76% of physicians surveyed said they would accept lower pay in exchange for greater autonomy or better work life balance. That's not an argument against competitive compensation. Compensation remains one of the most important parts of any physician offer. It is an argument against assuming compensation is the end all. A hospital may not be able to offer the same degree of independence as a locum physician has. But it may offer something a locum position can't: a stable clinical team, long term relationships with patients, access to advanced resources, opportunities to teach, a defined path into leadership or the ability to build something meaningful over time. Those are real advantages. They just need to be understood and communicated. This is where recruitment marketing still does what it has always done well. The goal isn't to chase every change in the market. It's to understand what matters to the audience and make the value of the opportunity clear. If physicians are increasingly asking questions about autonomy, schedule and work life balance, those questions should become part of the recruitment conversation. If a health system has invested heavily in reducing administrative burden, that's worth talking about. If a department gives physicians meaningful input into how the practice operates, that is a recruiting advantage. If the schedule is predictable and the clinical team is unusually strong, say so. And if none of those things are true, that's useful information too. The answer isn't necessarily to change the job. Sometimes the better answer is to get much clearer about the job you're already offering. That's especially important because physicians aren't making these decisions in a vacuum. They can see what other employers offer. They can talk to colleagues working locums. They can compare compensation and schedules online. They can hear directly from physicians about what they like and dislike about different practice models. The competition for physicians is becoming more informed. That doesn't mean traditional physician recruitment marketing has stopped working. It means the bar for a good recruitment message is getting higher. A generic description isn't enough when candidates have more ways to evaluate what working somewhere will actually be like. The strongest recruitment campaigns have always started with a simple question: Why would this physician choose this opportunity? Now there may be another question worth adding: Why would this physician choose this opportunity instead of the other ways they could practice? For some hospitals, the answer will be flexibility. For others, it will be clinical complexity, stability, relationships, leadership, technology, research, community or the chance to build something meaningful over time. There doesn't need to be one answer. That's the point. The rise of locums and other alternative practice models illustrates your recruitment playbook needs to reflect the market physicians are actually navigating. At Harger Howe, that's how we think about recruitment marketing. The job is not to make every opportunity sound the same. It's to understand what makes a particular opportunity worth choosing, then build a campaign that gives physicians a clear reason to take a closer look. The market may be changing. The fundamentals haven't. [by Michael Walsh, Jr.](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/blog/author/michael-walsh-jr) [September 08, 2026](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/blog/archive/2026/09/08) ### Share This Article - - - - - ![Michael Walsh, Jr.](https://inbound.hargerhowe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Michael%20HS%20Pic-1.png?width=80&height=80&name=Michael%20HS%20Pic-1.png) #### Author:Michael Walsh, Jr. Michael Walsh is a lead generation and CRM specialist with experience helping sales and technology organizations optimize inbound funnels and improve lead acquisition strategies. A graduate of Lehigh University, he focuses on building data-driven marketing systems that convert interest into measurable pipeline. Michael closely follows trends in physician recruitment marketing and the broader healthcare workforce landscape, with a particular interest in how digital strategy can help healthcare organizations attract hard-to-reach clinical talent. 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