By Drew Terry
Physicians devote years to education and training to gain the skills necessary to practice medicine, but how much of those studies involve job search preparation?
Hinton native Ken Allman recognized that disparity in the 1990s. His quest to provide free assistance in this area led to the creation of PracticeLink, a career advancement resource for physicians. The company—also based in Hinton—helps residents, fellows and practicing physicians by providing free insights on the job search, interview process, contract negotiation, license and credential needs and relocation.
“Our job is to help them find theirs,” says Allman. “We believe that means helping them prepare, engage and obtain the best possible job offers, in the shortest possible time and in the simplest possible way to achieve their personal and professional goals and objectives.”
In pursuit of that mission, PracticeLink has received numerous awards over the years. It’s a three-time Inc. 5000 award recipient, three-time Top Places to Work in Healthcare by Becker’s Hospital Review, three-time Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare and 12-time Association of Healthcare Publishing Executives award winner.
Each milestone is a reminder of the company’s humble beginnings.
Building a Foundation
Allman initially planned to become a provider himself. He completed a pre-med course of study at Alderson Broaddus University in Phillippi before enrolling in graduate school in Ohio. That’s when he decided he had several other interests he’d like to pursue instead of focusing only on the educational requirements for a career in medicine.
He ultimately wound up in St. Louis as a business management consultant, helping other companies with their operations, and later as a physician recruiter. It wasn’t long until the call to more directly serve physicians became too strong to ignore.
In 1994, he founded PhysicianPracticeNetwork—later known as PracticeLink—a subscription-based information service for physician recruiters and advanced practice providers (APPs).
In those early days, producing a job board meant publishing a physical list of opportunities and sending it across the country. It wasn’t much longer, though, until the internet gave rise to the online job board. Allman was an early adopter. He set up a few servers in his apartment and began the first known online job board specifically for physicians.
Allman had a worthy mission. He had the gumption, drive and the pressures of launching a startup with little capital. He chose to base the company in Hinton as opposed to St. Louis partly for sentimental reasons but also for financial ones. Rental property costs in rural West Virginia were a lot more attractive to a bootstrap business owner.
Giving Physicians the Power
The online job board marked only the beginning of PracticeLink’s job-search services for physicians and APPs. In 1999, the company unveiled its active candidate database. The database featured providers who opted to be visible to employers. The level of visibility remained in the physicians’ hands. They control their settings and can change their status to be seen or remain hidden from prospective employers, whether that’s all employers or only individual recruiters or organizations from which they prefer to be hidden. To help support the active candidate database, PracticeLink launched a call center in Hinton. This team interviews physicians and provides any support requested to advance their career search.
Over the years, PracticeLink has continued adding more resources. This allows the company to keep up with changes in technology and provider needs. However, one thing hasn’t changed: these services remain at no cost to the physicians and APPs.
PracticeLink Magazine
A job board and candidate database put job-seeking physicians in direct contact with hiring employers, but Allman wanted to extend the assistance into preparing for that contact. The best way to do that, he determined, was through a publication dedicated to covering the main aspects of the job search.
In 2009, PracticeLink acquired the magazine Unique Opportunities, which eventually became PracticeLink Magazine. This combined PracticeLink’s direct job resources with a powerful content resource that had already been publishing for about 20 years. This meant even more value and career guidance for its readers.
“The magazine was the ultimate complement to the online physician job board,” says Allman. “At the time, we believed it was the best way to help educate physicians on important career issues and introduce hiring organizations and their opportunities. While some publications have shrunk or moved online because of rising print and postage costs, we’ve expanded our circulation and coverage because it’s still the best way to provide physicians the insights they need in their job search.”
Today, PracticeLink Magazine reaches 95,000 residents, fellows, practicing physicians and targeted specialists each quarter through its print edition and many more through its online presence. It’s been recognized as a leading resource for physicians preparing for their job search, including being named Publication of the Year by the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors. More importantly, it’s helped countless providers prepare for and find their next practice.
“PracticeLink provided a great deal of help during my job search,” says Dr. William Thomas. “From putting me in touch with prospective recruiters to preparing me for interview day and contract negotiation, PracticeLink was always there. It is an excellent resource.”
First Practice
While PracticeLink Magazine covers broader topics applicable to most physicians, there was an information gap covering what physicians-in-training needed to know and do when searching for their first practice.
In 2013, PracticeLink added a new publication: When To Do What in Your Job Search. Since rebranded as First Practice: The Resident and Fellow Career Guide, it walks residents and fellows through the 10 essential steps and timeline of a job search through its twice-annual printed publication and dedicated website.
First Practice also offers physicians tools for creating their curriculum vitae (CV). Similar to a resume, a CV is the physician’s opportunity to describe his or her training, experience and qualifications to organizations. PracticeLink offers PhysicianCV.com as an online tool for physicians to build, organize, manage and distribute their CV, and just like other solutions, it’s free to use.
Creating Connections During COVID-19
Career fairs have long been a popular feature for physicians and APPs who prefer face-to-face networking opportunities. For years PracticeLink hosted in-person fairs in top graduate medical education cities across the country; however, the arrival and spread of COVID-19 affected these fairs, like many all other live events in 2020.
The pandemic response impacted organizations in different ways, but it became clear many were either still recruiting physicians for priority roles or continuing their long-term recruitment plans. To continue providing an avenue for physicians to learn about these opportunities, PracticeLink converted its 2020 live event schedule to be 100% virtual within a week.
“Daily life was significantly affected for everyone, but especially the health care community,” says Allman. “Our understanding was many recruitment activities continued as best as possible, so we wanted to provide a safe, useful way for candidates and recruiters to meet even though face-to-face interaction was discouraged or not possible.”
Physicians responded. Attendance rates reached more than 500 per event throughout the year, with several events much higher than that. With the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic, PracticeLink is planning for up to 36 virtual events in 2021, along with live events once conditions are more suitable for travel and largescale gatherings.
While some organizations continued recruiting close to normal, others started a new approach. In areas hard-hit by the pandemic, hospitals sought to add temporary positions to strengthen their ability to care for patients. To help make these opportunities more quickly identifiable, PracticeLink launched a rapid response designation within its job board. This allowed physicians to indicate their interest in pandemic-related opportunities so they could more quickly be discovered by recruiters.
Despite what lies ahead, Allman and PracticeLink will look to identify and implement new, easier ways to help physicians prepare for and discover the opportunities to practice medicine and heal lives—because it has been their calling from the start.
About the Author
Drew Terry is the director of content at PracticeLink. He has more than 20 years of marketing and communications experience as a director, editor and writer on health care, retail and business.
