Physician recruiters were unheard of before 1980, now there are approximately 7000 or more physician recruiters in the U.S. The hospital or business needing the physician hires and pays the physician recruiter. The price of a search for a physician to fill a job opening is between $20,000 and $40,000. There are several associations for physician recruiters and they may specialize by area of the country, physician specialty, or both. Physician recruiters hire for all medical specialties from Anesthesiology to Urology.

The recruiting process starts with a call from the hospital to the physician recruiter. The recruiter then typically pulls the first physician who comes to mind out of the database. Therefore, it would be beneficial for the physician seeking a job to have a good relationship with the recruiter. If a suitable candidate for the job is not in the physician recruiters database the recruiter will check online databases or check with other sources. The physician recruiter will then ask the potential job candidate a series of questions relevant to the job search. He will ask the physician about reasons for wanting a new job, general lifestyle and family questions, and make sure the physician's resume is current. If the candidate for the position is a good match, the physician recruiter will then send the physician's resume on to the hospital. If the chief of staff does not think the physician is a good match for the position the whole process starts over. The next steps for suitable candidates are a phone interview and a first interview scheduled by the recruiter. It is the recruiter’s responsibility to facilitate the whole process and keep both parties up to date on happenings.

There are alternatives to physician recruiters. One advertises itself as a career marketing service and the physicians and not the hospitals hire them. The base charge is $2000 that is for 1000 contacts. They will for this price: compile a list of contacts with verified addresses, revise the applicants resume, and write the necessary cover letter. They will then print out the cover letter, resume, and envelopes with the addresses of the potential contacts. They then ship the envelopes to the job-seeking physician. He is responsible for inserting the paperwork into the envelopes and mailing. The physician will then receive queries from hospitals interested in his qualifications.