This position develops and nurtures relationships with local clinicians, medical practices, clinical groups and health systems to recruit clinicians to serve as clinical preceptors in VHS programs. With strong drive, diligence and tact, this position will grow our community teaching base and work to ensure local clinicians (1) look to support VHS students first and foremost and (2) weave VHS students into the operation of their practice. This position is an integral member of our clinical education team who will turn local clinicians and practice staff into positive brand stewards and strengthen the workforce pipeline for ODU VHS graduates.

This position will also maintain and improve communication with affiliated community preceptors and staff by developing, implementing and maintaining:

• tools and resources to onboard community preceptors; 
• databases to track preceptors;
• a schedule to regularly visit affiliated sites;
• processes and schedule to disseminate policies and procedures.

 As part of the recruitment process, this position will also facilitate the faculty appointments of community physicians working with students in the clinical phases of the MD Program. The incumbent must be able to work independently, travel regularly within a 60-mile radius, balance quick deadlines with longer term goals, and provide regular status reports on job performance.

COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to develop and maintain effective relationships with public, partners, customers, and co-workers; while working cooperatively and effectively with others to achieve common goals.
• Ability to manage time and resources to ensure assignments are completed accurately and deadlines are met. Meets attendance/punctuality requirements.
• Ability to adapt to changing work environments, work priorities, and organizational needs with enthusiasm and energy.  Takes independent action to address and resolve problems.
• Ability to expresses ideas effectively and demonstrate sound judgment with regard to decision-making.
• Ability to deal with others in a direct honest manner and comply with all institutional policies and procedures. 
• Ability to review anticipated student specialties and enrollment projections and identify areas for needed recruitment.
• Ability to communicate in a positive and appreciative tone in all interactions with community preceptors and affiliated sites.
• Ability to develop and refine processes and job aids.
• A demonstrated understanding of customer service and positive customer relations.
• Ability to present information to groups and organizations in a professional and organized manner.
• Ability to establish harmonious working relationships within an interdisciplinary team setting with minimum supervision.

Clinical Preceptor Recruitment

• Build long-term relationships with local clinicians, medical practices, clinical groups and health systems to recruit clinicians to serve as clinical preceptors
• Work with colleagues in ELO and clinical academic programs to determine recruitment needs, priorities and execute processes necessary to meet recruitment goals
• Facilitate the completion of required documentation to establish new elective course courses
• Provide information regarding the faculty appointment process and benefits
• Gather required documentation for community faculty appointments and/or clinical placements
• Convert community physician CVs to the required format for faculty recruited by this position
• Attend recruitment and appreciation events, which may occur off-site, out-of-area, nights, or weekends
• Develop and implement a community faculty on-boarding process and appropriate documentation

Database Management

• Manage and update the community preceptor database 
• Maintain and further develop the preceptor recruitment database
• Obtain and maintain preceptor lists from clinical departments, course coordinators and clinical programs and verify faculty status of each individual, facilitating new appointments as needed.

Affiliated Site Relations 

• Identify which practices have an existing relationship with VHS and which will require the execution of a new educational affiliation agreement
• Become a strategic partner with the site by understanding and communicating how having community faculty within their organization can help them meet their business and professional development goals
• Provide orientation information on student policies, expectations, curriculum, and evaluations to community faculty
• Visit teaching sites and site leadership to establish and maintain positive working relationships
• Identify and escalate areas of concern through continued and regular conversations with the sites
• Identify competing schools participating in education at affiliated sites and understand the relationship they have with the site
• Communicate changes in policies or procedures to affected community preceptors and sites

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION:

Organizational/Operational Skills

• Experience with clinical placement software or other demonstrated database experience
• Strong project management skills 
• Strong documentation, data tracking and reporting ability 

Soft Skills

• Persistence and resilience — recruiting time-strapped clinicians involves a lot of follow-up and "no's"
• Networking ability, often leveraging alumni or existing faculty relationships
• Cultural competency and adaptability across different practice settings (hospital, outpatient, rural, etc.)

Domain Knowledge

• Understanding of clinical education models 
• Knowledge of the local/regional healthcare landscape 

Relationship & Communication Skills

• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills — this role is essentially sales/partnership development within healthcare
• Ability to communicate the value proposition of precepting to busy clinicians 
• Comfort presenting to hospital administrators, department heads, and individual clinicians and clinical teams

PREFERRED QUALIFIACTIONS:

Skills that are helpful but not required

• Experience in a healthcare environment, clinical operations or clinical education
• Familiarity with accreditation standards
• Experience building and maintaining relationships with hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems
• Prior experience in healthcare recruiting, academic partnerships, or clinical placement coordination