The term Hot Book is used on a daily basis in the staffing industry. It refers to a list of candidates that are available, or coming available, for a new position. Hot Books are essential for recruiters in the healthcare information technology (HIT) industry. In order for success, a recruiter must always maintain, modify, add to their Hot Books, and set calendar reminders day in and day out to keep in contact with potential candidates.
First off, I have multiple Hot Books. They are divided by Emergency Medical Records (EMRs) — Epic, Cerner, Meditech, McKesson, and Other are the different types of Hot Books that I personally maintain. Epic is by far the biggest EMR in the HIT industry, with Cerner being a close second, but for my Epic Hot Book I need a large white board instead of an actual book. A couple of years ago I divided a large white board into 12 sections – using some black electrical tape for outlining. Each section on the board was dedicated to a specific application within the Epic EMR. I now could add names to the appropriate sections on my board of people that were, or were becoming, available. Of course, if someone was Epic Certified in Ambulatory and MyChart applications, then their name would appear twice on my board. After a while I then started adding different little notes to my somewhat chaotic looking Epic Hot Book. Notes would include things like: what date candidates were coming available, what location of the country they preferred to work in, what their travel availability was, etc. After having at least three candidates in each application, I felt great about the work I put into my Hot Books. This means, of course, that when the next Epic job order was released, I had candidates that I could immediately call and see if they were a match to the job description that we received.
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Oh, and in case you were wondering, my other Hot Books are actually in a notebook. When a client presents a new position to fill from an EMR other than Epic, then all I have to do is some skimming through my lists. Some other recruiters in my office like to keep their Hot Books filed electronically. Call me old fashioned, but I just like seeing it in front of me. I feel that I can modify and access it a lot faster that way. There are advantages to doing it electronically, for example, when you are working while on vacation or when a new order comes through on a weekend.
Hot Books are not easy to keep up with. It takes a lot of time and diligent effort to maintain a Hot Book. Recruiters need to excel in time management. Recruiters should focus on finding candidates for the jobs that they are assigned to FIRST, and add to their Hot Books throughout the day. As stated previously I set up reminders on my calendar. For instance, if I am focused on finding candidates for a Cerner SurgiNet Analyst, and then I find one that is not available but wants me to follow up with them in 6 months – I set my calendar to do so. I might not necessarily put their name in my Hot Book; but, if I follow up with them from a reminder on my calendar in 6 months, isn’t that also a form of a Hot Book? Those reminders will start to add up over time, and a recruiter will then learn at that point to dedicate certain parts of their day to following up with candidates that they have spoken to in the past. Now you are truly maintaining a Hot Book of candidates. Keep it up, and it will pay off!
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