SLK-Kliniken × Recruiting
13 applications for a hard-to-fill early-career medical position
Through the combination of audience-specific editorial content and direct distribution to medical students.
SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn GmbH · Healthcare · Recruiting
- 13
- Applications
- 52,9 %
- Open rate
- 1.574
- Page views
How we developed a specialized recruiting campaign for SLK-Kliniken and won medical students for vascular and endovascular surgery in a targeted way.
01 · The challenge
Reach early-career doctors where classic job ads reach their limits
SLK-Kliniken were looking for medical students for clerkships and practical training rotations in vascular and endovascular surgery at Klinikum am Plattenwald.
The challenge was less about communicating an open opportunity than about reaching the right target group in the first place and getting them excited about the specialty.
Especially in a specialized medical field, a classic job ad often isn't enough. Potential applicants first need to understand why the clinic, the specialty and the specific training are attractive to them.
Klinikum am Plattenwald is an academic teaching hospital of Heidelberg University.
02 · The strategy
Not just advertising a job, but making the medical environment tangible
Together with the HR department, we developed a recruiting campaign that combined information, editorial content and precisely targeted distribution.
At the center was an in-depth editorial on vascular and endovascular surgery.
Instead of merely communicating that new talent was wanted, the post showed medical students concretely what to expect at SLK-Kliniken:
Working in a large vascular surgery department
Quick integration into the medical team
Assisting in surgical and interventional procedures
Suturing and bandaging techniques
Taking part in consultation hours and vascular diagnostics
Treating patients under medical supervision
Internal training and case discussions
Opportunities for clerkships and the practical year
This turned a classic recruiting message into a content-based decision aid for future applicants.
03 · The distribution
Put the right message in front of the right target group
The editorial was not simply published and then left to itself.
We distributed it through two targeted newsletter campaigns to an already medically relevant target group.
The larger send reached 3,098 recipients with an open rate of 48.7%; 1,507 recipients opened the message and 146 clicked. The second send, to another relevant recipient group, even reached an open rate of 52.9%.
In addition, the clinic check was spread via social media. The documented Facebook post, for example, reached 744 people.
- 3.098
- Recipients of the larger send
- 48,7 %
- Open rate, send 1
- 52,9 %
- Open rate, send 2
04 · The result
Attention turned into 13 active applications.
The campaign generated not just reach and clicks.
13 medical students then applied actively to SLK-Kliniken.
The campaign thus addressed exactly the original problem: the lack of new talent for the relevant practical training rotations.
From a very specific and hard-to-reach target group, a focused recruiting campaign produced a concrete applicant pool.
- 13
- Medical students applied actively to SLK-Kliniken
Campaign in numbers
All key figures at a glance
The figures come from the campaign evaluation (newsletter reporting, website analytics and social media reach).
| KPI | Result |
|---|---|
| Active applications | 13 |
| Newsletter sends | 2 |
| Recipients, send 1 | 3.098 |
| Open rate, send 1 | 48,7 % |
| Unique clicks, send 1 | 146 |
| Recipients, send 2 | 278 |
| Open rate, send 2 | 52,9 % |
| Unique clicks, send 2 | 14 |
| Website sessions | 505 |
| Website users | 417 |
| Page views | 1.574 |
| Avg. session duration | 2:02 min |
Addition: the website evaluation also shows 3.12 pages per session and a bounce rate of 47.33%.
Illustration, not a screenshot of the evaluation.
The principle behind it
Recruiting works better when target group, content and distribution fit together.
The key idea of the campaign wasn't simply to buy more reach. We combined three things:
- 01
Relevance
An editorial that addresses exactly the questions and interests of aspiring doctors.
- 02
Audience
Distribution directly to medical students instead of unspecific mass reach.
- 03
Conversion
A clear next step from information to a concrete application.
The result was 13 applications for an area where it had previously been difficult to attract enough interested candidates.
