For healthcare PR pros and marketers looking to make a career move, industry opportunity couldn't be better, especially for those who are marketing generalists and have experience in new business development, according to top executive recruiters and industry analysts.
On the hospital side, marketing/PR growth opportunities are in the mergers and acquisitions arena, forging managed care relationships and launching new product lines (such as outpatient services and physician practices), says Pam Pohly of Pohly Associates, an executive healthcare recruiting firm in Hayes, Kan. "Marketing and PR is changing its focus from a competitive [push] to building relationship/partnership efforts and marketers and PR pros are the big idea people who can make these relationships happen." Even if your title or job description doesn't reflect it, Pohly suggests that your long-term goals should be "new business" focused by taking the lead on:
- partnering/new business development ideas;
- identifying attractive physician practices to acquire or merge with; and
- developing managed care presentations and strategies to win over contracts.
Job titles for these responsibilities run the gamut from "director of marketing and business development" and "VP of corporate development" to "director of planning" and "VP of marketing and planning." And base salaries can range from $75,000 to $175,000 depending on the size of the hospital organization and geographical location, according to Pohly.
The areas of physician/group practice and integrated delivery systems are also booming for hospital marketers and communicators, according to David Parkhurst of Tyler & Company, a healthcare executive recruiting firm in Atlanta. T&C, which used to focus on hospital-based executive placements, has seen considerable healthcare business expansion into these areas as well as managed care in the last few years. Making the transition into these new, relatively risky arenas depends on the individual's ability to:
- market to large employers;
- market to physicians; and
- launch new managed care products.
But Parkhurst cautions that these career leaps should be motivated by the potential for gaining new marketable skills instead of an anticipated salary increase. Salaries in this booming area are comparable to hospital marketing/communications salaries that can range from $56,000 and $59,000, respectively, for managers of hospital PR and marketing to $75,000 for heads of PR/marketing, according to market research firm William Mercer's 1997 Integrated Health Networks Compensation Survey. (Want more salary info.? You're next issue will include HPRMN's exclusive 1997 Salary Survey and Executive Recruiters Guide as part of your subscription.)
Agency Outlook
On the agency/corporate side, career opportunities couldn't be better for healthcare communicators, says Marie Raperto of The Cantor Concern, a New York-based executive recruiting firm. "There's a PR shortage of qualified healthcare people that is driving salaries up 20 to 25 percent in that industry." And healthcare agency salaries -reported by PR News' 1997 Salary Survey (courtesy of New York-based Marshall Consultants) - are ranging from $35,000 for account execs to $95,000 for executive/ senior VPs and $200,000 for president/CEOs.
Pharmaceutical, managed care and OTC clients are driving the growth surge and healthcare marketers and PR pros with disease-specific experience and fundraising know-how are particularly attractive to agencies.
Healthcare companies (pharmaceuticals and managed care) are beefing up their media relations and marketing communications teams, often staffing up their in-house agencies with marketing/PR pros who have agency experience, according to Raperto. Managed care companies, in particular, are hungry for direct mail marketers and communicators with strong writing skills who can explain complex products in simple, consumer-savvy ways.
Corporate salaries are typically bonus-based, relying heavily on company performance.
Work Days Won't Get Shorter
Regardless of where you're employed in the industry - hospitals, agencies, corporations or associations - executive recruiters resoundingly agree on one trend that won't change in the foreseeable future: putting in 40-plus-hour work weeks. Given these time-intensive demands, working smart is just as important as working those long, hard hours.
"Staffs are staying lean and [marketers] are having to be much more resourceful with less support," says Raperto. And Parkhurst offers this piece of career advice: "Hospitals have downsized as much as they probably will, but marketing roles are changing. For those who want to stay, get experience on managed care products and physician relations to hedge [your] bets that if something does happen down the road, the career transition will be smooth." (Pohly Associates, 785/625-9790; The Cantor Concern, 212/333-3000; Tyler & Company, 770/396-3939)