Attracting and Selecting Candidates

Once you've developed your postgraduate fellowship, knowing how to attract and select the right crucial.

The end of summer, just prior to when master's degree candidates typically are returning to school for their final year, is the prime time to start the recruitment process for administrative fellowships. 

1. Posting the Fellowship
2. Reviewing Candidates
3. Sample Timeline

Posting the Fellowship 

ACHE offers a free online service for posting fellowship opportunities, the Directory of Postgraduate Administrative Fellowships. Most organizations also list fellowship opportunities on their own websites. Including video clips of past fellows talking about the benefits of their experience would be a great feature. When recent fellows were surveyed. ACHE's directory and an organization's own website were perceived as the most useful tools for finding a fellowship.

Some organizations develop a recruitment brochure for attracting prospective fellows. In addition, organizations typically cultivate relationships with relevant academic programs in their region, as well as maintain ties with the programs that their senior executives attended. Some organizations specifically focus on candidates attending CAHME (Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education)-accredited programs, while others focus more broadly on candidates in disciplines such as health services administration, hospital administration, public administration and business administration.

The typical application for a fellowship consists of the following: 

• Resume
• Personal statement by the candidate covering the reasons for being interested in the fellowship and how it relates to their career goals
• Letters of recommendation
• Graduate and undergraduate transcripts

Reviewing Candidates

The process can include but is not limited to the following steps:

1. Review submitted applications
2. Initial phone interview of viable candidates
3. On-site interview for finalists. Travel expenses are typically paid by the organization. Several organizations choose to have all the finalists interview on the same day, and may also include a group component to the interview (e.g., all the candidates having dinner together the night before with the outgoing fellow).
4. Rank finalists shortly after the on-site interviews
5. Extend offer. The selected candidates are typically notified shortly after the on-site interview and are requested to give a timely response.

Sample Timeline

The following timeline from one organization is typical of the entire process: