SeekOut for healthcare recruiting
Ben Argeband, Founder & CEO of Heartbeat.ai — No bashing; simple pairing explanation.
What’s on this page:
Who this is for
This is for recruiters using sourcing tools who still can’t reach clinicians outside LinkedIn. You can build a solid target list, but your week gets eaten by wrong numbers, bounced emails, and manual handoffs between tools.
In healthcare, the friction is predictable: clinicians are often in clinic hours, behind gatekeepers, and may prefer one channel over another. If your process can’t quickly turn “found” into “contactable,” speed-to-submittal suffers.
Quick Answer
- Core Answer
- Use SeekOut to discover clinician targets, then enrich verified phone/email and route into your ATS/CRM for compliant sequencing and measurable outreach outcomes.
- Key Insight
- SeekOut is discovery; Heartbeat.ai is contact enrichment. Pairing them closes the gap between a profile and a reachable candidate record.
- Best For
- Recruiters using sourcing tools who still can’t reach clinicians outside LinkedIn.
Compliance & Safety
This method is for legitimate recruiting outreach only. Always respect candidate privacy, opt-out requests, and local data laws. Heartbeat does not provide medical advice or legal counsel.
TL;DR
- Use SeekOut to build a prioritized target list with context.
- Use Heartbeat.ai to enrich usable phone/email plus suppression and opt-out handling.
- Automate the handoff into ATS/CRM and your sequencer via Zapier, Make, or API.
- Track outcomes (connects, deliverability, replies, submissions), not just “profiles added.”
| Workflow | What you get | What usually breaks |
|---|---|---|
| SeekOut-only | Strong discovery and filtering | Reach, suppression propagation, and clean routing into outreach systems |
| Paired (Source → Enrich → Sequence) | Discovery plus contact readiness and measurable outreach | Duplicates and compliance risk if you don’t pass opt-out/suppression into every downstream tool |
Framework: The “Discovery-to-Contact” Workflow: Source → Enrich → Sequence
Most comparisons miss the operational question: who owns discovery, who owns contact readiness, and who owns sequencing in your stack. In healthcare recruiting, you need a system that moves a candidate from discovery to a real conversation without creating compliance risk or duplicate mess in your ATS.
- Source (Discovery): build a relevant list with context (role, org, location, specialty signals). This is where SeekOut fits.
- Enrich (Contact readiness): add usable channels (callable numbers, deliverable emails) plus suppression/opt-out handling. This is where Heartbeat.ai fits.
- Sequence (Execution): push into ATS/CRM and run compliant multi-touch outreach with logging and reporting.
The trade-off is… discovery tools optimize for finding and filtering; enrichment optimizes for connectability and deliverability. If you try to force one tool to do both jobs, you usually get slow handoffs and low reach.
Step-by-step method
Step 1: Define the output you actually need (not “more profiles”)
For a req to move, your team needs a contactable record with ownership and next action. Treat “discovered” as a lead, not a candidate ready for outreach.
- Discovery output: a prioritized list with enough context to personalize.
- Contact readiness output: at least one usable channel plus suppression/opt-out status and routing fields.
Step 2: Export a minimum viable list (MVL) from SeekOut
Don’t export everything. Export what you can work. Export your SeekOut list into the MVL schema below (Tier 1 first) so enrichment and routing stay clean.
- First name, last name
- NPI (if you have it), specialty, state
- Current organization / facility
- Profile URL (optional)
- Internal fields: req ID, recruiter owner, priority tier (Tier 1/Tier 2)
If you can’t route it to an owner, don’t enrich it yet. Unowned records become duplicates and compliance risk later.
Step 3: Enrich in Heartbeat.ai (contact enrichment layer)
Run the MVL through Heartbeat.ai to add phone/email and the operational flags your team needs to outreach responsibly:
- Phone and email where available
- Suppression and opt-out indicators (so you can stop future outreach)
- Confidence/quality signals so reps know what to try first
Goal: a recruiter opens the record and immediately knows what to do next (call, email, or do not contact).
Step 4: Route enriched records into your ATS/CRM and sequencer
Once enriched, push records into your ATS/CRM and your sequencing tool. Automate the handoffs so recruiters aren’t copy/pasting and creating duplicates.
- Zapier: fastest setup for common workflows.
- Make: better for branching logic and data transforms.
- API: best for higher volume and strict matching rules.
Minimum routing fields (do not skip these):
- req ID and recruiter owner (so work doesn’t get orphaned)
- specialty and state (so reporting and routing stay accurate)
- suppression/opt-out status (so you don’t re-contact someone who opted out)
Suggested dedupe keys (pick what your ATS supports):
- Primary: NPI (when present)
- Fallback: name + organization/facility + state
Step 5: Execute a two-lane outreach motion (call-first + email support)
Clinicians are often hard to catch live, so your first touches need to be short and easy to respond to. Operationally, this means consistent call blocks and a clean callback path (direct line, voicemail that states the ask, and an email follow-up that matches the same message).
- Lane A (Call-first): short call blocks aimed at live conversations.
- Lane B (Email support): short, compliant emails that confirm relevance and offer a time window.
Log outcomes in your ATS/CRM so you can see what’s working by specialty, geography, and facility type.
Diagnostic Table:
| Recruiting job-to-be-done | SeekOut (Discovery) | Heartbeat.ai (Contact enrichment) | What “done” looks like in healthcare recruiting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build a target list for a req | Strong fit | Not the primary use | Targets are relevant and prioritized (Tier 1/Tier 2) with req ID + owner |
| Turn targets into reachable records | Not the core job | Strong fit | At least one usable channel plus suppression/opt-out status |
| Automate handoffs to ATS/CRM | Depends on your stack | Designed to feed downstream systems | Zapier/Make/API flow creates or updates candidates without duplicates |
| Protect outreach reputation | Not the focus | Core requirement | Verification + suppression reduce bounces and repeated unwanted outreach |
| Measure what matters | Top-of-funnel visibility | Channel readiness visibility | You can report discovered → enriched → attempted → connected/replied → submitted |
Weighted Checklist:
Score each item 0–2 (0 = no, 1 = partially, 2 = yes). Multiply by weight. Low scores on reach + compliance mean you need pairing, not “more sourcing.”
| Decision factor | Weight | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Your team can consistently reach sourced clinicians | 5 | Reps aren’t stuck with “good list, no usable channels” |
| Your workflow respects consent and opt-out end-to-end | 5 | Suppression flags flow into ATS/CRM and sequencing tool |
| Clean handoff from discovery → ATS/CRM | 4 | Zapier/Make/API prevents duplicates and preserves ownership |
| You can measure call + email outcomes by req | 4 | Outcomes are logged and reportable (not just “profiles added”) |
| You have a repeatable first-48-hours motion after intake | 3 | MVL export, enrichment, and first touches happen fast |
| You have a clear “do not contact” rule that reps follow | 3 | Suppression is enforced across tools, not left to memory |
Outreach Templates:
Short on purpose. The goal is a response and a real conversation. Always honor opt-out requests and document consent where required.
Template 1: Call opener (15 seconds)
“Hi Dr. [LastName]—this is [Name]. I’m calling about a [Specialty] role in [City/State]. Is now a bad time, or can I take 20 seconds to see if it’s relevant?”
- If yes: “What would make a move worth a conversation—schedule, comp model, call, or location?”
- If no: “Understood. What’s a better time window this week?”
Template 2: Email (first touch)
Subject: Quick check — [Specialty] role in [Location]
Body: Dr. [LastName] — I’m recruiting for a [Specialty] opening with [Facility/Group]. If you’re open to a quick call, what’s the best time window this week? If not you, I’m happy to stop—just reply “no.”
Opt-out line: If you prefer not to receive recruiting outreach from me, reply “opt out” and I’ll suppress future messages.
Template 3: SMS (only where appropriate and permitted)
“Dr. [LastName], this is [Name] recruiting for a [Specialty] role in [Location]. OK to send details here, or prefer email?”
Only use SMS where permitted and consistent with your organization’s policies, and always honor opt-out and logging.
Common pitfalls
- Confusing discovery with reach. A strong list doesn’t help if you can’t connect. Treat sourcing as upstream; treat contact enrichment as a separate operational step.
- Exporting the wrong unit of work (PAIRING_GUIDE). If you export a massive list and enrich everything, you waste time and budget. Export a Tier 1/Tier 2 MVL tied to recruiter capacity, then enrich in batches.
- Not carrying suppression/opt-out downstream. If your ATS/CRM or sequencer doesn’t receive opt-out flags, you’ll re-contact people who asked you not to. That’s preventable.
- Over-automating before you standardize fields. If names/orgs/NPIs aren’t consistent, automations create duplicates and reps stop trusting the system.
- Measuring activity instead of outcomes. “Profiles added” is not a recruiting KPI. Track connects, replies, and submissions.
How to improve results
Define workflow fit (required definition)
Workflow fit = the degree to which a tool’s outputs can move through your recruiting process (source → enrich → ATS/CRM → outreach → logging) with minimal manual rework, low duplication, and compliant suppression/opt-out handling.
PAIRING_GUIDE worksheet: three pairing recipes (scannable decision guide)
| Recipe | Best for | Automation | Required fields to pass | Common failure mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: SeekOut list → Heartbeat enrich → ATS/CRM → sequence | Teams that want clean ownership + reporting | Zapier / Make / API | req ID, owner, specialty, state, suppression/opt-out | Duplicates if matching rules aren’t set (name-only matching) |
| B: SeekOut list → Heartbeat enrich → Sheet staging → ATS/CRM | Teams that need a QA checkpoint | Make (often) or Zapier | All above + QA status + notes | Sheet becomes a second ATS if you don’t enforce “staging only” |
| C: SeekOut list → Heartbeat enrich → sequence tool → ATS/CRM logging | Agency workflows where sequencer is the daily cockpit | API or Make | Owner, req ID, suppression/opt-out, last touch outcome | Opt-out doesn’t sync back, causing repeat outreach later |
Measurement instructions (required)
Measure this by… tracking each stage as a conversion, per req and per recruiter, over a consistent time window:
- Discovered → Enriched rate: enriched records / discovered records (per 100 discovered).
- Attempted outreach rate: candidates with at least one call or email / enriched records (per 100 enriched).
- Connect Rate = connected calls / total dials (per 100 dials).
- Answer Rate = human answers / connected calls (per 100 connected calls).
- Deliverability Rate = delivered emails / sent emails (per 100 sent emails).
- Bounce Rate = bounced emails / sent emails (per 100 sent emails).
- Reply Rate = replies / delivered emails (per 100 delivered emails).
- Speed to first touch: time from req intake to first attempted outreach (report median).
Segment results by source (SeekOut vs other), specialty, and facility type. If discovered volume is high but connect/reply is low, your bottleneck is contact readiness and sequencing, not discovery.
When pairing is not your next move
- If your team already has high Connect Rate and Deliverability Rate and your bottleneck is interview availability or credentialing, fix downstream constraints first.
- If your ATS/CRM data hygiene is broken (duplicates, missing owners), fix routing and matching rules before adding more volume.
Legal and ethical use
Build your process so it’s easy to do the right thing:
- Use data for legitimate recruiting purposes only.
- Respect consent where required and always honor opt-out requests quickly.
- Minimize data: store what you need to recruit, not everything you can find.
- Keep suppression lists synchronized across tools (ATS/CRM, sequencer, spreadsheets).
Evidence and trust notes
SeekOut positions itself as a talent search and discovery platform; review their product positioning here: SeekOut official site.
For how Heartbeat.ai evaluates data quality, verification, and responsible use, read: Trust & methodology for provider data. This page focuses on workflow fit and measurement, not performance promises.
FAQs
What is SeekOut best used for in healthcare recruiting?
Discovery: building a prioritized target list with context you can use to personalize outreach and route work to the right recruiter.
What should I add when I can find clinicians but can’t reach them?
Add a contact enrichment step that produces usable phone/email plus suppression/opt-out handling, then route those records into your ATS/CRM and sequencer.
How do I keep opt-outs from getting lost between tools?
Make suppression/opt-out a required field in your ATS/CRM and ensure your Zapier/Make/API flows write it everywhere your team can send messages or place calls.
What metrics should I track to know if pairing is working?
Track Connect Rate (connected calls / total dials), Deliverability Rate (delivered emails / sent emails), Bounce Rate (bounced emails / sent emails), and Reply Rate (replies / delivered emails), plus speed to first touch and submissions per req.
Next steps
- For the contact enrichment layer in detail: Physician contact enrichment (what it is and how to use it).
- For the broader provider data workflow: Provider contact data for recruiting teams.
- If you want to test the pairing workflow on a real req, start free search & preview data.
Bring one active req and a Tier 1 MVL (the candidates you can actually work this week). Pairing only helps if it reduces manual work and increases measurable reach.
About the Author
Ben Argeband is the Founder and CEO of Swordfish.ai and Heartbeat.ai. With deep expertise in data and SaaS, he has built two successful platforms trusted by over 50,000 sales and recruitment professionals. Ben’s mission is to help teams find direct contact information for hard-to-reach professionals and decision-makers, providing the shortest route to their next win. Connect with Ben on LinkedIn.
