The RSNA 2026 Hiring Playbook for Imaging Employers
July 30, 2026
RSNA 2026 runs November 29 to December 3 in Chicago. Here is the month-by-month plan imaging employers use to arrive with meetings booked and leave with signed candidates.
RadiologyJobs Editorial Team | Published July 30, 2026 | Last updated July 30, 2026
RSNA 2026 opens November 29 at McCormick Place in Chicago, and by the time it closes on December 3, two kinds of imaging employers will have walked the same halls. One flies home with a stack of badge scans and a note to follow up in January. The other flies home with serious candidates in late-stage conversations, some of them days from a signed offer. The difference between the two is almost never what happened in Chicago. It is what happened between August and Thanksgiving.
RSNA 2026 runs November 29 through December 3 in Chicago. Employers who sign candidates after RSNA typically start about 4 months earlier: defining roles in August, building candidate pipelines in September, booking meetings in October, and using conference week to close conversations already in motion, not to start them.
Nearly 39,000 people registered for RSNA 2024, per RSNA's official meeting wrap-up, which makes the annual meeting the largest gathering of radiology professionals in the world. That concentration is exactly why the meeting rewards preparation. Every employer recruiting there has access to the same crowd for the same 5 days. The advantage goes to the ones who arrive already known to the candidates they want.
Why does the RSNA hiring window open in August?
Start with the math. The average physician search takes 130 days to fill, per AAPPR benchmark data. Run that against the calendar: a search opened the first week of August crosses the 130-day average in mid-December, on the far side of RSNA week. A search opened at the meeting itself does not cross it until early April 2027. Same role, same market, a full extra quarter of vacancy on a role that was already hard to cover.
Then there is the audience. Radiologists as a group skew passive. Many of the people worth hiring are employed, productive, and not reading listings the week you post one. Yet mobility under the surface is real: 41% of radiologists left at least one practice over a 4-year window, per a Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute analysis of more than 25,000 radiologists published in JACR. Passive does not mean immovable. It means the conversation has to start before the need is urgent, and it has to be worth the candidate's attention when it does.
What should employers do each month before RSNA 2026?
| Month | The Work | What Done Looks Like |
|---|---|---|
| August | Define the role | Signed-off scope, an approved compensation range, and the practice story in writing |
| September | Build the pipeline | Live conversations with matched candidates for every open role |
| October | Book the meetings | RSNA-week calendar confirmed before Thanksgiving |
| November | Close, not open | Rehearsed story, booked rooms, and a follow-up plan for the week after |
August: define the role before the badge prints
Everything downstream depends on this month. A defined role means the scope is settled in writing: modality mix, subspecialty coverage, call expectations, on-site or remote, and the timeline to a real start date. It means a compensation range leadership has actually approved, not a placeholder someone will fight about in December. And it means the practice story is ready: who owns the practice, how governance works, and what has changed recently. Candidates ask direct questions about ownership and structure now, and they compare notes. An employer who cannot answer cleanly in August will not answer cleanly in a crowded hall in December. Settle one more thing while you are at it: who can extend an offer, and how fast.
September: build the pipeline
With the role defined, September is for finding the people who fit it and opening low-pressure conversations. Fit means subspecialty, modality, geography, and practice-setting preference, not a keyword match on a resume. The goal in September is not an application. It is a reason to meet in Chicago.
If your open requisitions include technologists, the same logic applies with more urgency. CT technologist vacancy reached 19.4% in 2025, an all-time high per the ASRT Radiologic Sciences Staffing Survey, and the strongest multi-credentialed techs choose among competing offers quickly.
October: book the meetings before the agendas lock
RSNA attendees plan their week around education sessions, exhibits, and colleagues they see once a year. Recruiting conversations get the leftover slots unless they are on the calendar early. Propose specific times and specific places in October, while candidates are still building their schedules. And mind the calendar: Thanksgiving falls on November 26 in 2026, and the meeting opens 3 days later. A confirmation that is not locked before Thanksgiving week tends not to happen at all.
November: run conference week as a close, not an open
By November the work is rehearsal and logistics. Tighten the story to what a candidate actually weighs: the practice, the structure, the numbers, the next step. Reserve somewhere quiet enough for a real conversation. Most important, write the follow-up plan before you fly: who contacts whom, with what, by when. Momentum after a conference decays fast, and the employers who convert are the ones whose follow-up arrives in days, not weeks.
Why does conference-week-only recruiting fail?
Three reasons, and none of them are about effort. The first is math: a search that starts at RSNA puts the 130-day average fill in spring 2027, per the AAPPR benchmark. The second is the audience: many radiologists are not actively searching at any given moment, and a cold introduction in a crowded exhibit hall rarely moves someone who was not already thinking about moving. The third is decay: a January follow-up on a badge scan lands after the impression has faded, competing with every other January follow-up from the same hall.
None of this makes conference-week recruiting a mistake. It makes it a closing tool being asked to do a sourcing job. RSNA is a terrible place to start a search and an excellent place to finish one.
Where does intelligent matching fit in an RSNA plan?
The September work, finding the candidates who genuinely fit a defined role, has historically been the hardest part for small and mid-sized groups without a dedicated sourcing team. That is the part intelligent matching is built to carry. RadiologyJobs is an intelligent career advocacy platform built exclusively for the imaging ecosystem, physicians and allied health alike. Post the role you defined in August, and RJ Agent, the employer-facing intelligence on the platform, helps qualify candidates against it, so the conversations you open in September start from fit instead of guesswork. The trust you bring to Chicago is trust you built in the fall.
Frequently asked questions about recruiting at RSNA 2026
When is RSNA 2026 and where is it held?
RSNA 2026 runs November 29 through December 3, 2026 at McCormick Place in Chicago, with technical exhibits open November 29 through December 2. It is the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America and the largest annual gathering of radiology professionals in the world.
When should employers start recruiting for RSNA 2026?
About 4 months ahead. The average physician search takes 130 days to fill, per AAPPR benchmark data, roughly the distance between early August and RSNA week. Employers who define roles in August, build candidate pipelines in September, and book meetings in October arrive in Chicago with conversations ready to close.
How many people attend RSNA?
Nearly 39,000 people registered for RSNA 2024, per RSNA's official meeting wrap-up. Attendance spans radiologists, imaging scientists, technologists, administrators, and industry professionals from around the world. No other single event concentrates more of the imaging workforce in one city in one week, which is what makes preparation ahead of it so valuable.
Why doesn't recruiting only at the conference work?
Three reasons. The math: with a 130-day average physician time-to-fill per AAPPR, a search that starts at RSNA typically closes in spring. The audience: many radiologists are not actively searching, so cold introductions rarely convert. The decay: badge-scan follow-ups that arrive in January land after impressions have faded.
What should an employer have ready before RSNA week?
A fully defined role with an approved compensation range, a clear account of practice structure and ownership, a confirmed meeting calendar, and a follow-up plan for the week after the meeting. Candidates evaluate employers on specifics, and a conversation that ends with a promise to send details later usually ends there.
RSNA 2026 will be the same meeting for everyone: the same halls, the same 5 days, and close to 39,000 of the exact people imaging employers need to meet. The employers who leave with signed candidates will be the ones for whom Chicago was the middle of the process, not the start. The window opens now.