I’ve recently been working with several clients to get new staff members hired and I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the importance of the hiring process. Over the course of years that I’ve worked in dental offices, I’ve seen many doctors take the process for granted and pay the price for doing so. Instead of a good solid interview process with lots of well thought out questions, way too many doctors use what I call the “is she breathing” method. As long as they meet with a reasonably presentable live human being, she’s hired. They then settle back, content that “that’s over with” and wait for the magic to start. The magic they’re hoping for will make a marginal candidate into an exemplary employee. Rarely, if ever, does that happen. The more common scenario is that after wasting 3 months of time and energy on training (and possibly loosing some patients in the process) the doctor is looking to replace this staff member and start the process all over again. I’ve even seen this play out in offices where you would never expect this to happen. Excellent offices, where there are systems in place to cover every eventuality…except hiring.
On one of my more recent experiences, I worked with a doctor who met with an interviewee on the weekend hoping to “get this over with.” When I asked how it went, he looked sheepish and said “she seemed nice.” When I pressed for details, I found out that the entire interview consisted of the doctor giving the potential employee a tour of the office. This is not only not a great interview plan; it’s a downright set up for failure
With all the expense an office goes through to hire and retain employees, it’s imperative that the process of hiring be extensive and thorough. This process can feel like a major burden to offices that do it “in house” and I strongly suggest letting a trained Consultant do most of the work as part of their due diligence to your office. That being said, let’s discuss the steps we need to take to insure a good hire.
- Create an excellent newspaper/on-line ad. Advertising is so expensive in our current economy that most doctors try to keep their employment ads very short and to the point. While I agree that brevity is a good financial plan, it’s very important to get key words into the ads that speak to the heart of the practice. Prior to placing the ad, we need to brainstorm what qualities we want in this new employee. What are the core values or skills that we need? Be sure to get words that reflect these into the ad.
- Once you have gathered resumes from your ad, review them carefully. Typos tell you a lot about the person’s attention to detail. Many different jobs in a fairly short period should be a cause for concern. Have a form prepared with preliminary questions when you make that first phone call. Ask a lot of open ended questions designed to elicit conversation to get a better feel for the job seeker.
- Having narrowed the resumes down to the best possibilities it’s time to set up face to face interviews. These first interviews can be done by just the consultant or office manager who then brings the top 2 or 3 back in to meet the doctor – or the doctor can join in on these interviews to expedite the process. Either way, plan them well. Allow at least 45 minutes, preferably an hour, per interview and have a series of much more detailed and skill-oriented questions prepared.
- Once you’ve decided on the top candidate(s), bring them in for a working interview and have the entire staff (without doctor) take the candidate out to lunch. Meet with your staff after lunch and see if they think you’ve found a good fit. Rethink your decision if your current staff is not comfortable; they frequently learn things at lunch that you were not privy to at the interview.
- Finally, if you decide this is the right person to join your team, make a clear offer including salary, benefits, hours and any and all other pertinent information.
There is no doubt that a great hiring process is time consuming and detailed. There is also no doubt that every doctor would like to find excellent employees who stay with the practice till retirement. Nothing good comes easy and finding good staff members is worth going the extra mile. Remember, a hasty hire is rarely a good hire and the time you saved on the interview process will be time you’ll use wishing you had worked harder on hiring and repenting a poor choice.
