Management

Steps to Success with a new hire

Where to start when bringing new blood into your practice.

Sheree H. Christian, BBA, COE, OCS, Eugene Ore.

Hiring a new employee can be both exciting and scary. It’s an opportune time to take a fresh look at your needs, workflows, and current employee strengths.

Breaking down the steps to hiring a new employee who fits your needs and protocols will make the task less daunting and help increase your odds of a good outcome.

Assess the need

Typically, one of two events requires a new hire: practice growth or a departing employee. The hiring process begins with assessing the need.

If you are experiencing practice growth, evaluate whether the growth is so much that you require a full-time employee, or if a part-time employee will fulfill your needs. Do you anticipate the growth to continue, such that a part-time need now will soon become a full-time need? If so, this anticipation may affect whom you ultimately choose.

When an employee exits, it is the perfect time to review the entire department. Sometimes, current employees have developed to the point where they can take on extra work, eliminating the need for a new hire. Perhaps what was once a full-time position may now be better as a part-time position.

This is also a good time to look at all the tasks being done and ask if the assigned duties are playing to the strengths of the employees or if changes should be made. Designing job descriptions around employee strengths and interests keeps team members at their best.

If, after careful analysis, you determine extra help is necessary, move to the next phase and create a job description.

Create a job description

If your “need assessment” convinced you that some clinic duties wouldn’t be accomplished or completed on a timely basis if you do not hire, these duties ought to become the backbone of that job’s description.

Essentially, a job description is a list of tasks and responsibilities. Always include, at the end of a job description, the phrase “other duties as assigned” and spaces for employee signature and date.

Once created, this document keeps you focused on the skill set your new employee will need to possess and lays the foundation for the hiring process.

Consider many avenues to find applicants

Using your job description and your knowledge of your practice’s culture, you are ready to write a “help wanted” ad. Again, the Internet can give you a wide variety of sample ads to help get you started. One of the best sources of samples is found in the ads of the media where you plan to advertise. Attract a good match by listing specific skills and experience you are seeking.

The position you are attempting to fill will help determine where you decide to advertise. However, advertising on some websites may leave you inundated with resumes from unqualified applicants, no matter how specifically you state your needs. These are easily managed by simply setting up ‘Good,’ ‘Maybe’ and ‘Bad’ folders in your e-mail.

Other avenues to consider are local newspapers, academy websites (e.g., www.ascrs.org, www.aao.org), networking at annual and local meetings and list serves. Also, your employees may know someone who is qualified for the position you are filling.

Prepare for the interview

Once you are ready to interview the top applicants, refer to the job description you wrote. Prepare a list of questions you feel will help you judge each applicant’s skill level and potential for fitting into your practice’s culture. To avoid violating employment anti-discrimination laws, do not ask direct questions about age, disability, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, birthplace, and marital or family status. If you have not had to conduct an interview for a while, it might be good to review forbidden interview questions.

Beginning with phone interviews can save a lot of time. Even over the phone you can make initial judgments about friendliness, energy level, willingness to listen without interrupting, etc. Always begin the call by identifying yourself, stating why you are calling and asking if this is a good time for a phone interview.

After interviewing, let the applicant know your hiring process and when they might hear from you again. This is also a good time to mention any policies you might have concerning drug screening and background checks. If the applicant really impresses you, you may want to set up an on-site interview time before ending the call.

Conduct an on-site interview

The next step is the on-site interviews. Prior to sitting down with chosen applicants, you should re-send them the job description. This creates a more meaningful interview with better questions and understanding from the applicants.

This round should narrow your choices down to two or three applicants. The position you are seeking to fill will determine if any other staff members should sit in on the interviews.

Each of your finalists should be sent a copy of your employee manual. The manual will answer many questions applicants may be hesitant to ask, but which may be very important to them.

Again, the position will dictate the best final interview methods. Some clinics like to bring in a technician applicant to shadow in the clinic. For an administrative position, an informal lunch might better serve to get to know the applicant. This is the time for very active listening. You want to pick up on clues that will tell you if this person is the right fit for the position. OP

Sheree Christian, BBA, COE, OCS is a practice administrator at Oregon Retina, LLP which has offices in Eugene, Newport and Florence, Ore.