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Expert Tips to Make Sure Your Next Hire is a Keeper

by Brande Victorian •

“What you don’t want to do is bring somebody new into your practice, and market that to your patients, then your patients do a Google search and see all of these terrible things,” Madden said. “That will turn the patient off to the practice entirely, not just to that one physician.”

The bottom line, the experts agreed, is that the right hire for one’s practice is going to encompass not just the required set of professional skills but also the personality that fits the practice culture. Finding that individual will likely be a tedious process, but it’s one practice owners should lend considerable time to and proceed through with caution because, as Madden said, “It’s much more difficult to fire somebody than it is to not hire them in the first place.”

Routine Mistakes

When a new hire doesn’t work out, physicians are often left wondering what went wrong, but our experts said practitioners make routine mistakes that lead to this outcome again and again.

  • Not defining expectations: “This is where I see most practices going wrong,” Madden said. “It’s really hard to find the right person if you don’t know what it is that you’re looking for, and you really can’t figure out what you’re looking for if you don’t understand what your practice is all about.” She suggested physicians first take the time to identify their practice culture, noting the values and philosophies that guide the office work ethic by asking a few key questions: What is your mission, what is your purpose and what makes you who you are?
  • Being charmed: Encountering a physician with a charming personality and a seemingly good bedside manner often causes employers to neglect due diligence when it comes to other aspects of the hiring process, Madden said. “You want to dig a little deeper and make sure the cultural fit is there and that they can perform as well as they put themselves across. Don’t hire for nice; hire for competency and fit.”
  • Relying on another doctor’s word: A positive referral from another physician may also lower a hiring manager’s guard, said Grubb. This can be particularly detrimental if the recommendation is not totally accurate and employers don’t investigate further. “Doctors usually are compassionate people, and they’ll feel guilty about firing people, so they’ll fire an employee and then write a gleaming letter of recommendation because they feel guilty,” Grubb said. “You can’t just rely on that.”
  • Settling: When a position has been open for a long time, practitioners tend to go with the latest candidate in front of them rather than wait for the one who’s best for the job, Monti-Spadaccini said. “What happens is you settle. You don’t hold out because you’re short staffed, and so you settle on that so-so person because you need a body,” instead of getting the right person.—BV