It’s that time when someone in the practice has resigned and you need to recruit a new staff member, but not sure where to begin.

I always refer to recruiting new staff the same way you would take when purchasing a new car or a house. You wouldn’t dive into buying a house or new car without knowing exactly what you wanted, conducting research, analysing reviews and asking relevant questions.

This blog will provide you with 6 crucial steps that is absolutely necessary to ensure a successful recruitment interview and appointment of the right candidate to your practice.

The benefits of a good selection process are significant. A good selection decision should result in the most capable person being appointed. This should lead to the desired levels of productivity, a good fit with colleagues and clients.

This outcome, in turn, improves morale and work group cohesion, increasing the employing organisation’s productivity. These benefits are not merely theoretical: they make a measurable contribution to the organisation’s bottom line.

Gathering Information & Analysis

This is one of the most important steps that is missed in the recruitment process Senior management need to conduct a meeting and ask the following questions:

• Why is this employee leaving? Do we need to analyse the reasons i.e. staff culture, systems, salary, poor leadership, lack of opportunities?
• What are we really looking for?
• Is this a time to reflect on our current practice staffing model and roles/responsibilities?
• Has this role been effective in the past?
• What do we want this person to do? The same role as previous employee or do we want the role to expand?
• Who will they report to?
• What does our ideal candidate look like?

Without this first stage of analysis, the following may occur:

• Recruiting the wrong employee
• Costing the practice money. Did you know that recruiting the wrong employee can cost a practice up to 2 times their salary in lost production, time and training?
• Lack of results. Without a clear definitive idea of what you want the employee to do, this will result in disruption to existing employees as well as inefficiencies in the practice.
• The employee resigning. If you are not aware of why your initial employee left, you will be unable to rectify the problem and the same situation will reoccur.

After the first initial stage has been completed, you can now commence with the 6 steps of conducting a successful recruitment interview.

The Interviewing Process

The interview process consists of 6 steps.

1. Analysing the Job
   • Reviewing the job description
   • Understanding the skills and competencies required
   • Developing an interview plan
2. Preparing for the Interview
   • Reviewing the resumes
   • Planning by your questions
   • Understanding your legal responsibilities
3. Opening and Structuring the Interview
   • Making “small talk”
   • Making the applicant comfortable
   • Introducing yourself
   • Structuring the interview
4. Gathering Information
   • Using different types of questions
5. Telling, Selling and Closing
   • Describing the job and what is required
   • Selling the company
   • Describing “where to from here?”
   • Thanking the applicant
6. Evaluating the Candidates
   • Rating responses
   • Integrating the data
   • Reaching a decision

Does your practice have the proper recruitment policies and procedures in place?

Interested in learning more about how you can successfully recruit in your practice?

Linkedin

The Author

Bernadette Beach

Bernadette Beach is the Director of Indigo Medical Consulting Services; specialising in business solutions, recruitment/HR and healthcare marketing. Bernadette has worked with specialists, surgeons and other healthcare professionals for over 20 years providing business and marketing expertise.