6 Tips for Hiring Like a Boss

Dec 13, 2016 | Human Resources

In today’s competitive job market, scoring the right talent for your team requires your “A” game every step of the way. Your desired candidates most likely will have several offers to choose from, so it’s important to present your practice as an employer of choice. Learn a few of the ins and outs of recruiting as Audigy’s human resources experts offer six tips on hiring like a boss.

1) Communicate Uniqueness

Do you know what sets your practice apart from the competition? Whether it’s your location, your team culture, or the opportunities you provide your employees, you offer a unique experience that your competition can’t match. It’s important to paint that picture for potential candidates when marketing your job openings. Visualize how you want candidates to feel when they leave your office, and back that up by communicating your value proposition.

2) Know What You Need

It’s hard to recruit the ideal team member without clarity on the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for the job. Knowing your must-haves, like-to-haves, and can’t-haves goes a long way toward efficiently finding the right match for your practice.

Check out this sample Must, Like, Can’t chart, which can be infinitely expanded to accommodate the key characteristics you’re seeking in a candidate.

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″]Must Have

  • Must be an audiologist
  • Must be able to do outbound calling

[/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″]Like to Have

  • Provider who does balance
  • Provider connected to the community

[/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″]Can’t Have

  • Someone not currently state licensed
  • Someone who isn’t outgoing

[/vc_column][/vc_row]

3) Be Flexible

Most everyone appreciates a highly trained, skilled, and talented professional, so don’t be surprised if an applicant on your short list already has a job. Great candidates are probably currently employed, making a little flexibility a must. Your willingness to work with desirable candidates who may need consideration — such as adequate time to wrap up with their current employer — can help you secure your top recruitment choice.

4) Plug In to the Interview

Interviews remain one of the most valuable recruitment tools for you and the candidates, so it’s important to make the most of them by being:

  • Present — Schedule some free time before the interview in case an appointment runs long. This also allows you time to get your head in the game and focus on what you’ll cover in the interview.
  • Intentional — Review key materials including your interview sheet, candidate résumés, and any other pertinent information before the interview, and know what questions you’ll ask.
  • Prepared — Before candidates arrive, have everything you need in place, ensure staff are ready, and present a clean interview space. This helps save time, reduce stress, and create a positive first impression.

5) Pick the Right Questions

When planning interviews, ask yourself, “What information am I looking to get?” Understanding your goals helps you pick the questions that align with the qualities you’re seeking. For best practices, select one to two questions that address each of the following: general experience, behavior, team dynamics, problem solving, and self-motivation.

Some examples:

  • General/Current Experience — “What’s your criteria for the ideal workplace?”
  • Behavior — “Describe a situation in which you were able to effectively ‘read’ a patient and guide your actions by your understanding of their individual needs or values.”
  • Co-Workers/Team — “When you disagree with your manager, what do you do? Give an example.”
  • Problem Solving — “A patient comes in and admits they have a hearing deficit. They’ve done research online and believe a Phonak hearing aid would work best. You, however, believe there’s another product that will better fit their needs. How would you handle this?”
  • Goal Orientation/Self-Motivation — “Tell me about a time when you used facts and reason to persuade someone to accept your recommendation.”

6) Structure the Interview Process

“Winging it” has its merits, but not necessarily when it comes to the interview process. Choose structured interviews rather than more informal approaches to help ensure consistency, equal opportunity, and legal defensibility. Using the same relevant questions and criteria across all candidates and following recognized standards in structuring the interviews keeps the process on track.

Did You Know?
Audigy’s Talent Acquisition Management team reviews about 500 résumés on average for a single front office position, so efficiency is a must. The team’s process helps ensure that when vetting top candidates for a member’s practice, they’re finding a technical — and cultural — match:

  • Team members first check the résumés for qualifications, punctuation, layout, and other factors.
  • After reviewing the résumés, team members set up phone interviews with the top 10 candidates.
  • The initial phone interviews offer a chance not only to evaluate each candidate’s overall profile but to gauge how personable they are.
  • With the initial screening complete, the team then sends the top three to five candidates — based on criteria in the recruitment request — to the practice.