Hiring Medical Staff: 3 Steps to Get the Perfect Fit Employee

The majority of a physician’s training is focused on practicing medicine and helping patients live a better life. But growing your own practice means you’re now in the business game, which inherently involves hiring, managing and directing people.

We’ve spoken to dozens of physicians who admit they don’t want to be HR directors or employee counselors. But they also realize they need to improve their skills in this area and better understand the components that go into building a strong, engaged medical practice team.

If this sounds familiar, this article is for you!

If you’ve been running a practice for any length of time, you’ll recognize that employee engagement is a key driver of success. And, if this plays out well, it frees you up to spend more time on the things you enjoy vs the messy details of the business.

But while you can learn about employee engagement tips, it’s important to know that engagement doesn’t start on the first day….it starts well before!

So how to do you hire people that gel and buy-in on day one?
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Right Fit Step #1: The Pre-Hire Interview

The interview process is more than just a get-to-know-you kind of chat. It’s an opportunity to understand how that potential employee will fit into the role and the team.

Before even glancing at a resume, you can get a clear picture of what this role looks like.

Ask yourself: what are the foundational characteristics that will make someone successful in this role?
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While these factors are not exhaustive, they provide an outline for your job target which help you answer the question of: Does this person fit the job?

The worst thing you can do is wait until the interviewee is seated across from you to start thinking about what makes a person successful in this role.

Outside of the standard job requirements, creating a job target allows you to specify both the behavioral and cognitive attributes associated with job success and employee engagement. By outlining these critical factors prior to meeting with any candidate, you set quantifiable metrics against which to measure each applicant.

This also helps you distinguish between potential candidates who “feel” like a good fit, and those who are assessed against this benchmark for true potential for success.

Right Fit Step #2: The Development Plan

Like most things, employee engagement is not set-it-and-forget-it.

While you can follow this strategic interview process and get a solid team, it’s up to you to not only manage, but inspire that team! The only thing worse than a bad fit, is a good fit who doesn’t feel valued and decides to leave.

Create an environment that fosters growth and engages your employee’s natural strengths. Doing so is a sure-fire way to keep your employees happy and keep them around for the long haul.

Luckily, your job target serves a dual purpose.

During the interview process it set the standards for interviewees, but once your employee has been hired it is the perfect starting line for growth and opportunity. Having an initial discussion upon hiring sets the expectations and creates a mutual understanding of where the employee needs to focus their growth.

From there you can create a development plan that helps them better develop their skills to align to that ideal “fit” you’re after.
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Right Fit Step #3: Coaching to the Fit

As the manager of your team, one of your primary roles is to serve as your employees’ coach. Your favorite baseball players didn’t get where they are today without the help of an expert coach, so why would you expect anything different from your employees?

Questions to ask when coaching your employees:

• What have you done well?
• What can you do better?
• What strength are you underutilizing/overutilizing?
• What are your biggest advantages or challenges to developing personally and professionally?

Bonus: Routinely meeting with your employees every 90 days not only opens the door to discover new strengths and opportunities but allows you to keep a pulse on how engaged and active your employee is in your work environment.
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Put It into Practice

Your practice is growing and changing every day. New patients, new opportunities, new medical advancements. And your team has to keep up.

Hiring the right team members is really just the first play in the book. Continuing to nurture and inspire your team ensures everyone is working towards the same goal: Growing your practice!

Looking for the full list of tips and tricks designed to optimize your team’s performance?

Download the on-demand webinar Tools and Techniques to Better Hire and Lead Medical Staff today!

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