I believe most SUB-IDEAL employees were affirmed as “Great Hires” at their start dates. The candidate didn’t morph into a misfit… the hiring manager’s perception did. What happened? They didn’t realize whom they were hiring because their recruiting process failed to reveal the TRUE candidate. All along, the candidate presented a facsimile, an illusion. Your hiring method should stop applicants from “over-adapting” (the tendency to put their “best foot forward”). You want them to put their “typical foot forward”. Traditional hiring methods confound by creating a screen of subjectivity. “Oh, I liked him. I think she’ll be great. She had really good answers. What a really good C.V.!” You need a method that elevates recruiting to objective analysis. Subjectivity is great for discussing motion pictures with friends. However, hiring decisions demand objectivity. Here Is our Ophthalmic Medicine Candidate objective assessment model. Note these are relative criteria, neither good nor bad. We classify candidates as either match, or no-match. Skills: the breadth and depth of your clinical and surgical skills. Beware of the Skills Paradox. Ironically, this is the factor upon which most practices rely for hire/no hire decisions. Skills are easiest to assess, but have the least impact on long-term success. (My definition of success: you (and your family) and the practice principals/owners are happy and fulfilled long term.) Environment: Candidates that join conflicting environments feel discontentment, alienation, stress, and worry about factors over which they feel powerless. We assess your background, ideal work environment, culture, lifestyle and other criteria to determine environmental fit. Don’t forget a vital dynamic: happiness of your spouse. You’ve heard the axiom, “If the spouse isn’t happy, nobody is.” Attitudes: This layer symbolizes deep personal motivation. Why do you “do what you do”? What are your innermost desires, the magnets that draw you to certain activities? What factors repel you? Consider the peril if your core values and attitudes misalign with those of your new boss. Battles will rage and sides entrench. Both invariably decry, “ I know you’re wrong, and I’m certain I am right.” Value-based conflicts lead the culprit list for “practice divorces”. We consider Attitudes and Environment factors absolute criteria: e.g. Pass/Fail. They match yours or they don’t. When a practice meets those criteria, we proceed and then compare your Skills and Style. Style (Personality Style): People get hired for what they know, and fired for how they treat others. Commonly called personality, style is simply how people choose to do their jobs. Factors include communication style, personal interaction, organization, urgency, customer service orientation, versatility, and more. What job situation best meshes with your style? If you inadvertently misjudge, buckle your seatbelt and prepare for a bumpy ride. Little irritations morph into major ones. Morale erodes. Emotions run unchecked. Unfortunately, style mismatches won’t reveal themselves until the end of the new employment honeymoon phase (weeks to...
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Most practices (or recruiters) operate “seat-of-the-pants” when they recruit. Others tend to follow the old-school paradigm of ophthalmic recruiting: Four-Steps of Old-School Recruiting Post a job listing-Target “Best-Available” candidates Read emails & attached CVs Interview finalists & select “Best-Liked” candidate Hope & pray they work out Great hiring combines the best of art and science. The model below distills 25 years of recruiting success and best practices to one diagram. Recruiting, like chess, remains a game marinated in strategy. You make game-winning moves at the beginning, not the end. For you to achieve WIN/WIN recruiting, build a profile of your IDEAL Candidate first. Erect this standard against which you’ll compare every candidate. Unfortunately, most recruiters ignore this most important step of the hiring process…and it becomes their downfall. Without a benchmark…how will you know you’ve found “IDEAL” if you don’t have a standard against which to measure? Everyone asks me, “How long will our search take?” Length of search (n in the diagram above) depends upon two factors: the complexity of your IDEAL candidate criteria and the available pool from which you search. The best method for shortening n is to increase the size of the search pool. (Read Step Two of the process.) Step One– We begin by profiling practice principals AND characteristics of the practice. Why? Attitudinal mismatches account for most recruiting breakdowns. Mismatched personality styles end nearly as many relationships, followed by poor Environmental alignment. Skills and experience mismatches rank fourth on the breakdown list. We identify characteristics (about you and your practice) that you cannot measure because you simply lack perspective. “You cannot read the label when you’re inside the bottle,” quipped one self-aware CEO. It’s a paradox: You (and your staff) are in the rare position of being the only people who aren’t qualified to assess these factors. Environmental factors include conditions requiring candidate disqualification. What are the stark realities of your practice- the good, bad and the ugly? What’s your practice model? What’s the work culture? What community factors could affect associate and spousal contentment? Does your compensation plan fit? I recommend each stakeholder (those invested in the recruiting outcome) “buys-in” to the model we’ve developed. Without consensus, your recruiting process is doomed. Circulate the IDEAL Candidate profile and have each “sign-off” BEFORE beginning the search. This step prevents emotional static from interfering with sound judgement and objective analysis. Step Two requires the search team to get busy. You’ll quickly realize telephone prospecting is discouraging, time consuming, fraught with rejection and not for everyone. But it’s vital. This is why networking amid influential contacts, cold calling and mining private databases combine to accomplish exceptional results. Step Three– Conduct rapid fire, focused and diligent five-minute phone screens. This script is critical. Control the process. Expose disqualifying factors and make cuts decisively. Don’t place mismatches on the short list. Step Four– Interview the Genuine...
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How can you accurately describe a really good fit for your team? “When I see it, I’ll know it… but I surely cannot describe what it is”. So goes the recruiting paradox. How do we condense the model into terms you can apply? I believe it’s fascinating and meaningful to compare skills and style (personality). Assess skills on a continuum from diverse to narrow. Do you need a multi-dimensional specialist, a master practitioner, or a candidate limited to a single skill set? Assess style on a continuum from task oriented to relationship oriented. Those with task oriented styles enjoy working with things more than with people. They adopt high standards and are great with details. Their primary needs are to be right and perfect. They defend positions. Those with relationship oriented styles have great personal warmth, are verbally gifted and social settings energize them. We developed the following diagram (adorned with typecast labels) to help you visualize how candidates compare, in an objective, robust and enlightening manner. The Four Candidate Types The Gentle Captain: Blessed with a combination of personal warmth and skills mastery, this charismatic champion works well with people and is gifted at a broad range of surgical and clinical duties. Her warm manner endears her to patients. Her proficiency and expertise across several sub-specialties makes her a valuable (and rare) find. Expect to pay handsomely for this candidate, but you can count on significant returns on your investment. The Master Perfectionist: Richly talented with instruments, tools, devices and things, this master practitioner proudly pursues perfection. Moreover, does so across multiple disciplines. He’s equally tough on problems and people. His favorite words to hear are “You’re right”. He speaks his mind, often un-filtered. Tact and diplomacy are rare, unnatural characteristics. The Focused Specialist: Unlike her Master Perfectionist cousin, the Focused Specialist is a master of a limited number of skills. Narrow in scope but adroitly expert, she excels in her sub-specialty. Expect perfectionism but not extroversion. The Focused Specialist is more comfortable in non-social situations. The Practice Promoter: Add social talents to the Focused Specialist and you have the Practice Promoter. He will succeed clinically and surgically in his specialty. In addition, he is comfortable leaving the office and networking at Rotary and other civic events to promote the practice. This candidate is suited at handling one or two procedures you want to surrender AND at bringing in new cases. We developed this tool for the infuriated that complain, “I have a hard time explaining what I want, but I sure as hell know what I don’t...
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Why would anyone hire us to recruit if they think they can do it on their own? That’s my favorite question. The short answer: “If you think you can achieve the desired outcome alone, by all means, you should do it yourself.” On the other hand, if you’ve attempted recruiting on your own and it’s taking too long, or if Dr. IDEAL eludes you, call us. Moreover, if you don’t have the time, resources or expertise to run your own recruiting effort, reach out. My initial consult is complimentary, and I perform them all personally. sea-change: Four Options: A: Retained search: you outsource your recruiting effort to us for a fee, typically paid over the course of the project B: Contingent search w/expenses: you pay a slightly higher fee when you hire someone plus you pay your marketing and other expenses up front. C: Contingent search: you pay our fee and reimburse our expenses at the time you hire someone. (The fee in this category is the highest because we incur all expenses up front.) D: Coaching: you outsource a little or a lot of the work to us, and we coach you and your staff on those steps they haven’t the time or tools to do. Our fees are based on the scope of...
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Recruiters need three skills foreign to many physicians and their practice administrators: marketing skills, sales skills and negotiating skills. Consider the skills required to manipulate the social media and Internet landscape to identify, attract and engage candidates. I pirated this tip from my favorite marketing guru: Write recruiting copy that describes the person, not the position. Most copy doesn’t. Few medical staffers have learned the art and science of search keyword analysis. Nor are they adept at combining headlines and effective copy that energize candidates. Fewer lack the experience to discern which social media to avoid. Select online content with care. Internet mistakes last forever. Furthermore, your team needs selling skills to crack barriers and persuade superstar candidates. They’re highly prized and you’ll never find them online. They aren’t looking. Your practice won’t appear on their radar screens. In many cases, superstars won’t respond without a gentle nudge from a cold call. Recruiters with terrific persuasion skills consistently uncover superior candidates, and far more of them. Most staff recruiting teams lack the time (and skills) to make 300 candidate cold calls per week. Finally, few administrative and medical staffs have mastered negotiating. These skills are essential to overcome candidate resistance and secure agreement on delicate contract issues. Your staffs are not at fault; they exercise these skills too infrequently to master them. (When was the last time you or your staff attended any sales or negotiation skills...
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My recruiting rules: Never Settle For “Okay” Candidates Because “Excellent” Is Difficult. The world is full of mediocrity. Mediocrity is easy. Great associates are more difficult to find, attract and hire. However, they’re worth the effort and cost. They generate the highest Return on Investment of time and money. Time Kills Deals…Even Good Ones. Don’t delay when you’ve found an IDEAL candidate. Act decisively at the end after working intelligently at the beginning. Begin With The End In Mind And Work Backwards. Know what you really want before you start, so you’ll recognize it when you find it. Then see Rule #2. Eliminate Potential Deal Killers Up Front. World-class recruiters are masters at isolating objections and skillfully eliminating them, up front. “Hope” Is Not A Strategy. Hire those you know will perform by following the steps outlined in this report. Don’t hope… know. Delegate Tasks Others Can Perform Better, Faster And Smarter. If you and your staff don’t have the time or skills for recruiting, hire an outside...
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