What Red Flags Could Your Team Be Giving Off in the Interviewing Process?

During the typical interviewing process, most companies focus on identifying red flags and weeding out candidates who are not ideal. While this is a necessary practice, employers should also give consideration to the red flags their team members could be waving, and how this may be deterring future hires. As the executive, managerial and professional labor market has become overwhelmingly candidate-driven in the last few years, more employers are realizing they must overhaul their interviewing procedures, to attract top performers who frequently have several job offers at their disposal.

Click to watch the video.

The main goal of an interview is to provide both the hiring company and the candidate an opportunity to determine if there is a mutual fit. On the candidate’s end, more emphasis is often placed on the tangible insight they can gain from the meeting, including how interviewers respond to certain questions, inconsistencies with how various team members discuss the potential role, and the aspects of the job that are emphasized vs. those that are minimized. On the company’s end, the assumption is the candidate has most of the required skills to take on the open role. The focus from their perspective is more about cultural fit, intangible insight and the overall impression left by the candidate.

In light of the fact that employers must now attract and recruit in a candidate-driven market, they should be thinking about the lasting impression they are leaving with prospective hires. “Companies really need to transition away from interview methodologies that are solely focused around what the candidate is bringing to the table, and think more about how they are presenting themselves to applicants,” says Suzanne Rice, director, U.S. franchise development.

Rice suggests the following for companies that are looking to revamp their interviewing process:

Provide direct responses about the role and the company. Candidates will see through vague or evasive responses. If the position has experienced frequent turnover or ongoing challenges, be honest about the issues and discuss how the role has been restructured. This is an opportunity to show that thought has been given to the position and its overall purpose in the company strategy, rather than just trying to backfill the role.

Demonstrate an enjoyable working environment. Candidates are looking at everything from their potential workspace, dress code and how team members interact with each other to work from home policies, office amenities and perks. Avoid any negative discussion of past or current employees, and don’t be dismissive of subordinates who may be briefly introduced to candidates. Use every opportunity to show a fun workplace, engaged employees and why you like working for the organization.

Maintain consistency. No matter what team members are tasked with interviewing, everyone should be on the same page about the responsibilities that will be assumed in the role. If the candidate receives conflicting information about the position, they have no choice but to assume this confusion will continue if they take the job.

Promote opportunities for advancement. Most candidates look at how a new role will provide them with new growth opportunities. Employers want someone who will remain in the position for a significant length of time, but it’s important not to forget to discuss any training or upward mobility programs, providing viable examples of how employees can advance within the company. Future employees want to feel their new employer is invested in their professional development.

Regardless of how your organization approaches the interviewing process, the main goal should be to leave candidates with a positive impression. “Not every candidate will be right for the company, but their ability to talk about their interview experience in the marketplace and potentially disseminate info that presents the brand in a good light, is invaluable. The ‘interview’ should be approached not only as a way to qualify potential new hires, but also leveraged as a marketing opportunity to communicate why the organization is a great place to work.”

Interviewing Methods in Your Eye Care Practice: Traditional versus Behavioral Interviewing

How do you interview? Do you just let a conversation happen, or do you take the time to dig a little deeper? There are two regularly used interview methods: The Traditional Interview and the Behavioral Interview. I highly recommend incorporating both when you interview candidates for your associate or staff positions, as each method offers valuable insight about a candidate’s professional and personal qualities.

Our friends at CEDR HR Solutions do a great job of defining both of these interview methods:

“In a traditional interview, the interviewer asks prospective hires a series of straightforward, open-ended questions like, 'How would you handle [insert hypothetical situation],' 'What 5 words best describe you,' 'What is your greatest weakness,' or 'Describe what customer service means to you.'
In contrast, for a behavioral interview, the employer identifies a vital skill set that they want the ideal person in that position to have and then develops a series of questions geared toward eliciting answers where the candidate demonstrated those skills in the past.
For example:

• Tell me about a time where you had to use patience to calm down a patient.
  
• Describe a goal you set for yourself and how you met it.
  
• What do you consider your greatest work achievement?
  
• How do you handle interruptions at work? Give examples .”
  

You can read the whole article at http://www.cedrsolutions.com/best-hiring-tool/.

Anyone can describe their skills in a traditional question and answer interview. However, the Behavioral Interview questions will allow you to gain insight into how the candidate applies those skills, which is much more important in your eye care practice.

Here are some other questions that could apply directly to hiring in your eye care practice:

To an associate Optometrist/Ophthalmologist candidate:

• Describe an instance when you worked with a patient to overcome their fears and gain their trust.
  
• How do you accept input from an assistant while in the operatory with a patient?
  
• Tell me about a time when you did not agree with a treatment plan developed by another provider. How did you address this matter and still provide quality care to the patient?
  

To a staff member candidate:

• Describe a time when you had to get a patient payment upfront but they would or could not pay at that time?
  
• How would you handle an employee who is repeatedly missing work or consistently late?
  

Take some time before your next interview and write questions that will help you to determine if the next candidate fits the needs and challenges in your practice.

---

Special thanks to Paul Edwards and his team at CEDR HR Solutions for allowing us to quote from BEHAVIORAL INTERVEW: An Employer’s Best Hiring Tool. CEDR is an HR firm specializing in custom employee handbooks and other HR resources for healthcare practices across the United States.

ETS Vision is a Vision Recruiting firm specializing in finding and placing Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Vision Staff throughout the United States. www.etsvision.com

Online Interviewing Tips for Hiring Managers

Interviewing can be costly and time consuming, especially when considering candidates from out of the area. Luckily, technology advancements have enabled us to reach these individuals with much more ease than we have had in the past thanks to the webcam allowing for online interviews.

We are seeing more clients opting for online interviews due to the following benefits:

• You are able to view the candidate and gauge their professional appearance and body language
  
• Allows you to see the interviewee in their own surroundings
  
• Reduces travel costs associated with bringing candidates in for interviews
  

Considering adding online interviews to your hiring process? The following are some tips to help both the interviewer make the best first impression.

1. Be familiar with the technology you are using —Download the program ahead of time, and do a test run with a friend. Skype is one of the more common software programs being used, but as with any technology, it’ll be much better to work out the technical kinks on the front end before starting the interview.
   
2. Make sure that you and the interviewee are able to connect —Make sure you have one another’s screen name or log in information needed prior to the appointment.
   
3. Make sure you look into the camera —If you are looking at the screen, you are not making direct eye contact with the person to whom you are communicating. This can be just as damaging for a video interview as it would be if you were sitting across a table from someone.
   
4. Be mindful of your background and lighting —Put yourself in an area with little to no background noise, and be mindful of potential interruptions. Also be aware of what the person will see behind you. It is best to avoid stark white walls and busy backgrounds. Test the lighting in the area where you will interview ahead of time to make sure it is flattering.
   
5. Adjust the camera ahead of time —You want the camera to show your head, shoulders, and hands. You need to be able to communicate fully, so this includes being able to transmit and receive nonverbal cues.
   
6. Dress for success —Dress for a video interview the same way you would if you were meeting the person at the office. Dark colors with a touch of color are the safest and look best on camera.
   
7. Have a script —Having notes in front of you can prevent awkward silences and keep the conversation on track.
   

Written by Tiffany Worstell, Account Executive/Vision Recruiter for Vision Staff at ETS Vision (www.etsvision.com). For more information, contact Tiffany directly at 540-491-9112 or tworstell@etsvision.com

Reference Checks: The Questions That Can Make or Break Your Practice

In many ways, the eye care community is isolated from the rest of the business world. While the corporate world is encroaching, most practices are still built around the owner who, generally, has little formal business training and may well remember the days when a handshake was enough.

As recruiters, we often start our relationships with vision practices who have recently gone through a frustrating and often messy termination. Unfortunately, the doctors who leave the biggest messes easily find other employment only to leave a similar wake of destruction in their next office. Why is it so easy for these doctors to ruin one practice after another?

Vision Practices, as a group, routinely fail to protect the practice, staff and patients by performing a simple reference check. The importance of reference checking is well-documented in the larger business world.

Simply checking license history is no longer enough. You have the right to ask for references, and you should not settle for personal references. Ask for contact information of previous employers or faculty, if appropriate. Here are some practical steps to help make a reference check call easy, informative and less time consuming.

Confirm the details

Do not be shy to ask how the reference knows the job seeker. Find out how long they have known each other. If the reference is a former employer, ask for dates of employment. Ask what their function was in that position.

Decide what you want to know before you call

When we perform reference checks on behalf of our clients, we ask the reference to rate the job candidate on productivity, the quality of their work, their oral and written expression, their working relationships, their motivation and initiative, and their punctuality and attendance.

Know what he/she does well

Ask the reference what they would consider to be the job seeker’s greatest strengths in the position. Also, ask what the employer’s expectations were and how well the job seeker fulfilled them. Do they work better independently or under direct supervision?

Know where the job seeker could improve

This is a great way to ask for constructive criticism in a way that will not make the reference feel uncomfortable about giving a bad reference. Be sure to ask if the job seeker was open to critique and if progress was made toward improvement.

Would the reference hire or re-hire the job seeker?

This is straight to the point. If you hear “No,” make sure that you know why.

When you finish the reference check, be sure to thank the reference for the time that they spent with you and the information they provided. They may well have just saved you from a bad decision or enabled you to sleep well with the decision you will make.

ETS Vision is a Vision Recruiting firm specializing in finding and placing Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Vision Staff throughout the United States. www.etsvision.com

Looking at the Job Interview through a New Lens

Most companies conduct job interviews as a series of one-on-one conversations between pre-screened candidates and key decision makers. The goal is to gain more details about the depth of the interviewee's skills, and assess whether they will be a good fit for the role and the company culture. However, when you consider the efficiency of this method in the executive, managerial and professional space, there may be a better approach. If your company operates through more of a collaborative, team approach, that same methodology can be used to ensure you make a good hire.

 
Click to enlarge.

So what is a team interviewing process and what does it look like? "A team interview operates under the premise that top candidates typically excel during one-on-one interviews because they know all the right things to say," observes Nancy Halverson, vice president of global operations for MRINetwork. "They're well prepared and they're great under pressure. Putting them in a group setting turns the tables a bit, presenting a scenario where only individuals who have the ability to work well in a team will excel. Further, a team interview provides the opportunity for the company to conduct routine business exercises, such as brainstorming or planning sessions, where the candidate is asked to contribute to the group's discussion on anything from the development of a strategy, to shaping the required steps for execution of an upcoming initiative."

Unlike panel interviews, team interviews do not focus on rapid-fire questions from multiple stakeholders that can create a stressful situation for candidates. Instead, team interviews let decision makers subtly observe candidates in a seemingly more casual environment.

Halverson offers the following advice for why employers should consider bringing in the team to evaluate candidates:

A team interview helps employers quickly weed out candidates who are not a good fit. Great candidates who don't have the collaborative skills needed to succeed in the organization are eliminated at this stage, thereby expediting the interviewing process. A swift interviewing process is critical in the candidate-driven professional space: it means a faster hiring process for the company, which in turn increases the ability to keep top performers, who have several job opportunities at their disposal, engaged in the process.

This scenario provides more objectivity during the interviewing process. Having multiple team members interact with candidates in a group setting and observe their behavior, is much more effective than just evaluating candidates from the perspective of one interviewer.

The sharing, cooperative aspect of team interviews caters to the work environment that many Millennials seek. This will become increasingly important as Millennials become the majority of the 2020 workforce.

A team interview can help companies avoid wasting time and money on a bad hire. Just because a candidate is talented and skilled, doesn't mean he or she would be right for your organization.

As the executive, managerial and professional labor market becomes increasingly candidate-driven, companies have to look for every way possible to shorten their hiring processes and keep their top picks from accepting other job offers. Team interviews expedite the recruitment process by replacing several individual meetings with key decision makers and condensing them into one group meeting. Halverson concludes, "A team interview is a great way to gain deeper insight about candidates' collaborative and interpersonal skills, while also giving them a glimpse of the company’s culture and approach to work. Job interviews should be a two-way exchange. If played well, this experience could be the thing that makes "A players" want the job opportunity as much as your organization wants them."

6 Tips to Ace a Video Interview

Video interviewing is quickly becoming a favorite medium for employers to connect with potential candidates. Knowing how to conduct or participate in a video interview and have everything go smoothly, however, takes some preparation.

Here are a few tips to help you do your best:

1. Make a Good Connection - Before you can make a good connection with an employer during an interview, you must first ensure that your internet connection is up to par. Conduct the interview somewhere where you will have a steady internet connection with decent speeds. Stuttering video, skipping audio, or worse, a connection that drops out altogether, are all symptoms of slow internet speeds and might cut your chances of acing the interview painfully short.

2. Location, Location, Location – Where you decide to set up your webcam and conduct the interview plays a huge role in the quality of your overall presentation. Try to choose a quiet area with sufficient lighting and make sure what’s behind you isn’t distracting to the interviewer. If you will be conducting the interview from home, make sure any fellow cohabitants are aware of what you’re doing and won’t have to enter the room during the interview. Having a spouse or roommate dash across the background is not only awkward for you and the interviewer, but comes across as unprofessional. Finally, don’t forget to secure all pets and children in another part of the house with supervision to avoid any additional distractions.

3. Test All Tech – Several days before the interview, test your webcam, microphone, and computer to ensure everything is working correctly. Familiarize yourself with volume controls and any settings that might improve the quality of your interview. If you’re purchasing a webcam for the first time, look for one with HD capabilities and a quality built-in microphone. Prices on webcams and microphones have become very reasonable in recent years, so spending a couple extra dollars to avoid grainy video and choppy audio during your interview will certainly pay off and give your presentation a professional flare.

4. Dress Your Best – Although the interviewer will likely only see you from the waist up, dress in full professional attire as if you were meeting them in person. Opting for pajama pants in place of traditional garb may seem like a great idea, but you never know when you may have to stand up or retrieve something from the other side of the room that would reveal your entire outfit.

5. Don’t Interview from Work – It may seem tempting to interview from your office at work, but doing so communicates to your interviewer a lack of respect for your current employer. You also run the risk of a supervisor or fellow employee interrupting the interview, which can not only diminish your chances of landing the job, but cause conflict in your current employment situation.

6. Practice Truly Makes Perfect – Talking into a camera is very different than speaking with someone in person. Practice looking directly at the camera when you speak so that the interviewer can see your eyes. Try to avoid looking down at the screen or around the room when speaking, as doing so could communicate disinterest or disengagement from the task at hand.

As with any interview, prepare yourself ahead of time to answer questions in a concise manner that highlights your accomplishments and addresses how you would be of benefit to the employer. Although a Skype or FaceTime video interview can be very different from a traditional in-person meeting, following the tips outlined above can help make the process go smoothly and allow you to make a great first impression.


ETS Vision is a Vision Recruiting firm specializing in finding and placing Optometrists, Ophthalmologists,, and Vision Staff throughout the United States. www.etsvision.com

Job Opening: Only Superstars Need Apply

When you Google, “How to hire great employees,” one of the first answers offered is to only hire superstars. It's great advice. If everyone in a company is the best in their field, the company will be unstoppable. Unfortunately it is a hiring strategy that most companies use—and it clearly doesn’t always result in superstar-only companies.


Organizations take great pains to find these impact players. They cast a wide net, eliminate people because of the slightest flaw, and put candidates through rigorous tests and interviews. Yet, no matter how logical these methods seem, they often skip over exactly the type of candidates they are meant to find. And these searches always seem to start with a resume.

In addition to helicopters, armored tanks, and scuba gear, Leonardo da Vinci is also recognized to have written the first known resume. In 1482, while trying to get a job with the Duke of Milan, da Vinci submitted a nine point summary of his skills and experience. By the early 1900’s resumes had become common place, though often consisted of little more than a handwritten career summary. In the middle of the century though, they had come into their own as resumes began to resemble what we know today; a single page typewritten summary of a life and career.

In today’s market, a wide net can quickly bring in hundreds if not thousands of resumes from the most active candidates. With that sea to wade through, resume screening quickly becomes perfunctory. Each resume at first pass can really only get seconds of attention and minor—non-superstar related attributes—become reasons to exclude people from consideration.

“The more dismissive you are of candidates, the less likely you are to actually find who you are looking for. As recruiters we obviously look at resumes, but that is just the first step. The evaluation doesn’t even start until we actually have conversations with potentially qualified candidates.”

To make the process simpler, employers and HR departments are frequently turning to technological solutions to parse resumes and automatically cull the herd. These solutions, though, are still constrained by the narrow manicured view provided by resumes. And people who advertise themselves as superstars, rarely are.

“It’s through a very inaccurate picture that most candidates are rejected. With limited information, the screening process isn’t about finding top candidates, but simply focuses on eliminating as many as possible. Impact players get skipped over every day because a critical skill wasn’t highlighted, the wrong word was used, or because of nothing more than unusual formatting.”

Most every attempt to shorten the screening process seems to do little more than handicap it. So how do you find a hay shaped needle in a haystack?

“Talking. Talk to the candidates, use video if possible or meet in person. Turn interviews into business conversations. Bring a candidate into a problem you are trying to solve and ask for their advice. You’ve got to dig for not just how they work, but how they think and approach problems. If you don’t have time to talk to every candidate who matches the basic requirements, look for reinforcements or use a recruiter. The hardest thing of all is to not eliminate candidates for reasons which don’t matter. At the end of a long search, the best candidate is often one that didn’t stand out on paper and if you’d been just a little more selective, you might have never considered them at all.”

ETS Vision is a Vision Recruiting firm specializing in finding and placing Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Vision Staff throughout the United States. www.etsvision.com

Optometrists and Ophthalmologists - Are You Ready for the Interview?

Are You Ready for the Interview?

You want to work for the practice, they've seen your credentials and they've asked you in for an interview. You want the job. Here are some suggestions that will help you make sure your interview goes as well as possible.

Preparing for the interview

Thorough preparation is critical. It is great for your confidence in the interview room and it leaves a very positive impression with the interviewers.

 

1. Get the logistics right. Time, location, interviewer's name and position title.
2. Do your research. Find out as much as possible about the practice: size, scope, location of the office and any satellite locations, etc. The practice website should be a very good source. If the website includes a biographical sketch of the owner, be sure to research the organizations and institutes of which the owner is a member.
3. Do some more research. Make sure you have key data in your head about your existing and most recent employers.
4. Do even more research. Ask former co-workers to tell you about your professional traits. What did they most admire? Try to find some faults as well. This leaves you more prepared for questions such as "what are your greatest faults" or "if I were working with you ...".
5. Prepare questions. The employer will be trying to work out whether you fit the available role. You should also take the opportunity to ensure that the practice is right for you.
6. Practice (see below). Take time to run through some of your answers. Don't over-rehearse, but make sure that you are coming across confidently.
7. Present yourself well. Find out what the office culture is regarding business dress. If in doubt, go more formal, not less formal. Make sure you are well groomed on the day.

What you should practice

When practicing for an interview, you should focus particularly on the way you answer questions.

1. Be descriptive. Don't just answer "yes" or "no" to questions. But also avoid "over-answering." Make your answers colorful but not lengthy.
2. Sell yourself to the interviewer, but without exaggeration or telling lies. You are there to market yourself, "blow your own trumpet" and explain why you'd be right for the role. But don't come across as arrogant.
3. Avoid making negative remarks about your current employer, or past employers or colleagues. This will only reflect on you in the interview.
4. Be determined. Make it clear that you want to get the job, even if you are given information in the interview that sheds a new light on the role. Be positive, and then evaluate the opportunity again when you are away from the interview. Don't burn your bridges.
5. Have positive body language, and maintain a good posture.

Remember: expect unexpected questions. It's fine to pause for thought. It's also acceptable to admit you don't know the answer.

For more interview tips and additional information, visit us online at www.etsvision.com. 

What Does Your Interviewing Process Say About Your Company?

Grabbing the attention of top candidates can be challenging for employers trying to court their first picks in the executive, managerial and professional job market. These applicants are typically interviewing with multiple companies and have additional options at their disposal. Employer branding and a streamlined recruitment process are just a few of the strategies companies are using to make themselves more attractive in this candidate-driven market. While these strategies can help make the recruitment and hiring process more efficient, many employers forget to consider the subtle messages they could be conveying about the company, through the interviewing process itself. This oversight can create a lasting impression that turns candidates off before an offer is ever made.

With a shrinking talent pool and increased competition for top candidates, employers have to not only sell the company well, but also conduct an interviewing process that presents the company and its corporate culture in the best light possible. "When companies approach the interviewing process from the candidate's perspective, they are much more likely to create an experience that is mutually engaging and appealing to the 'A' players in their markets," says Rob Romaine, president of MRINetwork.

The interviewing process should be an opportunity for both parties to evaluate a professional and cultural fit with the company. Yet, consider as an employer that perhaps you are additionally sending out unintended messages about weaknesses in the company culture or work practices.

Have you reflected on the following?

1. Is your process executed in an organized, seamless manner?
2. Are the company representatives experienced at interviewing candidates, or are they just winging it?
3. Are the interviewers polite and sincerely interested in learning more about the candidate's background, or are any of them annoyed that the interview is taking them away from their work?
4. Does the company do its best to follow-up with top applicants and keep them engaged or do several days or weeks go by without any feedback from the interviewer?
5. Is the interviewing process lengthy or is it respectful of candidates' time?

If you answered no to any of these questions, it may be time to re-evaluate what the company's interviewing and recruitment practices say about the organization. "Just as employers are concerned about making a bad hire due to poor cultural fit or lacking skillsets, candidates are equally concerned about working for companies that seem disorganized, unprofessional, unreliable or inconsiderate of their employees' needs," notes Romaine. "Even the slightest glimpse of poor work practices can send top candidates away from your organization and straight to a competitor."

At the end of the day, the interviewing process is as much about candidate discovery as it is about employer branding. It is therefore important for employers to evaluate whether their practices are attracting or detracting key talent from their organizations.

Optometrists - What To Know Before You Accept an Associate Position

Finding a new associate position can be a daunting process for both new and experienced optometrists.  While making a good impression on an interview is important, it is equally important to learn as much as possible about the practice. Here is a compilation of questions from job seekers who I have worked with over the years. I hope that this list will make the decision process less intimidating.

Relationship
-Employee or Independent Contractor?
-Employee at will?
-Is the doctor open to restrictive covenant in case of future ownership?
-Is the doctor open to a transition period, if needed? (After purchase)

 Type of Practice 
-What type of practice is it (full scope, pediatric, etc.)?
-Age of the practice?
-When/what do you refer out?
-How many treatment lanes?
-How many opticians?
-How many technicians?
-How much is the practice overhead?
-How long has each employee been there?
-What does the practice do to market itself?
-How many FT and PT staff?

Patients
-What is the patient pool like?
-Have the number of active patient records been reviewed?
-Is the practice growing or declining in number of patients seen, new patients attracted, and young patients?
-Average number of cancellations per week?
-Average number of patients seen by associate per day?
-How far ahead is the doctor book filled?
-How far ahead is the associate book filled?
-Discounts/Bartering/payment plans?
-PPO type of insurance? Insurances: accept all kinds or just selected ones?
-How much is the discounted price of the PPO compared to the fee schedule?
-Medicare or Medicaid acceptance?
-What percent is FFS, cash and discounted PPO?
-When was the last fee increase?
-Are the fees low, high or average for the immediate area?
-Do you offer patients credit?

Schedule 
-Days, hours, on call, etc.
-How many office hours and days per week is the office open?

Duties
-Job description (separate document) or general description

-Is the doctor responsible for pre-testing?
-What were the most of the cases being done by the associate?

Facilities
-Supplies, equipment, support, etc.?
-Is the practice EMR compliant? If so, what system is being used?
-What is the square footage of the office? Can it be expanded?
-Average age of equipment?
-Do you have a confirmation system for appointments?
-How do you deal with NO Show?

Term of contract
-How long?
-What is the required notice period should either party wish to terminate the relationship?

Compensation
-Is there a guaranteed salary, draw, daily rate or hourly rate?
-Is commission determined from collections or production?
-If collections, what is the collections rate in the practice?
-What percentage of production/collections is used to calculate income?
-Is there a chance to increase compensation in the future?
-Taxes withheld?
-How will the associate be paid? (Weekly/bi-weekly/monthly)
-How much on average was the last associate making?
-What was the average associate production per day?
-Can I get a fee schedule of the practice?

Benefits
-Medical Insurance: health and dental?
-Malpractice insurance?
-Disabilities insurance?
-Required CE courses? How much and for how many hours a year? Are they paid for/reimbursed? Is there a stipend?
-Retirement?
-Sick days…….. # allow per yr…..
-Personal days/vacations…..# per yr allow……
-Holidays?
-What benefits are given to the staff?

Expenses
-Define, list, when paid, etc…..
-Will the practice support the acquisition loan (in case of future ownership), pay the overhead expenses and afford a reasonable income?

Other Questions and Notes
-What is your practice Philosophy and Goals? For the Practice and with new patients?
-Have you had associate before? How many? How long did they stay? What was the reason for the associate resignation?
-How do you advertise?
-Who determines how long I have to spend with new patients/initial exam and record?
-Is there a particular doctor in the area who is your main competitor?
-Who sees the patient first (technician or optometrist)?
-Why was the partnership offer turned down by an associate (if applicable)?
-Will I be able to visit the office during regular working hours?

Partnership/Buy-in/Sale
-Discussion/Formula/Price
-What will be the time frame for an associate position before we can talk about partnership/buy-in/buy-out?
-Is there an option for future ownership? Are you considering a move out of state?

Restrictive Covenant
-Define

Chante Smith is the Western U.S. Account Executive and Recruiter for ETS Vision. She can be reached at csmith@etsvision.com or 540-491-9105. ETS Vision is a Vision Recruiting firm specializing in finding and placing Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Vision Staff throughout the United States. www.etsvision.com

The Inside Scoop from the Recruiters at ETS

We decided to take an internal survey and look at some of the most common things we hear regarding candidates and clients in our searches.  Whether we were looking at positions for Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, or support staff, we all seem to be hearing or saying the same things:

1. What message do we repeat to clients the most? The number one answer was the importance of feedback. Whether emphasizing how feedback will streamline the process of finding their next great associate or stressing how it keeps the interview process moving to reduce the risk of losing a great candidate, timely feedback is crucial to us being able to do the best job for you.
2. What message do we repeat to candidates the most? When asked about the other side of the process, there were three common responses. First, how can we make you, the candidate, stand out from the other candidates I am presenting to my client? Second, the need for realistic expectations, whether with regard to salary or comparing different opportunities, arises often as well. Last but not least, we constantly have to encourage candidates to look outside of major metro areas for work. Chances are, if you’re looking for a job in a major metro area, that area is already saturated, and you’re better off trying to check out an area at least an hour outside of that metro.
3. What is the number one response from our clients as to why a candidate does not get an interview? Lack of experience seems to be quite common. It seems like people of all walks of life run into the cycle of “how to get the job to get the experience if you can’t find a job to get the experience.” Find other ways to set yourself apart. Additionally, we get feedback from clients that a candidate didn’t show any interest in what the practice wanted, or they were selfish. In other cases, clients may not give an interview based on an assumption made by looking at a resume.
4. What is the number one complaint we hear from clients today? Candidates are too worried about themselves, and they are not motivated to work hard to be successful. Clients give us all sorts of insights as to what they feel is lacking in a candidate pool they are interviewing. We hear a lot about how new graduates, especially, want things their way and don’t want to work hard to add value to the practice. This feedback shows up in everything from unrealistic salary expectations, unwillingness to work evenings or weekends, and even in the commitment they show the client with responsiveness. Most of our clients want a long-term addition to their office who understands the work that went into building a successful practice and wants to add value.
5. What is the one way candidates who are great set themselves apart from candidates who are just “okay?” Attitude, people skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, professionalism…call it whatever you want, it’s PERSONALITY. As one of our recruiters put it best, “Skills can be taught. Personality cannot be taught.” Make sure that anytime you’re getting ready to start your next job search that you remember to put your best attitude in front of the potential employer.

Posted by Chante Smith

 

Chante Smith is the Western U.S. Account Executive and Recruiter for ETS Vision. She can be reached at csmith@etsvision.com or 540-491-9105. ETS Vision is a Vision Recruiting firm specializing in finding and placing Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, and Vision Staff throughout the United States. www.etsvision.com