Hiring 101
Eyecare professionals continue to pinpoint staff hiring as a critical pain point. At a wider glance, a Harvard Business Review study found that “45% of bad hires are attributable to a lack of [hiring] processes.”
Here, we reveal a variety of strategies for attracting employees, as shared by three of your peers, coming from totally different vantage points and business formats:
What about listing the job?
1. “We’ve had better success using social media and job boards at local community colleges than we have using online employment websites,” says Dr. Quint.
2. “I get suggestions mostly from my staff and also at state meetings,” says Bruening. “Even if I’m not hiring, I will try to have coffee and meet with them.”
3. As for Dr. Hammond: “We use indeed.com almost exclusively. Asking them to fill out a questionnaire will help us narrow it down.”
• Jessilin Quint, O.D., MS, MBA, FAAO, co-owner of Smart Eye Care with three locations in Maine
• John Bruening, president of the Opticians Association of Ohio and owner of Geauga Vision Group, with 11 Ohio locations, a lab, and three warehouses
• Eric Hammond, O.D., a second-generation optometrist who’s been in practice for seven years and is a partner in Lakeline Vision Source outside Austin, TX
Points + Perspectives
From the initial contact to the final contract, each of these ECPs follows a specific sequence of steps.
Here we present the steps each of them takes. The point? To give you a fresh perspective as well as food for thought on handling hiring in your own practice.
Though their strategies differ, all agree with Dr. Quint when it comes to timing. “Be slow to hire,” she says. “There is often pressure to hire quickly to fill a vacancy, but holding out for the right candidate saves a great deal of time and money in the long run.”
Top Three Touch Points from Dr. Jessilin Quint
→ SCREENING. “Our interview process starts with a screening phone call where we make sure everyone is on the same page with the job description, time commitment, expectations, and personality alignment.”
→ KEY CATEGORIES. If the candidate succeeds at the screening process, Dr. Quint’s practices then opt to bring them in for an interview. “Here, we ask a lot of questions focused on categories that include being emotionally intelligent, self-motivated, and humble,” she says.
→ SHADOWING. “If we’re interested, we bring [the candidate] back to ‘shadow’ the role they are inquiring about. They also interview in person with more of our leadership team—doctors, office managers, etcetera.”
After the third touch point is complete, Dr. Quint’s team shares that they usually have a good idea if the candidate will be a proper fit for the role.
“Listen, Don’t Talk,” Advises John Bruening
→ CAREER DAYS. “I love being in Ohio because we are a licensed state and have an apprentice program,” shares Bruening. “I go to school career days, explain that college is not for everybody, and go from there.”
→ MANNERS MATTER. Bruening finds value in taking managerial prospects out for lunch. “It shows their manners, plus how they interact, and, just as important, how they treat people waiting on them.”
→ LISTEN IN. How does your practice view the interview process? For Bruening and Geauga Vision Group, it’s essentially “selling.” “I talk very little about the job and more about the culture, the hours, etcetera. Be patient. They’ll tell you everything you need to know if you wait long enough.”
→ SPOTLIGHT SOCIAL. “Facebook is a great vehicle for hiring. I show pictures of our people having fun, wearing ‘optician’ T-shirts and laughing, instead of photos of the store. On indeed.com, I include everything about the position, including pay.”
→ FULL TRANSPARENCY. Bruening always kicks off the hiring process with a phone interview. “I tell them to start by calling up some of our offices and explain to whoever answers that they’re thinking about applying here,” he says. “I encourage them to ask about everything—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our employees will be honest.”
Pinpointing Personality with Dr. Eric Hammond
→ KEY QUESTIONS. Though Dr. Hammond’s practice uses indeed.com to hire, he emphasizes the importance of also having a “filter” questionnaire for interested candidates. “We feel this is especially important because we bring on people with no experience so that we can hire great personalities.”
→ FILTERING. “Within three days of a job posting on indeed.com in Austin, I got over 70 applicants,” Dr. Hammond shares. “I accept most resumes and ask them to fill out the questionnaire and complete some tests before moving forward with a one-on-one Zoom interview.” Dr. Hammond uses tests from HireSelect and Culture Index, which “usually gets the number of applicants down to single digits and lets us know who is serious.”
→ TIMELY TESTING. When Dr. Hammond’s practice is hiring, he shares that he’ll typically check indeed.com four or five times a day and do a Zoom interview with the applicant as soon as possible after they’ve completed the hiring tests outlined above. “This strategy usually allows us to hire within two weeks,” he says.
In November/December EB, the Staff Hiring, Training, and Retention column checks in with these ECPs to explore what not to do when hiring.
If you think hiring smart isn’t critical, late Apple founder Steve Jobs would have disagreed. “The secret of my success,” said Jobs, “is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people.”
