A successful medical office hiring strategy is crucial to maintinging continuity. In a busy medical office, an open staff position can create many problems for your practice. Schedules that are already full and often hectic are even more so when tasks get reassigned to other positions or do not get completed at all. What can be even more devasting to the success of your practice is a position filled by someone who is undertrained or less than dedicated to customer service and your practice mission.
Resist the impulse to fill a position as soon as possible. Data varies widely. However, it is generally agreed upon that it costs more to fill a position than the costs associated with the annual salary.
These soft costs include:
- Lost productivity and increased overtime while the position
is vacant - Time associated with interviewing candidates
-
Even more lost productivity and increased overtime while the new hire is in training
The biggest soft cost, however, is making a hiring mistake. Hiring carefully is worth the investment. Resist the urge to fill the position quickly. Investing time and attention in the medical office hiring process and onboarding can reduce costs and boost staff retention.
Here are five steps to reduce medical office hiring costs:
(1) Clearly Define Requirements
Experience and credentials are important, but they are the obvious part of describing requirements. The more difficult requirements are not obvious on a resume or CV. They include things like:
- Personality – Are you looking for someone who has high energy? Is empathetic? Is cheerful and / or independent?
- Work ethic – Do you want someone who is detail oriented; a team player; self-starter or leader?
- Appearance and Manner – How should the individual act? Do they need to speak clearly; look people in the eye; be poised in stressful situations?
(2) Describe Your Ideal Candidate
Talk with your existing staff to determine who the job would be most appealing to. What are the attributes of people who were successful in the position and who have not worked out well. Describe how you would like your ideal candidate to respond in hypothetical situations.
(3) Be Flexible
You may discover that the highly professional, experienced person you would like to hire has no interest in the job duties and finds the compensation inadequate. A solution requires adjustments to your requirements, the job or both.
Think outside of monetary compensation. More flexible hours, job sharing, the opportunity to learn, educational benefits, a pleasant workplace and discounts on care and services are all examples of perks that have real value to candidates without necessarily increasing costs.
(4) Verify Selected Resume Information
If something on a resume or application is important to you, independently verify the assertions. Otherwise, ignore the contents of these documents that do not matter to you.
(5) Give New Hires an Easy Out
It is not unusual for a new hire to find that they made a mistake. The sooner the new hire can admit it and move on, the less you have invested in integrating the individual into your team. And your second choice may still be available and willing.
Get Medical Office Hiring and Training Help in New Jersey and Central PA
Hiring is a necessary evil. Investing time and attention in the process so that your hiring choices are successful will help reduce operational costs, improve team and customer satisfaction and lead to an improved bottom line.
At Comprehensive Physician Consultants, we understand the critical role staffing plays in delivering exceptional medical care for physician practices in New Jersey and Central PA. We have extensive expertise in every facet of healthcare recruiting plus we offer specialized support in human resource onboarding, policy and procedure development, staff training and team building. Contact us online HERE or call us at 856-888-7796 to schedule a consultation.
