Interviewing candidates to join your practice team is an important process as it is essential to find the ideal person who is the perfect fit for you and your business. After all, having a team in place who understands what your business is trying to accomplish and works together to meet common goals is the quickest path to business success.
This may sound quite straightforward, but without ensuring that you have a robust process in place ahead of your interviews, you are in danger of rushing your recruitment selection and you may end up focusing on solving your short-term vacancy concerns, rather than fulfilling your long-term business needs.
So, to ensure that you delve into candidate’s skills, experience and knowledge prior to a sit down interview, I thought I would share some advice that may just help you to adopt an effective recruitment process in your dental practice.
1. Your own business application form
Initially you will receive generic CVs. Whilst this stage is still important as prospects need to stand out, be compelling and be a good match for the position on offer, what it doesn’t provide is a detailed insight into their character and whether they’d be a good fit for your practice vision. So, I’d encourage you to make a shortlist from the CVs you’ve received and once you have this, introduce another step where they’re required to fill out your own practice application form; an application form that you have constructed and one that will allow you to really explore them in more detail in relation to your business needs. Only those candidates who are fitting your business needs should then be offered an interview.
2. Explore their past experience
Another bonus of asking them to complete your own practice application form is that it will give you a strong basis for rejecting any candidates ahead of an interview, especially if you discover that they have been untruthful. Do your homework and explore their previous employment, I would recommend that you look further back than their last position. If it’s looking likely that they’ll make the final cut, making it to the face-to-face interview stage, then you will be more informed to initiate a good discussion around their past employment and their career aspirations.
3. Review qualification and CPD logs
Prior to an interview, review the candidate’s certificate of qualifications and check their CPD logs. This allows you to understand what training candidates have had since they qualified and also highlights whether they’re actively attending relevant courses to brush up on their skills. By reviewing these details before an interview, you can ask the candidate questions about any gaps you’ve found in this experience or knowledge.
4. The informal practice walk around
This is the perfect chance for you to give your candidate chance to respond to your practice, its environment and your offering to your patients. You want the applicant to be enthused to be there and expressing encouragement about what you do as a business. Allowing this stage to be informal will encourage them to be themselves and bring the best out of them versus delving straight into probing questions. Give them chance to soak up the atmosphere and respond in a way that will give you a real insight into who they are.
Remember, your aim when filling a vacancy is to find the ideal person who will fit with your practice and business plans. Having a team in place who are all working together to meet common goals is the best way to ensure your dental practice is sustainable and successful for the long-term.
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