Hiring—Avoid Relying on Your Gut

Start the hiring process by being prepared.

• Write down exactly what you are looking for, so you can guide the recruiter, whether in-house, outside, or your own business manager.
• Develop a matrix for clinical, people, and tech (if appropriate) skills with a 1 to 10 scoring system.

Develop a list of situational questions you'll ask in your interview. There is another article isn the Career Resource Center, "Behavioral Interviewing for Employers: Hiring for a Pediatric Position," to guide you in this form of interviewing. These questions are open-ended and cannot be answered with a "yes" or "no." These types of questions will give you an idea how the candidate has handled a variety of real-life situations.

The purpose of your interview is to get an idea of how the candidate would fit within your practice, company, or institution's culture. Failure of an employee is most likely when they don't fit in the culture.

These situational questions help you learn about working style, interaction with patients, and fundamental personality. See if you can sense what motivates the candidate. If compensation comes up too soon, the person will likely not be a good fit. But, if the interview ends talking about a non-work topic, that will indicate whether the candidate has more dimensions than just work.

But don't get too friendly right away. Step back and suppress any chemistry you feel. To avoid this, you may want to interview along with a colleague. You both have different styles and will come away with different impressions of strong and weak points.

The key criteria for a candidate who is a finalist is organizational fit. A person who has been with one employer for many years may have difficulty transitioning—unless your cultures are similar. On the other hand, favoring a candidate who fits your current culture well may cause you to miss a chance to get a new perspective and add balance to your company. The paramount thing is that the candidate should fit well with your company, not just you personally.

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Disclaimer

These resources have not been investigated by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The AAP takes no responsibility for these resources.