The Private Practice eZine Spring 2013 Page 44

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to judge handwriting and spelling skills.

· Look for clues during the interview:

During the interview, watch for signs
that the candidate will mesh with your
practice philosophy and culture.

· Consider testing: To give you an idea

of how the applicant will perform
on the job, develop some basic skills
tests or use commercially available,
standardised tests for English,
spelling, math and keyboarding.

· Check references: When calling for

references, provide the applicant's name
and dates of employment shown on the
application, and mention the position for
which she has applied. Ask open-ended
questions and encourage the person to
keep talking. Suggested questions are: Was
the candidate reliable? What were his/her
strongest and weakest points? Why did
he/she leave? Would you rehire him/her?

HIRING & TRAINING

When you find the perfect candidate, hire
them. Be sure your salary and benefits are
in line with those in your area. A qualified
candidate may have several job offers and
you don't want to lose that individual for
the sake of a few dollars. Hire qualified
people and give competitive compensation.
Many doctors take pride in paying the
absolute minimum to their receptionist, and
this explains why staff turnover can be so
high. Turnover generates hiring costs and
undercutsefficiency,sinceittakestimefor
employees to get to know your patients, your
idiosyncrasies and the system of patient flow.

Consider offering more than the average

salary for your area. If that's what it takes to
have a first-class person representing you

at the front desk, it's well worth it.

All newly hired employees should be

given a probation period during which
time you can assess their on-the-job skills.
As your interviewing skills are honed, this
periodshouldjustbeanaffirmationthatyou
selected the right person to fill the job.

Once the probation period is over, it's a

good idea to sign a formal employee contract.
This gives your employee the job security
they need and also helps to give you peace of
mind that they are likely to stay with you for
at least the period of the contract.

Just hiring a new person is not enough.

To make the most of that person, you need
to train them so they fit in well within your
office.Unfortunately,manydoctorssimply
employ a new person and then expect them
to learn on the job, often by trial and error.
This is less than optimal and can lead to
poor performance, poor patient care, low job
satisfaction and high employee turnover.

A simple way of implementing a formal

training process is to have a checklist of
the duties a new employee is supposed to
master, and then to provide training in
each. When new employees know what is
expected of them, they can take a more
active role in their training and feel they are
truly succeeding. In turn, this can boost job
satisfaction for all employees in the practice,
increaseefficiency,improvepatientcare,
reduce the rate of employee turnover and
decrease long-term practice expenses.

STEPS TO SUCCESS

A four-step training approach is
recommended when you are breaking in a
new employee:
1. Demonstrate the skill as you want

it performed. As you demonstrate,
point out the important aspects so your

STAFF