Hirer Beware! Do’s and Don’ts for Hiring in the Medical Field

When I first started doing office management, I had a lot of problems finding good employees. It seemed like the people I was hiring could do the work, but had the wrong attitude.





According to a new article in the Medical Group Management Association's newsletter, I was using the wrong criteria: "You should hire for attitude and train for skills. Skills don’t mitigate a bad attitude or disruptive personality."





This is completely true. I remember hiring a young woman who could juggle phones and patients effortlessly, but could not stop complaining about her salary. She felt the older employees did less and made more, and she wound up trying to get her peer coworkers to band together and stage a mutiny.





When that failed, she threatened to quit on the spot if I didn't give her an increase. Believe it or not, I was a little sorry to see her go.





The article explains what I learned the hard way, and that's to establish a criteria for any available position. Create a prioritized list and even have those involved in the interviewing process score each candidate, to insure objectivity.





Best of all, were five questions they deemed crucial to the process:





”1. Tell me about the first job you ever had. Because the first job they ever had could have been years ago and unrelated to the one for which they’re applying, applicants don’t expect this question. The answer may reveal their values and ethics.