At some point, your eyecare practice is going to experience staff turnover and you're going to hunt for a new hire in your practice. Searching for new employees might not be common practice for you if you've had staff that have stuck around for years. To help get you prepared for hiring your next practice superstar we've compiled a list of some of our favorite interview questions to ask in this optical resources blog.

Some practices may choose to hire for skill over personality or vice versa. There isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer in every scenario, but it's important to make sure that each candidate can solve problems, think on their feet, and will fit in with the current culture and team you have established in your practice.

Questions You Should Ask in Your Next Interview

1. What do you know about our practice?

It's important to know that the candidate put in a little bit of time doing some research on your practice before the interview. You should look for a candidate who has put thought and time into the jobs that they are seeking out.

2. Why are you leaving your current role?

Understanding what motivated someone to leave their current job will help you know what will keep them happy in your practice. Plus, it's reassuring to know that they aren't leaving their current role over a red flag.

3. What do you like least about your current or last job?

This question will help you determine how good of a fit this candidate might be in the role available at your practice. If what they liked least about their last job is a big part of the new role, they probably wouldn't stay with your practice long.

4. What is something that a former manager would like you to improve upon?

Honesty is important here. It's also important for candidates to be aware of how they can improve.

5. When were you most satisfied with your job?

It's important to know what makes someone happy in their job and what motivates them. Job satisfaction is an important step towards providing good customer service and patient care.

6. What can you do for us that other candidates can't?

This one is pretty obvious, I mean, you are looking for the best candidate for the job. So make sure that the person can prove to you how they'd make an impact.

7. How do you manage your time and prioritize tasks?

When your eyecare practice has a full schedule, there is a lot that needs to get done in one day. Make sure this person has good time management skills and creative project management abilities.

8. Do you have a hard time saying no?

This question can show a little bit of a candidate's personality, as well as how they deal with difficult patients, or taking on too many responsibilities in the practice.

9. How do you play off your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses?

As we said before, it's important for someone to be aware of their weaknesses. Nobody is perfect and if you're looking for perfection you'll be looking for a long time.

10. How do you handle stressful situations?

Patients aren't always easy to work with and everyone in your office is going to be faced with stressful situations.

11. What's the greatest lesson that you've learned from a failure?

Everybody makes mistakes, but being able to learn from these mistakes is the most important part. 

12. How do you resolve conflict?

Conflict occurs in any workplace. There is going to be conflict with patients and co-workers, but being able to handle it in a professional manner will make conflict resolution easier.

13. Tell me about a suggestion that you've made that was successfully implemented.

You want your employees to have a voice in your practice. Some of the best marketing and sales ideas will probably come from your staff!

14. What is something that frustrates you in a work environment?

This is another question that will help determine how the candidate will work with and get along with the current staff and processes already in place in your practice.

Bonus Questions: Making Sure They are the Right Fit

How a new hire is going to fit into your current practice is so important. These questions are meant to help relax that candidate in the interview process and give you deeper insight into their personality and how they might get along with everyone in the office.

• What's your favorite song from the 90's?
• If you weren't in this industry, what would you be doing?
• What's your favorite thing to do on the weekend?
• What's the last movie you saw or book you read?
• Pick two celebrities to be your parents.

For more hiring advice and staff management tools, please download a free copy of our ebook "Expert Staff Management in Eyecare".

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on September 29, 2015. It has been updated for relevance and richness of content on April 11, 2019.