When your practice is short-handed, it can be a really stressful time. Working late hours and longer patient wait times can really start to affect your work-life balance and revenue dollars. And, on top of being even more busy in the office, you now have to worry about finding the time to write a job description, advertise the job posting, interview, hire, and train a new employee. To get your hiring goals started off right in 2017, we've got some tips to help make the process easier on you and your team.
How to Hire in Your Optometric Practice in 2017
Define What You're Looking For 
Sometimes, when your practice is drowning or in a crunch, you might think you just need to get someone new into the office to help out, right away. But this probably isn't the ideal way to go about hiring for what you really need in your office. Make sure to take the time to sit back and analyze where you need the most help and what the specific role is that you're looking for. This is going to help you get the most qualified candidates in the door and will set up the right expectations once you find the right candidate.
Bonus Read: What to Look for When Hiring for Every Position in Your Practice
Look In The Right Places
Once you've settled on the role that you need to hire for, where do you start the search for qualified candidates? The Internet can be a crowded place, so finding the right places to post your job description can be challenging. Here are a few ideas that can produce the best results:
- In Your Office: Use your own network! Post a small advertisement in your practice about any hiring opportunities. This will help you get some local people aware of the opportunity. Your own network and word of mouth can be one of your best resources.
- Online Job Boards: Places like Indeed, Monster, or Craigslist are the most crowded online job board spaces, but they also tend to have the most traffic.
- ZipRecruiter: ZipRecruiter is a website that allows you to post on all of the most popular job boards like the ones listed above, but all from one location to help you better manage your applicants without having to bounce from site to site.
- Optometry Specific Job Boards: There are a couple of different optometry specific job boards you can try, including LocalEyeSite and Covalent Careers.
Hire for Office Fit
You want your staff to enjoy the time they spend working in your practice. The happier they are in their job, the more your patients will notice the positive environment in your practice. Hiring a candidate that shares similar passions and values is good for your business, the professional growth of your team, productivity levels, and morale. In general, most skills can be taught, but the right personality fit cannot.
Don't Under Pay
Budgets are tight for most small business owners. But, a great staff can be one of your biggest assets and revenue generators. Underpaying your staff might look appealing on your books, but it could end up costing you more turnover and lower quality of workers. Being able to pay your employees a fair wage and outline a career growth plan for them is a great way to keep them happy and satisfied in their jobs. These are the types of things that will keep them sticking around with your office for years to come.
Save Money by Taking Your Time
One of the biggest mistakes a small business can make when it comes to hiring is getting nervous or desperate to fill a role and settling for an "okay" candidate. This could result in quicker turnover in the long run, a longer learning curve or training time, or a decrease in teamwork if the candidate doesn't mesh well with others. Taking your time to find the right hire is one of the best ways to save yourself time and money down the road.
Other hiring and management tips are in our Staff Management Ebook below.
