When you enter the hiring arena, it may feel like you’ve just swung open the doors into a saloon in the wild, wild west where everyone is armed, suspicious and ready for a showdown.
You’ll be challenged with:
- Resumes riddled with spelling errors.
- Candidates who schedule interviews only to ghost you.
- Candidates who want extreme salaries plus sign-on bonuses just to consider you.
- Requests for such flexible workdays and hours that the candidate would barely work.
- Candidates who impress at the interview but who morph into entirely different people once hired.
It’s understandable if you get so defeated, you hire any sentient being with two hands. But hiring the wrong person can create significantly more problems than being short-staffed. This is the 1st of a two-part article providing practical suggestions to ensure you hire the right person.
Phone Screening Interview
The interview process begins with a phone screening which has two objectives:
- Determine if the applicant is a good fit for your practice.
- Sell the candidate on the opportunity to work with you.
So that you can see how the candidate presents her/himself (vice a versa) consider making this a video interview. Most importantly, recognize that in today’s job market, candidates approach interviews with one question: “What can you do for me?” Therefore, if you like the candidate, it’s crucial that you spend time highlighting the advantages of your practice, focusing specifically about how your practice will be a step up from their current situation. You want the candidate to feel so excited about the potential to work with you, they wouldn’t think of ghosting you on future interviews.
Example screening interview questions.
- Our practice is in ______, and your resume shows you’re in _____. Will that commute work for you?
- Our hours are Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. How does that fit with what you’re looking for?
- Why are you looking for a new opportunity?
- What are you looking for in a new practice/job?
- What pay rate are you seeking?
After the screening interview, send a quick text with the next interview’s date, time, address, along with a contact number for any questions or conflicts. Highlight your excitement to meet them in person. If you have questionnaires, tests, or applications, have them complete these during or after the formal interview. This helps keep candidates engaged with your office and more likely to follow through with your tasks instead of moving on to the next opportunity.
Behavior-Based Questions
The goal of the in-person interview is to gain insight about the applicant’s experience, expectations and personality. The best way to do this is to ask behavior-based questions. These questions require the candidate to describe their past actions in order to predict how they will likely perform in your practice. They’re harder to answer than the traditional “What are your strengths and weakness?” questions because they reveal more about the candidate’s true values, preferences, attitudes and problem-solving skills.
Notice how these behavioral based questions target the candidate’s knowledge and skills as well as their level of enthusiasm.
- Dental Assistants: What’s your favorite dental procedure to assist with and what steps do you take to complete it?
- Front Office: What’s your favorite type of appointment to see on the schedule and why?
- Hygienists: What treatment or conversation do you enjoy most when working with new patients?
Evaluating Candidates’ Responses
Some candidates have mastered interviewing but are less successful once on the job. That’s why your evaluation of candidate’s responses should be strongly tilted towards discerning if the candidate has the interest, capacity and skill to grow and if they will be a collaborative team member. Ultimately, you want to determine if the candidate demonstrates these qualities:
- Coachable: Can they adjust their performance when given feedback?
- Conscientious: Are they detail-oriented and dedicated to fulfilling their responsibilities?
- Growth mindset: Do they enjoy learning and implementing new techniques?
- Enthusiasm: Does their verbal and non-verbal communication indicate they genuinely like this work?
- Self-aware: Are they capable of accurately evaluating themselves, and can they manage their own and others’ emotions appropriately?
We’ve created a list of more than 60 behavior-based questions which we’re happy to send to any reader. To avoid inadvertent bias, we strongly suggest you ask the same questions of every candidate.
Involving your team
Involving your team in the hiring process allows them to have a say in choosing their next colleague and increases their investment in helping that person succeed. Additionally, the team can pick up on strengths or red flags you may miss. But team members can also inadvertently sabotage the hiring process by:
- Judging candidates on superficial qualities like hair style or unconsciously favoring applicants who are similar to themselves, leading to a lack of diversity among the team.
- Asking illegal or inappropriate questions, like if a candidate has kids.
- Creating a negative impression of the practice and thus dissuade applicants from wanting to join.
If the team is involved in hiring, they must understand that their objective is to evaluate whether a candidate has the technical and communication skills that are required for the role. Here are suggestions to prepare them:
- Identify the “must-have” or non-negotiable knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA’s) the next hire must demonstrate to get this job.
2. Create a list of behavior-based questions to determine if the candidate has these KSAs. While employees can ask follow-up questions, discourage them from asking questions not on their list. This will prevent them asking repetitive, illegal or biased questions.
3. Advise employees to take notes during interviews, ideally capturing the candidate’s actual responses.
4. Be explicit about who makes the final hiring decision. If you alone will make the decision after hearing their input, tell them this from the start so they can manage their expectations.
5. Finally, choose only your most positive, emotionally intelligent employees to interview candidates. You may have to be brutally honest with some employees about why they aren’t going to directly interview candidates.
A successful hire can transform your practice, while a poor hire can lead to costly challenges—so the investment in a robust interview process is worth it. By leveraging behavior-based questions, evaluating the candidate’s emotional intelligence, and involving your team in a structured and unbiased manner, you increase your chances of finding a true crown jewel for your dental team.
