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Effective Employee Selection
Dr. “X” is the envy of all his colleagues. Somehow he always gets the cream of the crop of new employees. They learn their job responsibilities quickly, do them without close supervision, and seem to enjoy working in his office. So what’s Dr. X’s secret? He takes the time in making his employee selections. He interviews all candidates and studies them carefully. If a person is going to work for Dr. X, he wants that person to pass three tests:
1. The candidate must be able to do the job, or at least be able to learn it quickly.
2. The potential employee must be motivated. Dr. X is not interested in someone who is only going to do a good job when he is watching.
3. He or she needs to fit in. The person needs to be happy doing his or her job day in and day out, and needs to fit into the work group.
If Dr. X cannot find a candidate who can pass all three of these tests, he keeps looking. That’s the big secret in three simple steps.
Why is being selective so effective? It is the basis for everything else you do with that employee. A new employee who does not possess the right skills will consume a great deal of time and energy from the working team. If a new employee, no matter how skilled and motivated, doesn’t fit in with the work group or the position, he or she will become unhappy with their job sooner or later.
Gathering of Information
The easiest way to avoid making a poor selection is to gather as much information as you can on the potential employee. Look at resumes, interview candidates, call on his or her references, and concentrate on finding good information by speaking to previous employers if you know and trust them.
You may also speak to current or past workers who know the candidates, particularly if they were good workers.
Keep a keen eye of appraisal ratings, written references and recommendations of current employers. You don’t know who will try to “sell” a worker they want out of their employ.
Beware of Your Hot and Cold Buttons
We all have hot and cold buttons. We may have accepted the idea that a person who has one characteristic must have certain other ones. Many of us fall into the trap of making poor selections when hiring -- we don’t look carefully enough at the candidates and select them because they seem right for the job.
In the end, the people you thought looked right may push your buttons. Perhaps you hired them because of their physical appearance, but they turned out to be less than desirable employees. Some examples of this include:
- If the candidate has tattoos and body piercing, he or she is not responsible enough to fulfill the position.
- If your employee looks you in the eye, he or she cannot be lying.
- If they have young children, they’ll be unreliable and routinely late.
Sometimes these things are true but many times they are not. It is when you always believe them to be true that you set yourself up for manipulation.
Interviews
It is necessary to interview, but do not place too much faith on it. Candidates do not present honest pictures of themselves in interviews. To gain the most from an interview, you may need to dig deeper and look for certain characteristics in your candidates. Use the interview to:
- Obtain information you can’t easily get otherwise.
- Observe behavior similar to that which the job requires.
- Discover how the candidate handled certain situations in the past.
Goals for Interviewing
- Always be prepared. Know exactly what you want from the interview and how you are going to go about it.
- Give the interview your undivided attention. Build a good rapport with the candidate and avoid interruptions.
- Put the person at ease first. Avoid jumping right into the interview. Warm up the candidate with unrelated conversation.
- Listen at least 80 percent of the time. If you’re speaking the whole time without stopping to ask questions, you will be unable to learn anything from the candidate.
- Ask open-ended questions. This technique extracts information from the other person. For example, you can ask questions such as:
- What do you like best about your current job?
- What do you like least about your current job?
- What are you looking for in an employer?
- Tell me about your skills.
Become an Excellent Employer
The final key to good selecting is having a reputation that makes people want to work for you. The key is to develop successful workers. As a result, you will get valuable employees applying to your practice if you need to fill a position.
Word gets around in the dental community when a doctor becomes known as someone who is fair to his or her employees, takes the time to develop their skills, and helps them advance. Good employees want to be a part of that team. That makes effective selective practices even more effective, resulting in better selections, which results in better workers who attract other good workers. In other words, nothing succeeds like success.
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