7 Tips For Finding Superstar Staff

If you’re having trouble finding and retaining good employees, these four tips can improve your ability to attract superstars, and minimize expensive turnover.

If you do advertise in the paper, make sure your ad is descriptive, energetic, and provides the salary. Don't skimp on the ad just to save a few bucks.

1. Get Beyond the Classifieds. Network, network, network. Call your colleagues and friends. Launch an active word-of-mouth campaign to find top notch candidates. Send an upbeat memo about the position for which you’re hiring to 25 friends and colleagues. Some will refer a candidate they know, others will pass your memo on to someone else, or post it on their communication board at work.

2. Think Out of the Box. Not all positions in your practice require someone with experience in a doctor’s office.
   
   Many people with customer service backgrounds could be the perfect fit for a receptionist, appointment scheduler, or cashier. Where do you find these people? Front desk staff at good hotels, high-end food service or retail operations, or an upscale hair salon are all good bets.

3. Recruit Continuously. Look for great employees while you are out to dinner, at the bank, at the hospital, or at a local hotel. If you find someone you think you'd like to have work for you, give them your card and ask them to give you a call if they are ever interested in making a move. This has been particularly successful with practices who get the physicians involved in this prospecting process.

4. Ask Candidates to DO SOMETHING. Asking candidates to take a short “technical assessment” weeds out people, for example, with so-called “billing experience” who are clueless about ICD-9-CM, managed care, or Medicare rules. For customer service positions, initiate discussion about good and bad service stories. Or, ask managers and supervisors to analyze an A/R report or several EOBs, and provide three action steps for improvement.

5. Conduct Peer Interviews. Ask final candidates to meet privately with existing staff. Ask the staff to prepare questions. This peer-to-peer interview allows the candidates to ask pointed questions, and existing staff to be honest without the embarrassment of being in front of the manager.

6. Always hold a second interview. Sometimes practices skip this step for front line staffers. Don't. Candidates often present themselves differently in the second interview. Be sure you schedule the second meeting before making a final decision.

7. Check References and Educational Credentials. DO NOT skip this critical step, no matter how terrific the candidate seems. Too many practices are burned by folks who lie on their resume or who were poor performers in their last position. Ask candidates to provide the names of both physicians and managers for whom they’ve worked. And don’t forget to call universities and trade schools to verify degrees.

Good Ideas!

Download KZA's Billing Knowledge Assessment Quiz and use it in your hiring process.

Use KZA's pre-employment tools before you hire.

Proception Style Analysis

Select for Healthcare

Have special cards made that include 3 reasons why someone should work for your practice. Hand them out when you spot someone you'd like to hire.