Eyeworld

OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS 80 November 2015 by John B. Pinto An interviewing scorecard for candidate providers 5. ____ Complimentary subspe- cialty interests: As a practical matter it makes loads of sense that the next doctor brought aboard provides services that are either absent now or needed in greater abundance. 6. ____ Intellectual compatibility: If you are a "brainiac" and your prospective colleague thinks hockey is a "mental game," you're going to have problems. 7. ____ Political compatibility: This alone may be the end of an otherwise great candidate. 8. ____ A compatible philosophy regarding professional devel- opment: Some ophthalmolo- gists stop developing profes- sionally in the last year of their residency. Others are life-long learners and autodidacts. These two personalities can be oil and water; partnerships between them are best avoided. "I like hiring people based on a feel- ing—this person gets it—rather than what they've done in the past." Spike Jonze "The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world." Steve Jobs I n my last column in the Au- gust issue, I provided a simple tool for evaluating physician performance in your practice, applicable for both associates and partners (who often benefit from feedback as much as employee doctors). This month, let's review a companion tool that you can use to assess candidate physicians before they even arrive on the scene as a new associate. Vigilant candidate assessments are more important than ever be- fore: • Hiring the wrong doctor—and then having to fire him or her—is a wrenching, expensive experience to be avoided at all costs. • More and more senior ophthal- mologists are hiring young doctors as part of their succession plan; if the hire doesn't work out, the senior, pre-retirement doctor may run out of time to find a replace- ment. • It is getting ever-harder to recruit ophthalmologists, particularly in secondary, non-coastal and non-urban markets; the number of open jobs is growing faster than the number of candidates. • At the risk of offending the most recent residency and fellowship graduates, compared to prior generations, the latest crop of eye surgeons represents a much great- er bandwidth of talent; there are more "meh" candidates to filter out than in the past. This new tool was developed in collaboration with a solo surgeon who had been burned before by too-cursory an approach to candi- date doctor screening. We talked late into the night about what he really wanted and needed. At times during the conversation I felt like more of a matchmaker than a business consultant, but in the end that feeling was right: Bonding with a long-term practice partner is for some surgeons the second most intimate relationship they will build in their life. Here's the run-down on the traits and attributes that you can use as the starting point for a candidate scorecard. Feel free to eliminate some attributes and add others. It's your company—apply your rules. Most provider interviews are conducted over the course of a day or two, allowing the candidate to fly in, get a lay of the land, see your clinic in action, and then spend an evening with you, getting acquaint- ed. You should use this tool during the first onsite interview day. While first impressions count, feel free to change the scoring as the day wears on. Poll staff who interview your candidate throughout the day—they may notice things that you over- look. Change your candidate's score up or down accordingly. Conveniently, there are 25 traits, so if you score your candidate on a 0–4 point scale, perfection will be 100 points. 1. ____ Kindness and caring: We are, after all, engaged in the business of "healthCARE." It's reasonable that this trait be at the top of the list. 2. ____ A hard (even driven) worker: Ophthalmology is not for wimpy workers. In the fu- ture, the demands for efficiency and volume will oblige provid- ers to be "ophthalmic athletes." 3. ____ Socially compatible: Socially, you may be a loner or a gadfly. But if you try to partner with a provider who is your op- posite, you will feel itchy from the outset. Ask yourself: "Are the odds high that Dr. Young and I will enjoy each other's company?" 4. ____ Power dynamics: Some people are natural power-grab- bers, and some willingly yield to power. Try to imagine how you and your prospective doctor will interact in the boardroom, and score this trait accordingly.

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