Eyeworld

81 OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS November 2015 13. ____ The right experience: This is like the difference between bringing a puppy home and get- ting a shelter dog. Some hiring practices like young doctors and the chance to mold them. Oth- ers prefer experienced providers who can dive straight in. There are arguments for each. 14. ____ Risk tolerance: If yours is a partner-track position, your can- didate needs to be self-confident and bold enough to become an owner and employer, despite the challenging times we are now in. 15. ____ A compatible decision tempo: If you make snap deci- sions and your candidate takes 20 minutes to decide on an entrée during the first interview dinner, he or she is going to drive you crazy (as well as dawdle in the clinic.) 16. ____ Good "followership": Before one can lead, they need to learn how to follow. This can be a difficult trait to find in the latest crop of young surgeons with a sense of entitlement and early advancement. The best predictor is a history of working happily under the supervision of others. 17. ____ Good leadership: One day your personal practice will senesce and expire. When that happens, you want to have tal- ent in the wings, ready to take over. 18. ____ Trusting: People who have been deceived by others in their lives are difficult to employ successfully. They are always on guard, which makes it difficult to develop the kind of partner-to-associate—and then partner-to-partner—intimacy that makes group practice a joy. 19. ____ Humility: It is unlikely that you are among the top 100 eye surgeons on the planet—or the top 1,000 surgeons. Any- one who remains in practice with an insufferable colleague who sees him- or herself as the first among equals deserves the discomfort they feel on a daily basis. 20. ____ No adverse spouse issues: As recruiters know, "We hire the doctor but recruit the spouse." If mama (or increasingly, papa) ain't happy, nobody's happy. 21. ____ Compatible feelings about work/life balance: When it's 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon and your colleague skips out of the office to the golf club while you tee off on the last 15 patients of the day, you're going to do a slow boil. Make sure that you and your candidate are in the same slow or fast lane. 22. ____ A giver, not a taker: This speaks for itself. The world is only composed of givers and takers—never, never, never, never, never hire the latter. 23. ____ Gender balancing: In eye- care today, most support staff and the majority of patients (at least the geriatric ones) are female, while most of the pro- viders are male. If these natural statistics leave your practice gender-unbalanced, it may be appropriate to even things out. 24. ____ Reasonableness regard- ing employment and buy-in terms: If your terms are con- temporary and fair, and your candidate is well advised, then reaching an agreement on "the deal" should proceed without a hitch. If your candidate is grasp- ing or unrealistic, walk away. 25. ____ Family connections: It's corny and old-fashioned, but you and your practice consti- tute a kind of extended family. Doctor candidates who have started a family (or who are on the verge of doing so) typically make the best partner material. Doctors over a certain age who are still unpartnered often repre- sent a flight risk or worse. EW 9. ____ Sales chops: Don't cringe. All doctors sell, all day long, whether they know it or not. They sell themselves to re- ferral sources. They sell their patients on the importance of compliance with their medi- cation. They sell staff on how critical it is to get measurements right every time. And they sell administration on the need for new capital investments. Selling counts. 10. ____ Judgment: This is hard to judge on the first day and is best determined by talking to refer- ences. All the same, it's worth- while to discuss care pathways and operative criteria in depth with your colleague. 11. ____ Clinical and surgical skills: Don't assume that all residencies and residents are created equally. Half of all eye surgeons are below average. Ideally, before you make a final hiring decision, you will get on a plane and observe your candi- date on his/her home turf. 12. ____ Affability: It counts for nothing if your candidate has a wide circle of friends. Do you feel an affinity to him or her? That's what counts. Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates Inc., an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm in San Diego. He is the country's most-published author on ophthalmology management topics. A new book, Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success, will be available shortly. He can be contacted at 619-223-2233 or pintoinc@aol.com. About the author " 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 overlook. "

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