18 Ophthalmology Business • July 2018
continued from page 17
5. Speak with current and
former partners as well as
middle managers, suggested
William Koch, COA, Texas Reti-
na Associates, Dallas. You'll glean
a different perspective from each
person and get a fuller picture of the
practice. "Middle management lives
in the trenches," Mr. Koch said. By
speaking with staff and partners,
you'll get a sense of how satisfied
people are working at the practice
and how much of a commitment the
practice makes to its staff, as well as
to the patients.
At Boling Vision Center, North-
ern Indiana, CEO Hayley Boling,
MBA, schedules time where job
candidates can speak with other staff
members. She'll leave the room so
people can talk freely. If a practice
does not include this kind of time
during the interview process, ask for
it, she advised. If they say no, that's a
potential red flag.
6. Ask away. Use the interview
process to get a sense of what's
important to you and how that's
reflected—or not—at the practice.
"Don't be afraid to ask the nitty-grit-
ty," Dr. Burger said. For example, you
may think to ask about holidays and
hours, but how about the on-call
process and how that's divided? How
about training; can you as a new
physician plan training for staff? If
something is important to you, the
interview process is the time to ask
about it. Your questions also give the
practice leaders a sense of your prior-
ities, so they can assess if you would
be a good fit at the practice. "It all
comes back to how you fit in as part
of a team," Dr. Burger said.
One example that Dr. Zavod-
ni gave was the ability to interact
frequently with other physician part-
ners, something that is important to
him. If that's a priority for you, make
sure that the physicians there have
a good working relationship and
frequently chat or consult with each
other. This would be another good
time to speak with middle managers
and get their sense of the physicians'
relationship with each other.
7. Find out how much the
practice invests in training
and team-building for all
staff. This addresses in part how
much they value employees and
want them to continuously improve
themselves professionally, Ms. Boling
said. Also, find out if the practice
holds team-building events or social
activities outside of the office. Post-
ings on a practice's social media may
provide insights into this.
8. Ask practice leaders if
they think you'll be a good
fit. Just as you are assessing your po-
tential role and fit in the practice, ad-
ministrators who hire new physicians
are doing the same thing. They also
want to find a candidate who would
fit in easily with the current practice
culture, Mr. Koch said. "We have
passed on applicants who would
potentially disrupt the culture of the
practice and could create headaches
for all staff members. We recruit to
our culture," he said. OB
Editors' note: The sources have no
related financial interests related to their
comments.
Contact information
Boling: hboling@bolingvisioncenter.com
Burger: berdine.burger@carolinaeyecare.com
Chen: chen.edwin@scrippshealth.org
Hansen: mshansen@mneye.com
Koch: wkoch@texasretina.com
Piso: crag33@aol.com
Zavodni: zacharyzavodni@gmail.com
