How do you have a successful working interview to ensure you hire the right person for the practice? First, you and your dental team need to identify the characteristics of your ideal candidate. For example, you may want a new assistant who is detail oriented, blends well with the existing team, and learns new tasks quickly.
Once you’ve identified the qualities of your ideal candidate, then you can determine if you need one or more working interviews to assess that person effectively. If, for example, you want to hire an assistant who can learn new tasks quickly since you do a lot of complex treatment, then you definitely need multiple working interviews to assess the candidate.
Next, it’s important to schedule a working interview for a day that challenges the candidate appropriately. For example, if you are considering hiring someone without dental experience to work in the front office, it’s more appropriate to bring that person in on a calmer day when someone can show her how to do basic tasks. Selecting a really busy day only insures the inexperienced person will receive little to no coaching and you will not have a good way to gauge her potential.
Finally, since all teams want to hire someone who blends well with the group, make sure to reserve time in the schedule for the team to have lunch with the candidate. A lot can be learned from casual conversations. And it’s important for you to reserve time to debrief with the candidate at the end of the day.
Working interviews are important for finding the right fit for your practice. With some advanced planning, you can maximize the effectiveness of each working interview.
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