There is just ONE step you can take TODAY that will almost certainly guarantee the successful implementation of an EHR in your IDD service business. This way is to the fastest and broadest rollout possible. Read our blog to find out what it is!
Finding The Right IDD Service Staff - The Interview
Table of Contents
Reviewing and Interviewing Candidates
As a result of your phenomenal prep work (see last week’s blog) you now have a handful of appropriately skilled candidate to interview. As you and your HR team interact with the hopeful applicants keep the following at the forefront of your minds:
#1. Avoid Applicants With Patchy Career Paths
You don’t want to hire an employee who switches careers or jobs frequently just to get a higher salary or because of problems getting along with others at work. A candidate moving a few times is to be expected however changing multiple jobs after very short periods of time (less than a year for example) is a big red flag; hiring such a person could definitely be a problem for your business. Also ask about any big gaps in work history – sometimes these can be flags for jail time. Previous felons may ‘forget’ to mention incarceration as a reason for a gap in their resume. There are excellent programs that help with work rehabilitation of many sorts (post-incarceration included) and certain laws may prevent employers from having blanket policies against discriminating against employees who have been convicted of a felony. Just make sure that any participation on your end is intentional.
#2. Test For Learning And Excellent Analytical Skills
Using the job description that you created after reading our last blog try to use find different methodologies to assess the crucial learning and analytical skills you need the successful candidate to possess. Testing candidates might be tricky, but don’t evaluate candidates merely on the basis of their resume and their confidence because a resume can contain lies.
A candidate with confidence is great, but what you really want is a candidate that has the right skills and educational requirements. Remember an interview environment can cause people to behave abnormally so try to adjust for that by putting your candidates at ease as much as possible.
#3. Check For Compatibility
You want to find an employee that will fit in with your company’s culture. Check whether the candidate has social skills to get along with others, especially with current employees and managers. Ask how he or she is managing current business clients to judge compatibility skills. Workers who don’t reflect a company’s culture tend to be disruptive and difficult.
Remember, willingness is one of the primary things a candidate must possess to work with you. And if a person cannot get along with his or her current clients or previous bosses, it’s not such a great idea to hire that candidate. Also look out for candidates who freely criticize people at their previous place of work. Unless the interviewer is specifically ‘digging deep’ for this kind of information it is considered unprofessional for the candidate to bring it up. It may also be an indication that the candidate has difficulties with accepting blame, adapting to change, and/or taking instruction from colleagues and authority figures.
#4. Check For Character
Does the person have values that align with yours? Are they honest; do they tell the truth and keep promises? Are they above reproach? Are they selfless and a team player?
#5. Compensation
As the employer, be sure the person hired agrees to a market-based compensation package and is satisfied with what is offered. If not, an employee may feel unappreciated and thereby under perform. Be careful about granting stock in the company; if not handled well, it will create future challenges. If stock is offered consider having ownership tied to vesting.
#6. Don't Forget To Consider Interns
If your company uses interns this can be a great advantage. You know all of their strengths, weaknesses, skills, knowledge, attitudes, behavior, confidence levels, and even practical evidence of work. What else do you need to know?
You’ve already done the hard work in picking an intern, so why not hire from this potential pool when looking to fill permanent positions?
#7. Get Social With The Candidates
Asking personal questions won’t get you anywhere, and could be awkward and uncomfortable for both parties. Rather, you or your human resources team should be analyzing the candidates’ presence on social media. This is a great strategy for all businesses not just tech because you can get candid glimpses of just who the candidates are from their social profiles. No matter how rigorous your interview process you will not get as honest a look at candidates as you get on their social media pages.
Even though the IDD service industry isn’t exactly renowned for its use of social media you should also try to recruit through social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
#8. Keep Improving Your Hiring Process
Whether you are hiring employees for a big organization or looking for some potential candidates to build your start-up, the hiring process is the first and foremost factor you need to focus on. Make sure you are following these steps in your hiring process:
- Instead of asking magic bullet questions or irrelevant questions, you always need to focus on getting to know the capabilities, knowledge, skills, confidence, attitude, and potential of the candidate.
- When you advertise job vacancies for your company, make sure that all the job requirements such as responsibilities, required education, experience, knowledge, and skills are clearly mentioned. It will help you in evaluating candidates and attracting applicants that fulfill all of your responsibilities and requirements.
- It’s also a good idea to involve other people in the evaluation process, since more opinions can lead to finding the right hire.
Finally........
Getting rid of ‘misfit’ employees and recruiting new ones is more difficult than hiring right in the first place. It is even worse if you retain bad employees – you’re basically paying them to offer inferior or inappropriate service on your behalf!
Take the time to follow these principles and you’ll have a more productive team reflective of your company culture and your other employees (who won’t have to deal with a toxic work environment) will thank you.
Your EHR company will become as much a part of your team as your core employees. Make sure that the company you choose has an intuitive product that your staff can easily get to grips with, a history of excellent readily available customer service and a proven track record of innovation. Focused Software has all three of these characteristics but don’t take our word for it. Ask for a demo to see just how intuitive our platform is then go to our client testimonial page to see what others are saying. Finally ask to speak to other Focused Software users for an independent statement on our track record of innovation and customer service.
Call NOW – (281) 884 3537 ext. 117
Focused Blog List
References
https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/05/15/6-tips-for-hiring-the-right-employee/#799f0cb43894
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2012/06/19/the-7-cs-how-to-find-and-hire-great-employees/#7b0fa44e53c8
Pictures
Picking candidate – https://pixabay.com/en/users/geralt-9301/
Interns – Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
Number 5 – https://unsplash.com/@heftiba
