Red Flags in the Interview Process
Nothing will give you a more accurate picture of someone’s job potential than an interview. Interviews give you a chance to see how candidates interact with you and your staff, and allow them to personally express how they would contribute to the practice. However, the interview can also raise some red flags that show a candidate may not be a good fit.
The following list of common red flags has been adapted from John Putzier and David Baker’s The Everything HR Kit: A Complete Guide to Attracting, Retaining, and Motivating High-Performance Employees. It offers some signs to watch for when conducting an interview:
• Arriving late to the interview. Natural disasters aside, there are very few reasons to justify being late to an interview. Is this the behavior you can expect if the candidate is hired?
• Treating staff without respect. This not only reflects how the candidate treats his or her potential colleagues, but could be a good indication of how he or she will treat your patients. It also indicates a lack of forethought since staff may have some influence in the hiring of new employees.
• Cannot substantiate the accomplishments on their resume or cover letter. If the candidate is unable to elaborate on skills or past projects, you should question whether they are being truthful.
• Dressing inappropriately for the interview. This shows poor planning and decision making, two qualities that are especially undesirable in a clinical setting.
• Criticizes past employers and coworkers. This may indicate the candidate lacks discretion or has problems with authority, two particularly important concerns when working in a healthcare setting.
• Lack of preparation. Candidates who are organized with a pen and paper and extra resumes show they will most likely approach their jobs in the same way. You should also be wary of candidates who do not ask questions since this may indicate they either lack enthusiasm for the job opportunity or have not done their research on the practice or the industry.
• Being too casual. Even if your practice has a laidback culture, interviews are still a formal process and an opportunity to impress a potential boss. If a candidate uses overly casual speech and body language with you, someone he or she is trying to impress, who is to say he or she won’t interact with patients in a similar manner?
• Being more focused on the benefits than the job. Good benefits attract and keep quality candidates. But in the interview phase, benefits should be secondary to learning about what the job entails and whether it is a good fit for the candidate.
• Not taking responsibility for past failures and pinning the blame on others. Ideally, you would like employees who own up to their mistakes, learn from them, and move on.
Testing
Can you use a skill test? Certainly, if it tests skills necessary to the position and is not used in a discriminatory manner. What about using drug testing for prospective employees? This depends on applicable federal, state or local law. Drug testing is allowable under the Americans with Disabilities Act (AwDA) for prospective employees, but only after a job offer has been made. However, relatively few dental offices are covered by the employment provisions of the AwDA since those provisions are triggered only for business with 15 or more employees. Therefore, it is prudent to know your state law to determine when and to what extent drug testing may be conducted in your particular dental office. The same is true for testing or questions related to other aspects of the applicant’s health. Sometimes applicants receive offers of employment conditioned on the satisfactory completion of a medical history questionnaire and if the employer deems it necessary, on the results of a medical examination.
Second Interview
You might want to invite your top candidates in for a second interview. Take them on an office tour. Allow them to observe instruments and sterilization methods and to review education materials. Ask your staff for input about the hiring of the candidate. When employees help select a new staff member, they will work harder to help him or her succeed on the job.
You should also consider your candidate’s personality type. Would your office benefit from an outgoing personality, for example, who could explain patient treatment plans with ease and enthusiasm? Perhaps there is a candidate that enjoys more computer or telephone work than patient contact. Most importantly, consider your candidate’s attitude. Remember, one bad attitude can affect the entire practice.
Paid Working Interviews
A paid working interview can give you the opportunity to evaluate the performance of candidate applying for a job. In this type of interview, the candidate spends half a day or so working with patients in the office and is paid for his or her time.
During a working interview, technical as well as interpersonal skills can be reviewed, and the candidate has the chance to see how your practice operates. Be sure to check with your professional liability insurance carrier, and to comply with any applicable state and federal laws when using this type of approach. The individual should also be trained to comply with office policies and procedures, such as HIPAA and OSHA.
Interview Follow-up
The risk of being faced with a discrimination lawsuit does not end when the interviewing process is over. The following are additional suggestions to help protect your practice after the interview.
• Make an offer ASAP
Once you find the applicant who most nearly meets the requirements of the position, make a job offer as soon as possible so you can inform all of the other applicants of your decision. On the other hand, if the applicant rejects the offer, you have enough time to move on to the next most qualified applicant.
• Keep a record of interviews
Discrimination charges can be filed long after an alleged discriminatory act has occurred. Employers who retain records of these interviews can justify hiring procedures and employment decisions. Your records should reflect appropriate bases for your employment decisions.
• Keep individual applicant files
Employers should keep a folder containing applications, resumes, interview records, and notes on each applicant for each recently filled position. These procedures protect your practice against claims of discrimination, as well as provide a resource