The EntreMD Podcast

7 Questions You Need to Ask EVERY Potential Hire for Your Private Practice

• Dr. Una • Episode 418

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Have you ever hired someone you thought had endless potential, only to find them entirely unsuitable for the role you hired them for?

As a business owner and a business coach, I know exactly how disheartening it is to invest time, resources, and energy into someone you believe will excel, only to realize that it won’t work out. 

That’s why today, I will share the 7 questions you need to ask every potential hire for your private practice! I will also explain what you need to look out for so that you can find the best fit for your company.

Tune in! 

Key Takeaways: 

  • 00:00 Intro 
  • 02:08 What to do before the interview
  • 04:22 The first three questions
  • 07:08 The fourth question
  • 10:18 The fifth question
  • 11:09 The sixth question 
  • 13:47 The seventh question
  • 15:40 What you should look for in new hires
  • 17:56 Outro 

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Additional Resources:


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Speaker 1:

The greatest employers create win-win situations. They want the business to win, they want to win and they want their team members to win. Right, and so if that conversation is completely one-sided, it's not a deal breaker, but it does tell you something. Hi docs, welcome to the EntreMD podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, dr Una. Well, hello, hello, my friend. Welcome back to another episode of the EntreeMD podcast. Super pumped to have you here, as always.

Speaker 1:

And today we're going to be talking about one of the things that I was going to say, one of my favorite things, but I've really grown to love this. In the beginning it was not my favorite thing, so it might not be yours, and that's fine. And we're going to be looking at the interview process. So seven interview questions I always ask. So you may be in a position where you're doing a lot of hiring. Maybe you're bringing on your first hire, or you're bringing on your first management level hire, first executive hire, and you're like, oh my goodness, what do I do in the interview process? Right? And so we're going to have a series of podcast episodes to talk about how many interviews you should have, who should they be, with all those things. But today I want to talk about the seven questions you must ask at every interview. Okay, so I used to be the person who my version of interviewing was I would invite someone for an interview, I would meet them, I would chit chat with them. They're a warm body, they seem like they are nice and I would hire them. So I was hiring nice, warm bodies. Okay, that is not a winning strategy, and so today we're going to look at some things that are kind of structured and will take you to where you want to go, because the bottom line is you want to bring somebody on board, that you know that it will end up being a win-win-win situation. So in that position, it is a win for the person who comes to work with you, it's a win for you because you have this team. That's amazing and it's a win for the business. Okay, all right, so let's look at these questions. Okay, now you would have heard me talk about when you're ready to bring somebody onto your team.

Speaker 1:

The starting point is not the interview. The starting point is not even the ad. The starting point is deciding what are the top five to seven outcomes this person will be responsible for in my business. Okay, so think about it. Let's say you're hiring another doctor and you're like their outcomes is they're seeing 20 patients a day and they are helping to build their own panel and they are making sure that their billing is completed within 24 hours, so you're not having any cashflow problems. That may be what some of the top outcomes you would want. They're building a referral base, whatever that is, and if you've seen one practice, you've seen one practice, so it could be different for everybody.

Speaker 1:

Okay, maybe you're a coach and you're bringing on somebody who is kind of like an operations manager or business manager for you and your top objectives will be around number of new clients. You want number of clients. You want renewing number of new leads that are coming in every month. Like, you have these metrics that you want them to meet. So before you get to the interview, it is critical that you understand what those metrics are for you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, sometimes people say, well, why don't you just tell me what they are? Well, it depends on your business, right? Like, so your team is an extension of you. You have your goals for the year. You have your outcomes for the year. What portion of that is that person responsible for? And you know, five is great, three is great. Actually, five is great Seven, but I will not, I almost would not do seven, but I would not do any more than seven, right? So these are the objectives this person is responsible for. These are the outcomes we want them to create. It might be your front desk and you're like I want you scheduling this number of patients a day. I want our gross collection ratio to be at a hundred percent, or, you know, 95%. I want, you know, x number of reviews every day. I want. So you have these things that this is, these are the outcomes they're responsible for. Okay, so you have these things that these are the outcomes they're responsible for. Okay, so you want to think of them, and it's possible that you've never actually thought in these terms. You're just like, oh, you know the front desk person. You know they open up the door, they check people in and all of that. Those are things that they do, those are tasks that they do, but what outcomes is the role responsible for? So that's the starting point and the reason why I'm taking the time to talk about.

Speaker 1:

This is because of the first three questions we're going to ask in the interview process. So questions one, two and three are going to be questions that will show you if the person has any understanding of how to create these outcomes or if they have any competence in that area. So, for instance, let's say you are hiring a practice administrator and one of the things you want them to do something that's really big is you want them to be overall responsible for the schedule. So maybe in your practice you don't want to see 20 patients a day Okay, and that's something that she's going to be responsible for making sure you guys are hitting. Then one of the questions will be say, you walked into the practice and you were looking at the schedule for two days from now and you see that there are three doctors working that day and there's a total of 25 patients on the schedule. What will you do? Right, in the answering of that question you'll be able to tell with how quickly they answer and how completely they answer, if they have competence there, if that's something they've done, if it's something they've been responsible for, if their mind works that way. The answers will give you the clues. Okay, cause we're looking for evidence here. We're not looking for potential, we're looking for evidence.

Speaker 1:

You may say you know that you have maybe it's somebody else they're responsible for actually seeing the 25 patients a day. And you have maybe it's somebody else they're responsible for actually seeing the 25 patients a day and you walk into the office, there's 25 patients on your schedule. How do you manage that? What do you do so your notes can be done on time? What do you do so you don't have long wait times and all of that? Again, what are you listening for? This is something I do. I have competency here. I can manage that. That's what you're looking for, right?

Speaker 1:

You may say, if it's a front desk person, and one of their outcomes is that they are responsible for the gross collection ratio, so they're collecting the co-pays, the deductibles, all of that, maybe even collecting some old balances, and you're like, okay, so you come in and we have this patient. They have a you know, $25 co -pay and they tell you they can't pay it. Well, how do you handle that? And this is not, it's not a trick question. You're not trying to catch them. That's not what this is. This is you just trying to uncover. You're trying to uncover the evidence right, and so in their answer you'll get a feel for whether this is somebody who absolutely dislikes having money conversations. And there have been people I mean many of us have done that where you hire somebody, they work the front desk but they don't want to have anything to do with the money right, and so that becomes a problem of sorts.

Speaker 1:

So your first three questions are really around uncovering if their top three objectives, if these are things that they have competency in, these are things they have understanding of, if these are things that they're going to be great at right. So those are the first three questions. The fourth question I like to ask you know and this question I really asked the question because I want to get a feel for what their true values are, what you know like, what they consider a great job, opportunity and all of those things, and so I would typically ask you know, let's say, this all worked out and you'd worked with us for a year and you were at your friend's birthday party and you were telling her oh my goodness, like working with Dr Una has been the absolute best thing that has happened to me. What would have to happen for you to say that right, and in this you're just listening what are the things that are valuable to them? Right, and so you will get. You know like, you will get things like I've had someone tell me. Well, you know, like I have extremely amazing work-life balance. You know, I'm working three days a week. I have flexibility, so if I need to leave at any time, I can leave and everything.

Speaker 1:

The way the job worked for the person and there was no commentary at all about the work they produced, the results. They get the pride in their work like there was nothing at all. Now, does that mean that's a deal breaker? Maybe not, but it depends on what the answers to the other questions are. Because when your greatest employees want to create win-win situations, they want the business to win and they want to win. The greatest employers create win-win situations. They want the business to win, they want to win and they want their team members to win right, and so if that conversation is completely one-sided, again it's not a deal breaker. But it does tell you something, right. It tells you something, so you. It does tell you something, right? It tells you something, so you want to listen, for that right, and sometimes they'll tell you some other things. Like there was career progression. They were able to learn a lot of new things, like sometimes that's a pointer you know like to things that they find value in, things that are like their quote unquote love language, so you can speak that language frequently.

Speaker 1:

Like, I have a team member who really is really big on career progression, developing herself more so, acquiring new skills, becoming really great, having autonomy, having the freedom to call shots, and she loves creating outcomes and all of those things to call shots, and she loves creating outcomes and all of those things. And because I understand that, I make sure that in her role she's able to have those things. She's able to have extra training opportunities, she's able to have the freedom to create results, to take on projects and all of those things right Now, which is really great because she's really in tune with. This is what we do. When we do this, the business wins, so it's all connected, so it's a true win-win situation. Do you see what I'm saying? So that's kind of the way you want to think about it.

Speaker 1:

But you ask those questions and I'll talk about the follow-up. But the follow-up here is when they say something, you ask more probing questions to hear all of it. You know what I mean Like. So that's a question you want to ask follow-up questions for. So that's number four.

Speaker 1:

Number five if it is not their absolute first job, I ask them why they left, right, I ask them why they left. And this again is a very important question because some people say, I mean, there's so many reasons why people leave, right, life changed, they had to move, they had to take off from you know, they decided to take a year off because they wanted to spend more time with the children and all of those things. But sometimes people will then tell you, you know about their boss, and it was like that boss from two jobs from them, and you know they were a boss from hell. And they just go on and on and on. And it was a boss and it was a supervisor, and it was everybody. Again, is it a deal breaker? No, could it be that that's actually what happened? Yes, but could it also be that this is a person who's just not going to work well with other people? Yes, so you want to pay attention to that right, like why did they leave? And things like that. Okay, number six I always ask questions around how they handle conflict, because if there is a team, there's conflict period, there's going to be opportunities for conflict.

Speaker 1:

People will misunderstand themselves. All these things are going to happen. So conflict happening is not an issue how it's handled right. So those questions could be. So, for instance let me break that down even further If I am hiring, this is not as much. This is actually not a problem at all now because my practice has evolved so much.

Speaker 1:

But you know, there was a time where people were like, oh, I only want to see Dr Una. Like I had all these patients, and they're like I only want to see Dr Una. And so one of the questions I'll ask you walk into a room, you're ready to see the patient, and the patient has this stern look on their face. They're actually upset that you walked into the room after you'd hurried to be on time so you could see them. And they're like who are you? I only want to see Dr Una. I'm like how do you respond to that? And the reason why I'm asking that is because that is something that I know is going to happen, right, and I want to know how you're going to handle it.

Speaker 1:

And some people are like, yeah, if they want to see you, I'm going to walk out of the room and, you know, tell the team to get you right. And I already know again is that in isolation is a deal breaker? No, but when you have a string of things right, you have to go like, okay, do I want this or not? But the person says that. Then the question is do you want to be pulled out of River Rome twice a day, three times a day, four times a day? Because somebody said I don't want to see you, I want to see, I want to see the practice owner or the doctor. I've always seen Right, and so those become. That's something that you want to look at.

Speaker 1:

If it's somebody who, for instance, if I'm interviewing somebody and that person is going to have a manager over them, I also want to see right. Because how are you going to respond when you guys disagree right, like so you know, the manager says this has to be done this way and it's not something that is right or wrong, it's something that could be A or B, right, they want to do it this way, you want to do it that way. So how do you respond to that? And you listen. I've had people tell me well, I'll let her do it, because she's the boss, she can do what she needs to do, but I'm going to still come back and ultimately I'm going to have my way right Again. Is that a complete deal breaker on its own? No, but when you have a number of well, it's not really a deal breaker to string together.

Speaker 1:

Then you have to ask yourself these questions, right, like, is this something that I want to do? So give them opportunities, play those scenarios out. When you disagree, what happens? You know, when I say this is the way that we're going to do this, but you're really firm like this is the no, this other way is the way to do it. What are you going to do? Right, okay, and then the seventh question. The seventh question really is do you have any questions for me? Right, because what that does is that keeps the conversation going. From their questions you can also get a feel, for you know what, what kind of person this is.

Speaker 1:

Right now, I really want to tell you, you know why the asking these questions are so important and what I'm actually looking for when I ask all these questions. When I ask them, I'm looking for their motivators. So I gave you the example with a team member of mine that really values career progression and all of those kinds of things. You want to know what their motivators are, so you are in a position to create a win-win situation. Right, you cannot make an assumption that everybody values a race equally, or everybody values flexibility equally, or, like people value different things above other things, and you want to be very clear on what that is, so that you can speak that language frequently.

Speaker 1:

Right, you want your people to like for me, I have this vision. I really want people, when they work with me, to say, oh, my goodness, my time working with Dr Una was a time of unprecedented growth and transformation in my life, and I look back at it and it was one of the best times of my life. I want people to be able to say that, but for them to be able to say that, I need to know what their motivators are. Okay, so I do that. For that, I'm also looking for evidence of competency. Now let me talk to the people who are like me. Okay, I'm really big on seeing people's potential. At this point, I guess I'll just call it a gift, okay, where I could sit with somebody and hear their story and hear their aspirations and hear their challenges and I'm like, oh, my goodness, I can immediately see a roadmap, like, if you do this, this, this, we can be over here, and all of that. So, when I see people, I see in terms of potential, I'm so acutely aware of what they can do, who they can become, and all of that.

Speaker 1:

Now, when you're hiring, you're not looking for potential, not really, you're looking for evidence. You're looking for evidence of competency. And so a lot of these questions will pull out like when is the evidence? Where is the evidence of the competency? Where is the evidence that this person can do what I want to hire them to do? Now, you can look for potential in the sense of, okay, I'm bringing this person on for this role, but I know they can grow into XYZ role, but they have to be competent at whatever it is that you're hiring them for, right? Okay, so you're looking, the questions you're asking, you're looking for evidence of competency. And then the third thing you're looking for are red flags. Like they're red flags and when you see them, believe them. When you see them, don't ignore them, right, and the more conversation you have, the more you're able to pull these out, and so you really want to have people talking at the interviews, and the way to do that is to ask a ton of questions.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now, when you think about this I don't want you to think about it like some rigid, you're just going to pull from the paper, type of thing. Think of it like you're having conversations. In fact, when I do interviews, I'm usually the third interview. It means two other people on my team would have interviewed the person, and I'm the third interview, and so I'm at a stage in my career where I can say this, and so maybe you can too, right? So this is the third interview.

Speaker 1:

At this point, I'm like okay, listen, okay, you're an adult, I'm an adult, you know what you want, I know what I want, so there's no pressure here. This interview is really to see if this is something that is a great fit for me, it's a great fit for you. If that's the case, then it's a match made in heaven. We'll go ahead. I really want you to be in a workplace where you enjoy being at work and it's fulfilling and it's significant for you, whether that's with us or with somebody else. And I want to be with a team member who I'm going to really enjoy working with. So no pressure, but let's talk through some of these things.

Speaker 1:

And then I just start with the questions. Right, and so it's really important that we think of it this way no more hiring potential warm bodies, but let's just put some thought into it. Just think of the interview process. As you know, it's a means to an end and the end is like a rockstar team hire, okay. So I want you to maybe write these questions down, maybe practice it with some roles that you have open in your company and you're like, okay, what would this kind of interview look like? And then just start doing a different kind of interview where you can tell this person will be a great fit. This person will not be a great fit for our culture Doesn't mean they're bad, it just means they will be great somewhere else, right? So go write these down, go start practicing them. Let me know how it goes for you. I can't wait to see.

Speaker 1:

I love seeing doctors build formidable teams, amazing teams that help them accomplish so much while they're maintaining their work-life balance and the time that they need for their family and all of that. So they're doing the work they need to do, but they're not doing all the work in the world, right. So I'd love that for you. I'm cheering you on and, of course, if you have any questions after this, be sure to post it in our Facebook group, which is EntreeMD Physicians in Business, and you post that there. I would be happy to create another episode for this, because it was somebody in the group who asked this question, and here's the podcast episode. So thank you so much for watching. Take this episode, share it with the doctors in your life, and I'll see you on the next episode of the On Trending Podcast.