Businesses in every industry are navigating a new post-pandemic world. A couple of common struggles facing many companies are supply chain issues and employee turnover. For eye care practitioners, it can be difficult to find and keep good employees in this volatile job market. However, Amy Alvarez, SHRM-CP, is helping ODs fill their empty positions, and for her, it’s all about getting back to the basics of recruiting, starting with these 5 steps.

Step 1: Identify Your Practice’s Purpose

First and foremost, you’ll need to clearly define your practice’s purpose, vision, and/or values. Each of these pillars helps drive your office culture, which plays a huge part in attracting and keeping talent. It also helps to simplify the recruiting process by making it easier to identify potential employees who will fit into the culture you’re promoting.

However, make sure your purpose lives throughout your organization, including your website, job ads, interviews, and your action. It’s not enough to just “declare” it, you must live it for it to become part of your office culture.

Step 2: Solidify Your Recruiting Cycle

Along the same lines as identifying your office purpose, you should have your recruiting cycling solidified, as well. It’s hard to communicate the next steps of your process if you don’t know them. Therefore, having your full recruiting cycle thought out and documented will not only help potential employees know what to expect, but it will give you and your current staff a better idea of how long it will take before a new employee starts.

Additionally, it will give you a chance to align any internal personnel who need to be a part of the interview process. While your full process should be documented, it’s important to consider the time commitment of your applicants and current staff members. Keeping it short can help maximize the efficiency overall.

Step 3: Proactive Recruitment

While we would all like to imagine that the moment we published an open position, we’re flooded with capable candidates ready to start at a moment’s notice, this is not usually the case. So, Alvarez suggests doing some leg work to increase your odds of finding the right candidate. Resources like Indeed Resume for Employers, Monster, and LinkedIn can be great jumping-off points for your search.

Another great place to start is asking family, friends, and current staff if they know of anyone who would be interested in the job. This removes some of the work involved in the recruiting process because these candidates come to you pre-screened since they’re recommended by people who already know what you’re looking for. While this often reduces the total timeframe, you need to be cautious about how you approach these candidates. Because they already have a connection to the practice, it can make the selection process even more difficult.

Step 4: Be Specific In Your Screening

When it comes to finding a suitable applicant, the task can quickly become overwhelming. Narrowing down the top 5 qualities you’re looking for in a candidate can help you speed up the screening process. These can be based on employment history, experience, or any other qualifications you deem necessary for your future practice staff. You can use your newly defined practice purpose to help guide the decision process. Then, follow up with any candidates that have 3 or more of those critical requirements.

Step 5: Communicate Quickly & Frequently

No one wants to be left hanging, especially when it comes to applying for jobs. Ensuring your applicants know where they stand from start to finish can help your recruiting process go smoothly while enhancing your practice’s image. Alvarez suggests following up with every submission in the first 24 hours, even if they’re not going to move forward in the process. This short timeframe will help you stay top of mind for every applicant and potentially help keep you from losing them to another practice/company they’ve applied for.

Once you’ve notified your applicants of who is in the running, make sure you keep in contact with the ones you’re interested in. Sharing details and “next steps” keeps them engaged with your practice and can help boost interest in working for your practice. It also helps your applicants know what’s expected of them throughout your interview process.

How EyePromise® Can Help Your New Hires (& Current Staff)

As an EyePromise partner, your new hires are just a phone call away from being trained on the program by your local EyePromise Regional Account Manager. Whether it’s in-practice or via Zoom, your team will have access to your local EyePromise expert to help them understand the process, the science, and the formulas.

These trainings are great for current staff members, too, and can act as a refresher course or give them the opportunity to ask questions. Additionally, the EyePromise program offers a way to incentivize your staff members, making your new position even more attractive to potential candidates and helping current staff re-engage with their roles.

Recruiting is one of the more complicated efforts of practice management, but these steps can help simplify the process and make finding the right new hire easier. If you’re interested in having your local EyePromise Regional Account manager into your practice for a training, contact them directly or call, email, or text EyePromise’s expert Customer Support team to get it set up:

• Call or text: 866-833-2800
• Email: support@eyepromise.com