Replacing the Traditional “Working Interview”

I’m thinking it may be time for me to formally announce the fact that I am starting a “Movement!”

I am gathering fellow dental professionals to support my movement entitled NO MORE WORKING INTERVIEWS!

For as far back as I can remember there has always been confusion and controversy associated with working Interviews, or as I like to refer to them–Skill Assessments. Do we pay for them? How much must we pay the job applicant? Do you get the candidate onboard as an official hire prior to starting the process? Must we consider them as an employee and fill out all the necessary papers to make it official before we formally agree to permanently hire them? Can we give them a gift card in lieu of actually paying them? …and so on.

It occurred to me that when these “events” occur, the average practice has the job candidate in the office for the day. If they are applying for a clinical position they spend the day in the back office; or if it is a business position they are sequestered to the front desk. From what I’ve observed time and time again is that they receive very little direction, and often, due to the nature of the situation they show up and are required to navigate systems, protocols, and procedures on their own due to a lack of team members available to assist them and answer their questions.

How can you possibly determine the value of these candidates if they are lost and have no idea what is expected of them? Do those practices that regularly conduct Working Interviews “truly” feel as though they get all the necessary information required to make that confident final hiring decision?

I have recommended that when the situation doesn’t allow it, that my clients consider an Extended Hands-on Skill Evaluation. There are many times where it just isn’t applicable to schedule “my” structured Skill Assessment (working interview).

Perhaps we just can’t coordinate the time to have the job candidate spare a day with us. Perhaps the candidate can’t break away to come in for a traditional Skill Assessment Day, or maybe it is simply an awkward imposition for you and the team to have potential employees in during a regular business day.

I have often suggested we have the applicant in for what I call an Extended Hands-on Skill Assessment Interview. This can be set up for a couple of hours, but I don’t recommend that it be scheduled for longer than 3. The employer makes it clear that it will NOT be during the work day and that it is merely an extension of the interview process. The practice is not operational and there will NOT be any patient interaction at all. Another person should be present for legal reasons (typically a partner, associate, spouse or even a friend).

It is important that this been done after-hours or on a weekend when the practice is NOT rolling. There should be a blueprint and a structure in place for the evaluation. If it is an evaluation for a business

position, be certain that your patient base is not used and that you limit the applicant to only viewing areas that do not expose any patient information. I suggest that you utilize either a tutorial software piece or gather something from your software provider to use, and remember that any patient materials you might use should NOT have any private information.

If it is for a hygiene position, again you want to be sure that no patient records are opened or viewed. I would suggest that some “test” documentation be put in the system just for this purpose. Set up fictional information that can be reviewed and used as an aptitude assessment tool. The key to this review is that the job candidate does not see or have access to any patient information or practice records of any kind. Granted, a lot is missed by not having the hygienist physically working on patients, but I feel that with proper verbal reviews AND a structured timeline spelled out in the agreement as to the probationary period you will have a good sense of their skills and abilities.

Basically, what we are developing is an additional interview component that would be scheduled following the face to face interview that comes after the initial phone interview/screening. I have felt for many years that the average interview process for the dental profession has been less than adequate, so maybe it’s time to eliminate the traditional Skill Assessment (working Interview) entirely and change things up so that we are more compliant with the various state regulations and don’t set ourselves up for any additional penalties. Let’s consider doing things this way:

· A well-structured phone interview

· A well-prepared face to face interview

· An in-house (after hours) Skill Assessment that has been created to be able to see and view abilities, hear responses to typical office situations, and get a true feel for the applicant’s hands- on ability. This is to be conducted with another person present (preferably not a team member-perhaps a spouse or friend)

· A meeting for coffee or lunch ONLY with your team members and those candidates that continue to impress.

· In that it is an extension of the interviewing process and we make sure we have documentation signed by both you and the job candidate that this would be considered an additional segment of the interview process, there is no need to compensate for this review. Hence no concerns regarding a Working Interview or any similar “during-the-work-day” event.

If handled correctly, a lot more valuable information about your job candidates can be gathered and you now eliminate the concerns regarding how the onsite “working interview” is managed. In my next article, I will review how to set up this subdivision of the hiring process.