You may have managed your own team or practice for years or whether you are just starting out in a leadership role, recruiting can be a stressful and time consuming experience. Whether you decide to instruct an agency or not, recruitment will come with costs. There is cost to the practice not having this person in post, the cost in time to advertise, sifting and interview or the cost to instruct an agency to take the stress away and pay their fee.

Whichever route you choose you want the recruit to be good value for the time and money you’ve invested in the process and most importantly you want that person to stay!

So how do you do this? The answer is, through effective recruitment.

Effective recruitment

What do you identify as effective recruitment for you?

For something to be effective it must achieve a desired result that has been outlined beforehand. You want the recruitment to be time and money efficient and for that persons to bring something to the practice that was either lacking or new ideas or even better…both!

Too often we hear clients say how they’ve tried to do their own recruitment and how it’s not worked out because they either rushed the whole process or didn’t focus enough on what they really wanted. This then results in the individual either dropping out after a short period of time saying ‘this role isn’t what I thought it would be’.

This is where we can help. We have a tried and tested process that ensure we find that diamond in the rough.

Steps in order to make a long-term placement

Understanding the job 

When taking a brief for a role we will always arrange a face to face meeting or a telephone call to go through some detailed questions that you may not have even thought of!  Yes a Vet is a vet, or a nurse is a nurse but it is essential to match your values with theirs and we have ways of narrowing down the right candidate for you.

We will also ask what the challenges are in the role, what an average day looks like and what previous post holders’ backgrounds were. If you already have an established team we might ask about their job roles and personality types.

If the need for this hire is urgent then sometimes we focus more on the type of person that wouldn’t fit in your company and although it sounds like the same question the answers can be very different.

Identifying a candidate’s suitability

Effective candidate questioning is equally as important and the best to do is by questioning. Our first stage process are always general questions to ascertain a candidate’s general suitability for a position before more detailed questioning are asked.

If a candidate has been potentially identified as being suitable for a position then we will always get under the skin a little bit more and find out exactly what it is they are looking for.

We always ask candidates what’s important to them about their next role and it’s always interesting to see the answers they respond with.

Working environment can also be a major factor for people so we will always check whether a candidate has a preference between a corporate or more independent relaxed feel in the workplace.

Checking salary and benefits expectations are good answers to have noted when speaking to candidates. Some clients will have some flexibility in their budgets but others will be fixed on a maximum amount.

Case Study: Practice Manager

We were instructed by one client to find a new Practice Manager for one of their local practices. A brief was taken and again we advertised and began sifting candidates. We received applicants from experienced practice managers and managers from sectors unrelated looking for a change of scene.

One applicant applied who had no veterinary background but had experience in management to board level working with performance management within sport. Following the two step interview process by Elite he was submitted and shortlisted for interview. Elite were actually asked to help run the interview process and provide some questions on the day for candidates to answer in order to ascertain suitability. The interview day was between 4 candidates and the Elite candidate was the only candidate not to have healthcare or veterinary experience. After a morning of questioning followed by a business presentation our candidate was offered the position and accepted. He is still in post developing the staff and practice and is continually looking for ways to improve and develop and has been a fantastic addition to the company.

Effective recruitment has never been so important particularly in the current delicate economic climate so it’s important to get it right the first time. We are here to help with your recruitment and can guide you along the way and help identify exactly what it is you are looking for.