Abstract
At the time of this writing, the U.S. unemployment rate is touted to be at its lowest since 1970, with a similar trend seen in most of the European Union and parts of Asia.1,2 In brief, unemployment rate is calculated by the number of unemployed divided by the sum of those employed and those seeking jobs (i.e., the total labor force). Therefore, if the total number of those looking for employment drops, the overall unemployment may be artificially lowered as well. However, the global economy is currently growing, which means that staff have incentive to move more frequently to the next job that they find more attractive. In fact, ∼51% of current employees are researching other opportunities. For the managers of a bariatric practice, there will be a perpetual challenge to find the best staff for a unique specialty. Depending on the job skills needed, it can take several weeks and some cost to hire a person, which is immediately followed by several more weeks of training and onboarding. Hence, a failed hire will be costly to the practice.
After determining the practice needs, the search begins usually by posting the available position through the various formal and increasingly common social media channels. Applicants usually send in resumes loaded with experience and accomplishments. From the perspective of the practice, there are four key areas that should warrant close attention when recruiting staff for a bariatric practice.
Track record in the specialty: For the role you wish to fill, track record in this work or similar work is the best measure of success. In an interview for a business manager who claims to have managed a $15m team, ask some simple questions such as revenue and expenses to gauge expertise in the area. Or ask about accomplishments and projects delivered related to current and past roles. Ask hypothetical questions about “what if” scenarios and see how they would handle the role. If it is a marketing or public facing role, ask about strategy and tactical approaches to an issue and always ask about potential vulnerabilities or risks related to the projects. Having a track record of delivering on projects is the best measure of success. Using references of friends or prior employers have limited reliability unless you pose specific questions about things accomplished. This will require that the referee has intimate knowledge of what the job candidate has done. It is too common for the employer to hire based on likeability or familiarity above track record, with hopes of training or growing the person into the new role. To take this approach, your practice needs to know how much time will be allowed for this experiment and what the risks are for failure.
Learning agility: Gary Burnison, CEO of the executive search firm Korn Ferry, calls curiosity and desire to learn new things learning agility. 3 Suppose a candidate exhibits a lot of potential but has never done the role you hope to fill. The next best option is to determine how fast this candidate gathers information or use past experiences to achieve results. Most of your assessment should be focused on sizing up the ability to learn new roles as a surrogate for track record of accomplishments, starting with broad questions such as any unique accomplishments in personal or professional life. These can be in the form of athletics, arts, community work, growing a new service line from nothing, academics, spelling Bee, and anything that demonstrates determination and resourcefulness. What has the candidate ever taken on and finished it to the end; how challenging were the tasks and what was the quality of the output? Provide a scenario and see how the candidate musters existing or acquired knowledge to solve the problem. Does the candidate show interest and even excitement when presented a new role, and what will he or she plan to learn it?
Emotional traits: How well someone fits in a group is usually the first quality people look for in new team members. However, I would submit that someone who has the ability to accomplish tasks or learn new roles with involving other stakeholders often possess effective emotional qualities that gets buy-in from stakeholders. Anyone who has strong emotional traits but has not any record of accomplishments will require time to train. This begs the same question again of how much time the new hire has and the risks if the trial fails. Emotional traits really boil down to all the skills needed to manage complex situations—colleagues and patients alike—and still achieve needed results.
Passion for Bariatrics as a discipline: Bariatric patients are different from other medical practices. Bariatric patients are still negatively stigmatized at the same time that they carry several other medical comorbidities. How passionate is the candidate about the art of caring for Bariatric patients and is he or she willing to help patients navigate any gaps in care? Has this candidate ever attended a meeting or conference on Bariatric medicine? How will the candidate acquire new knowledge in this field that is different from other medical disciplines? One editorial board member for this journal said it best when certain positions were potentially being eliminated from her Bariatrics unit; “Who's going to love these patients?”
There are many ways to assess the abilities of any prospective candidates. It will start with clear ideas of what the role is and finding the closest match. Of the four qualities, I believe the most important will be a strong track record and passion for Bariatrics.