Today we are hard pressed to bring in, interview, and hire physician candidates as quickly as humanly possible. Thorough preparation before interviewing will provide effective results and enable you to hire the best candidate.

“Interview Preparation” and “Review of Question Design” are the two areas I would like to focus upon. There are other areas you might want to review as well, including, “Legal Do’s and Don’ts,” and “The Screening Process.”

It almost goes without saying that pre-planning for any event/activity should result in a better outcome. No less can be said of pre-planning for a successful interview. It insures a complete, effective process, and generally a legally sound interview as well. Keep the following in mind when making preparations for an interview.

INTERVIEW PREPARATION

• Review the essential job functions of the position as well as major responsibilities from the position description.
• Review the core competencies upon which performance for the position is measured. Determine which of those competencies should be prioritized for inclusion in specific interview questions.
• Design a structured list of interview questions to use with each candidate. Consider incorporating a variety of questions, including open-ended questions and questions that explore past behavior in the core competencies upon which performance will be measured.
• Utilize a candidate grid that identifies the position qualifications and competencies you are seeking, and which allows you to record information regarding each candidate.
• Review the applications and curriculum vitae of potential candidates. Record information on the candidate grid. Look for inconsistent, missing, or incomplete information, or obvious lack of needed education, training, or experience. Also note exceptional accomplishments related to job, training, or experience.
• Determine which candidates you plan to interview based on the information you have gathered on your candidate grid.
• Have a pre-interview process discussion with those participating in the interview. Determine each interviewer’s role and sequence of questions they will be responsible for asking. Reinforce the importance of not deviating from the structured list of interview questions except for clarification purposes.

REVIEW OF QUESTION DESIGN

Lastly, I would like to address the area of question design. Careful development of interview questions allows for a complete assessment of candidates, and enables the organization to be represented in a professional manner.

Using a structured list of interview questions, also known as an interview guide, minimizes the likelihood of unlawful or improper questioning.

Four major benefits of interview guides include:

1. Each applicant is asked the same questions in the same order resulting in a consistent collection of data.
2. All questions are likely to be specifically job-related and developed using the position description, major job functions, and core competencies.
   A specific list of questions minimizes the likelihood that unnecessary questions will be asked.
3. Using a list of specific questions reduces the natural tendency for interviewers to talk too much during the interview or to make quick decisions based on limited information.
4. Keep in mind that there are various types of interview questions appropriate for employment interviews.

Consider the following four types when developing your interview questions.

1. Open questions: Allow for a broad response to be provided by the candidate. Generally the more complex the job, the more open-ended the questions may be in order to secure a range of information regarding qualifications. An open-ended question is typically used to begin an employment interview.
2. Closed questions: are more restrictive in scope, allowing for only a limited response from the candidate. Typically, these are yes/no responses.
3. Primary questions: Introduce topics or new areas and make sense of context.
4. Behavioral questions: Are structured questions that probe past behavior of the candidate. Behavioral questions explore past situations or tasks the candidate experienced, the actions they took in those situations, and the outcomes.

*Remember to avoid leading or loaded questions. Leading questions steer the candidate in a particular direction and loaded questions contain biased or judgmental references.

Most importantly, have fun while interviewing candidates. This will help put them at ease and make it one of the pleasures in your physician recruiting day.

Now, get out there and hire some “docs.”

Dana Butterfield
Regional Physician Recruiter
Gundersen Lutheran

*Materials borrowed from Bridget-Arens Jones, Human Resources Manager, Gundersen Lutheran.