07/31/2024
Are you a practice owner looking to hire licensed clinicians? Who does interviewing? Do they have some HR experience to know the questions to ask, how to ask and what questions they can’t? Some knowledge of behavioral interviewing is a must. On-boarding matters!
Please see my interview of HR Consultant Mike Mastrioanni, MAT President of MDM Consulting.
https://mdmbusinessconsulting.com/ As a behavioral health consultant I find working with a HR consultant to be invaluable
Mike Mastroianni, MAT, President, MDM Consulting
Mike Mastroianni is President of MDM Consulting, a firm specializing in training, coaching, leadership development, planning, and Human Resources support. Now many private practices have to compete with each other for licensed clinicians. A smooth on-boarding process sets new hires up for success and makes them feel welcome.
Mike Mastroianni: Interviewing can be an excellent way to determine which candidate most closely represents the skill and personality you are looking for. "People on paper", that is, relying on a resume alone does not tell you enough about a candidate for you to make a good decision. To understand some simple points when interviewing can help you make better decisions on which candidate to select. The purpose of this writing is to help you in that regard.
First, years ago, a survey was done asking HR Professionals what was the strangest interviews you ever conducted. A lot of humorous answers were submitted. My favorite three were; woman who sprawled out on the floor to fill out the application form, the man who said if hired, he would have the company logo tattooed on his forehead, and my number one favorite (one that relates here) is the person who phoned his therapist to see how to answer the interviewer's question!
THE OVERALL GOAL: in interviewing is a lot like that in counseling: Get people to feel comfortable so that they tell you more (the more comfortable they feel, the more they reveal)
The SECOND GOAL: Don't ask illegal questions. There are protected groups, and to attempt to discern if someone is a member of one of those groups, or questions that negatively reflect on a person who is a member of those groups is an illegal question. This usually occurs in the small talk before the interview starts. Examples include:
• So will you be able to make adequate child care arrangements to get to work on time?
• Is that an Italian name? I LOVE Italian food!
• So will your husband be OK with the hours we require
• When were you born and in what country?
• Have you had any workers comp or other physical issues that would prevent you from doing this job?
• I've never worked with anyone who asked me to use certain pronouns
There are others, but this is an entire class in and of itself. Suffice it to say, be careful of the small talk. Ask ONLY job related questions.
Here are some considerations to help you in interviews.
Step 1: Design a template that lists the skills, educational background, and personality traits you are looking for in a candidate. In this way, this document can be used as a template to compare against the candidates so that you are comparing them all on the same criteria.
Step 2: Design 5 or 6 questions that you will ask ALL of the candidates. I suggest that they are questions that the candidates assume they will be asked, like, "tell me about yourself", "what are your strengths and areas you are working to improve", "why did you leave your last job and what draws you to this position". It is difficult to discriminate illegally against a candidate when the questions for all candidates were the same.
Step 3: Prepare follow up questions. These do not all have to be the same, because they will depend on the candidates' answers to the other questions.
Step 4: Three types of questions:
a. Closed ended (questions that can easily be answered with a yes or no) example: Did you like the people you worked with?
b. Open ended questions (questions that require more of a response from the candidate and start with tell me about, what, why, how, when) example: Tell me about how you got along with the people you worked with.
c. Behavior-based questions (questions that ask the candidates to dig a little
deeper and develop a very specific answer) example: Describe someone who you didn't really like in your past jobs, and how you overcame that to get along better with them. (use these in the second part of the interview and give them time to respond. Also, use the technique in step 5 after their response to make them feel comfortable.)
Step 5: Techniques
a. downplay the negative things said: Candidate: I have a problem with the last supervisor. Interviewer: I get that..we all have people that are a pain to work with. Tell me how you overcame that problem.
b. verbal acknowledgment when they "brag": Candidate: My safety program saved them hundreds of dollars in lost time. Interviewer: That is awesome. I bet they were happy to have you provide that creative idea!
c. mirroring: Interviewer: So what you're saying is that you prefer a job where the supervision is loose and not so rigid.
d. Pause: (sometimes you just keep quiet and let them talk)
Step 6: CHECK REFERENCES.
Hopefully some of these ideas can provide a guide to how to get the most from your interview. MDM is offering a special consultation fee to behavioral health practice owners to provide other HR recommendations for your practice.
