Speaker: Good workers in your community could be future staff members
ATLANTA — Every staff member has an important role in the optometric practice, so effective hiring is critical, according to two presenters at SECO 2024.
Frances Bynum, OD, owner at Northwest Tennessee Eye Clinic, compared an eye clinic to a pit crew.
“Everybody in the pit crew has a role, whether it’s putting a tire on, tightening lug nuts or refueling,” Bynum said. “It’s a timing thing, and they do it in record time because they practice until they can’t get it wrong; then the car is back on the track.
“If you think about our practices, we’re a little bit like that all day long,” she said. “Everybody has a role, but what happens if someone doesn’t do their role efficiently?”
Bynum and co-presenter Tonya Reynoldson, OD, MBA, senior eye care director at Acuity Eyecare Group, polled the audience and most agreed on the difficulty of hiring good employees.
You can teach skills, Bynum and Reynoldson said, but you cannot teach attitude.
“I challenge you: Instead of waiting for someone to send you a resume, look into your community and observe people who do a good job, whatever their craft is,” Bynum said
Observe how the barista at the coffee shop and the teller at the bank treat you, she added.
“This is called poaching,” Reynoldson said.
Bynum said of the last two people she hired, one was a team member’s recommendation and the other was the drive-thru teller at her bank.
“The teller always took good care of me,” she said. “I offered, and she came to work for me.”
Reynoldson said her hiring staff “poaches” but also uses social media and recruiters.
“I use LinkedIn and then from there go to their Facebook page,” she said.
“I would never go get someone who works in another eye doctor’s office,” Bynum said. “One exception is someone who moved to my community. But, typically, I don’t want those people. I want to train them myself.”
Bynum and Reynoldson also discussed how some people do not interview well.
“I invite potential employees to a staff meeting so I can see how they’ll interact with my staff,” Bynum said.
When checking references, Bynum said you need only ask one question: Would you hire them again?
“It’s not only what they say, but how they say it,” she said. “But remember that people will only choose references who will say good things about them.”
The speakers also urged attendees to do background checks on potential employees.
“I remind applicants that when they sign the application it acknowledges that I’ll be doing a background check,” Bynum said.
Her local police department also suggested doing a credit check.
“They said I’d be surprised what a credit check would tell you about someone, especially if they’re handling money in my office,” Bynum said.
She said the police department charges $100 for a background check. An audience member said an online service also provides background and credit checks for a nominal fee.
This presentation was part of SECO’s MedPro360 program, of which Healio is the official media partner.
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Bynum F, Reynoldson T. Teambuilding: Creating the best staff in challenging times. Presented at: SECO; Feb. 28-March 3, 2024; Atlanta.
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