OR Manager - November 2019 - 14

Human resources
Soup to nuts recruitment: Finding and onboarding
OR nurses-Part 3
ecruiting OR staff who will best
meet culture and competency
expectations is a three-pronged
process that starts with a sound marketing
strategy, progresses to the application
and interview stage, and concludes
with the decision to hire and onboard.
Parts 1 and 2 of this three-part series
covered the roles that marketing and
interviewing play in recruiting potential
employees (OR Manager, September
2019, 21-23; October 2019, 11-13).
Once these steps have been completed,
how can a manager best decide whether
to hire a particular candidate? And how
can new employees be onboarded in
a way that enhances retention? Part 3
answers these questions.
R
Making the decision
Jane McLeod,
MS, RN
Reference checks for
candidates may be completed
by human resources
(HR) staff or the
OR manager. Alina Rosquete,
senior client recruiter
at Cleveland Clinic
Florida in Weston, recommends
asking candidates
for names, telephone numbers,
and emails of former coworkers. " When
calling, introduce yourself and the [facility]
you work for, and ask specific questions, "
she says, suggesting managers
limit the number of questions to three.
Managers should ask candidates for
permission to contact references and
should delve more deeply into statements
such as, " She was a great employee, "
by asking for specifics: " What
made her so great? " Red flags should go
up if the reference contact is difficult to
reach or reluctant to provide information.
Once the reference check is complete,
managers need to review the information
gleaned from applications,
interviews, and job shadowing as they
consider key factors in making the final
hiring decision (sidebar, p 15). It's important
to avoid hiring someone simply
14
OR Manager | November 2019
to fill a position. " Sometimes managers
get desperate during a shortage
and hire nurses who they know are not
a good fit for their department, " says
Rose Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN,
professor emeritus at Florida Atlantic
University in Boca Raton and author of
The Nurse Leader Coach: Become the
Boss No One Wants to Leave. " It becomes
a huge mistake for them. "
Preston
Miller,
MAOM, SPHR,
SHRM-SCP
Rosquete points out
other mistakes managers
commonly make
when selecting a candidate:
being overly influenced
by personal preferences
such as looks
and choosing someone
who is overqualified or a
relative of another employee
in the department.
Preston Miller, MAOM, SPHR,
SHRM-SCP, human resources director
for Houston Methodist Hospital-Texas
Medical Center, says managers should
be aware that " we sometimes hire people
who are like us, but that's not always
what we need. " He recommends
diversity in thinking and diversity in background
and skill set.
Jane McLeod, MS, RN, co-founder/
principal for Capstone Leadership Solutions,
Inc, in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan,
says it's important not to automatically
eliminate new grads or those without
OR experience, particularly those who
came to nursing from a previous career.
" When nursing is a second or third career
for people, they know what they
want, " she says. For instance, surgical
technologists (STs) may choose to
become nurses, or those with healthrelated
jobs in the military may know
they want to specialize in surgery.
McLeod also recommends reflecting
on the highest performing individual on
the current team. " Write down what
you think their great qualities are, and
look for those qualities in everybody you
hire, " she says.
A speedy decision is courteous for
the applicant and helps move the process
forward. If a person isn't deemed
to be a good fit, managers might want
to consider whether another department
would benefit from the person's talents.
If all goes well, the applicant will accept
the offer, and the manager can look
ahead to onboarding a new employee.
But managers can't relax until that first
day; employees have to continually be
" recruited " to promote retention.
Avoiding radio silence
" We look at the moment when they
accept an offer as when they become
employees within the hospital, even
though legally that doesn't happen until
the first day, " Miller says. " From the
moment of acceptance, the person is
building perceptions of us. " That's why
it's important not to go on cruise control
until the first day of work.
During the lag time from hire to start
date, " it's important to keep new employees
engaged and excited, and to
set them up for a solid beginning, " says
Bruce Tulgan, founder and chief executive
officer of RainmakerThinking, Inc, a
research, training, and consulting firm
in New Haven, Connecticut (http://rainmakerthinking.com),
and best-selling
author of It's Okay to Be the Boss. Managers
can consider several strategies.
Communicate regularly. Stay in
touch with regular emails or other communications,
not only from HR but also
from the new employee's manager and
colleagues. For example, key people
could send emails describing what they
do and how they will be interacting with
the new employee. At Cleveland Clinic
Florida, new hires receive a welcome
letter that describes the first day and
contains contact information for the recruiter
and manager, as well as a user
name/password so they can review benefits
information. At Indiana University
Health (IU Health) in Indianapolis, Aaron
Wilson, MSN, MBA, RN, CEN, NE-BC,
www.ormanager.com
http://rain http://www.makerthinking.com http://www.ormanager.com
OR Manager - November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OR Manager - November 2019
