When you hire the right pharmacists, pharmacy techs and cashiers, you save your pharmacy time and money. Hiring employees who are a good fit for your pharmacy—and for the positions—can improve your business. The right team will boost morale, increase productivity and keep patients coming back. Hiring right is often easier said than done, however. No community pharmacy owner offers someone a position knowing that person is completely wrong for the job. You usually find that out later.
How do you hire the right person for the right job—the first time? Be willing to put the effort needed into the hiring process. Don’t view it as taking time away from what you should be doing. Hiring the best employees you can find is what you need to focus on—for the good of your business. Use these five tips to hire an outstanding pharmacy team.
1. Be on the lookout
It’s a good idea to always keep your eyes open for potential employees, even when you’re not hiring. Positions often come open unexpectedly. Ask for referrals from trusted employees, pharmacy schools, your state pharmacy association and other community pharmacy owners. So, the next time you’re down one tech and your pharmacist is stressed, you can more easily fill the open position with a quality individual.
2. Create a process
Streamline your hiring process by setting a standard procedure. How long will you accept applications? How many people will you ask to come in for interviews? Knowing what steps you’ll take throughout the hiring process will save you time. Once you set a process, give yourself time to call references and do phone interviews before you bring candidates in for face-to-face interviews. Ask the right questions during your phone interviews, so you don’t waste time bringing in a candidate who won’t work out. Some key questions include:
- What are your career goals? Where do you want to be in five years?
- Why do you want this job?
- What challenges are you looking for in a position?
- What are your best skills?
- What are you not good at or not interested in doing?
3. Prepare for interviews
Before a face-to-face interview, you’ll already know the ins and outs of the candidate’s résumé, so don’t focus solely on past work experience. Dig deeper. The point of doing an in-person interview is to determine if the candidate will fit with the culture of your pharmacy, and to find out if he or she will get along with your other employees. Really think about the questions you want to ask and how they’ll help show you more about that person. Some questions to bring out a candidate’s personality include:
- What would your best friend say about you?
- If you could take back one career decision, what would it be?
- Tell me about a significant project or accomplishment that you completed.
- What questions do you have for me?
4. Get perspective
Hiring a mediocre employee will cause your business to suffer from that employee’s mistakes, failures and missed opportunities. Think lost patients, poor customer service and weakened customer loyalty. To prevent hiring an unsuccessful employee, it’s a good idea to get multiple perspectives about a potential hire. Ask trusted employees, like your long-time pharmacists, to sit in on an interview or to conduct separate interviews with the individual. Get their honest feedback about candidates before you make any decisions.
5. Continuously train
Your staff is likely one of your pharmacy’s best assets, especially if your business focuses on providing top-notch service to patients. Hiring the right people is an ongoing process.
Once you hire your employees, you have to make sure to set clear expectations and standards. Even the best employees won’t meet expectations if they don’t know what those expectations are. Consistently monitor your employees to make sure you have the right people doing the right tasks—the ones they’re good at and that they find enjoyable. Be generous with praise and let your employees know when they can make improvements. A positive work environment paired with the right employees will only improve your business.
