Hiring for passion

Do you want to know what the best hiring decision I ever made was? I hired someone who knew nothing about the industry who was wildly over qualified and who when asked where she wanted to be in five years mentioned being somewhere far removed from the position I was hiring her for. In fact, far removed from any position I could ever offer her.

I needed a CSC (receptionist), but the hospital had larger far reaching problems that needed to be addressed as well, and no money to address them. So, I hired her. She had a degree in marketing from an Ivy League school and she wanted to work in a big nationally recognized progressive zoo as a marketing professional. To do that, she felt she needed to know something about the animal profession as a whole.

I knew she wasn't going to stay, and rather than that serving as a negative mark against her, I saw that as a positive. I did not want someone for whom answering phones all day was their lifelong ambition. I wanted - and the hospital needed - someone with ambition, talent and a clear vision.

I have never had a better employee - in fact partner - to help move a foundering hospital forward. She built the website, she educated me about marketing, she helped set up outreach events and was a valuable sounding board for all of my non-medical changes.

I could not have achieved half as much had I hired someone whose grand ambition was to answer phones all day - just get the work done and go home.

Too often we (I speak for myself here too) look for the easy way out on hiring. The process sucks - there's no elegant way to put it. You have to sift through dozens or hundreds of resumes, interview, vet and hire, then train and hope the person stays there until one of you dies.

However, there are times and situations when we should look for something greater than a body to fill a space. After all, you have a vision for your hospital - you have a goal and a trajectory to get you there. A progressive hospital is always changing. Employees who just want to put in the time may rustle no feathers, they may do their job well, but they tend to be change averse. They will silently drag the hospital towards stasis, they will serve as an anchor.

So, next time you need someone, especially if your hospital has other challenges take a chance and hire someone whose greater ambition is to be more than what they are today. They will able to understand your desire to make your hospital more than what it is today. They will also likely have the tools to help you bring about those changes.

I believe that every hire needs to bring something new to a practice. If I do not learn something from a new hire then I have made a mistake.

Now, am I saying that it was inevitable that this brilliant hire turned out the way it did? No, I fully realize that could have been just as big a disaster as it was a success. Luck plays a part - I don't care how many psychological profiles you subject people to, you're going to blow it from time to time. It's called taking a chance for a reason, but I assure you, there are times when it will pay off beyond your wildest dreams.