Finding the Right Fit: How to Use the Evidence to Make a Great Hire (FR417)

Abstract

•Identify challenges specific to hiring in palliative care.•Reflect on how programs can prepare themselves to make a good hire by clearly defining their mission and strengths.•Explore strategies for screening and interviewing candidates such as the use of behavioral interviewing techniques and personality tests. Hiring the right person, whether social worker, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or physician, is a high-stakes task in palliative care. This interactive session begins by exploring challenges specific to hiring in palliative care, such as the need to screen for candidates who can process complicated emotional stressors, manage counter-transference, and work well in teams. We will then focus on strategies for making a good hire. First, we will teach how programs can reflect on their mission, vision, strengths, and needs to create a shared mental model of the right candidate and use this model to screen and recruit applicants. Second, we will discuss and practice how to use behavioral interviewing techniques to learn more about how the candidate’s job performance can be gauged during the interview. Finally, we will discuss the use of personality tests as an additional source of information in the hiring process.