Understanding and articulating your company culture is the first step to hiring great employees. A recent study by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) revealed that hires that don’t fit the company culture can lead to employee turnover, costing an organization between 50-60 percent of that person’s salary. So it’s important to pay attention to culture right from the very beginning. Hiring therapists who match your company culture will pay off in employee engagement, which leads to great employee retention rates, which leads to financial success.

So how exactly, do you find therapists that fit within your culture?  What can you do to include cultural fit in your list of must-haves for new hires?

Here are a few places to begin:

1. Know what you’re looking for. Unless your company has defined the type of person who will thrive in their environment, you’ll have to figure it out on your own. Look at your company’s core values and the employees who have been around forever. What do they have in common? Lou Adler, an expert in Hiring for Performance, offers 5 Steps for Defining Your Company’s Culture and a host other resources in this article.
2. Communicate with your hiring point person. Once you know the qualities you need in an employee, make sure you brief your hiring managers. Let’s face it – especially in hard to fill jobs like PT, OT, and SLP, it takes courage to turn down an applicant who isn’t the right fit. Taking the time to communicate what qualifications and personality types are needed to fit best in your facility’s culture, and convincing the people who are on the front lines in your talent search that this is your first priority, requires commitment and skill.
3. Examine your interview process. Finding the right person for the job requires going above and beyond the standard interview. Reinventing your interview process usually involves investing in various tests and assessments, as well coming up with experiences that give a candidate a true glimpse of what your company is like. Some helpful assessments are the Gallup Strengths Finder Test, the Kolbe Index, or even using an online simulated gaming environment designed to replicate your company culture, such as The Journey.
4. Ask the right interview questions. Your interview questions can help you uncover how well a therapist may fit within the culture of your facility. Consider asking any of the following and paying close attention to the response:
   1. Describe the type of work environment in which you’re most successful.
   2. Why do you want to work for this organization?
   3. Describe a time when you felt you did NOT fit well with a company’s culture. What was the culture like and what didn’t work for you?
5. Offer tours and gauge reactions. You can immerse potential hires in your culture by taking them on a facility tour as part of the interview process. The candidate will be able to see firsthand what your facility is like, and you should be able to read on his or her face whether or not the candidate feels comfortable.
6. Involve multiple stakeholders. Make sure everyone in the office has a chance to interact with your potential new hire. Even if it’s just saying hello, each member of your existing team will have valuable input on how well the person matches your culture. Expanding the interview process to include a variety of circumstances is also helpful; for example, going out for lunch, direct one on one questioning, or casual conversation in a waiting room. All of these settings and interactions reveal aspects of your potential new hire’s character.
7. Partner up with a niche recruiter. Due to the high demand for therapists, recruiting Physical and Occupational Therapists, as well as speech language pathologists, is difficult and time consuming. Raising your standards to find a therapist who also matches your company culture makes the job even more difficult. PT Solutions can help. We’re run by therapists for therapists—and our employment specialists will work with you to understand exactly what kind of employee you need to match your corporate culture. To learn more about our services, contact us today.