When Urgency Changes the Way We Evaluate Candidates
Every eye care practice eventually reaches a point where the need for another provider becomes urgent.
It may be an ophthalmologist.
It may be an optometrist.
Regardless, the pressure feels the same.
Schedules are full. Doctors are overworked. Staff members are stretched thin. Patients are waiting longer than anyone would like. Retiring doctors want to wind down, not up. Referring doctors begin sending patients elsewhere. Everyone feels the pressure to find help.
And that’s exactly when practices become vulnerable to making one of the most expensive hiring mistakes they’ll ever make.
Not because they intentionally lower their standards.
Because urgency quietly changes the way they evaluate candidates. Things they once viewed as concerns suddenly become acceptable.
Desperation has a way of turning red flags into yellow flags.
The more urgent the hiring need becomes, the easier it is to explain away concerns you wouldn’t normally ignore.
It rarely happens all at once.
Instead, it sounds something like this:
“Yes, communication wasn’t great…but we can work on that.”
“I’m not sure they’re the best personality fit…but we desperately need another provider.”
“The partners weren’t completely convinced…but this candidate can start in two months.”
Before long, the practice isn’t hiring the candidate they believe is the best long-term fit.
They’re hiring the candidate who solves today’s staffing problem the fastest.
Over the years, I’ve seen practices hire both ophthalmologists and optometrists despite having reservations during the interview process. Not because they believed the candidate was the best long-term fit, but because they desperately needed another provider.
Sometimes those hires work out.
But when the reservations that surfaced during the interview were genuine, they rarely disappear after the doctor starts.
They become everyday realities.
Communication issues.
Personality conflicts.
Different expectations.
Frustrated partners.
Frustrated staff.
Eventually, the practice and the doctor realize the relationship isn’t what either side had hoped it would be.
Sometimes the physician resigns.
Sometimes the practice decides it’s time to move in a different direction.
Either way, everyone ends up back where they started.
The practice has lost valuable time, invested thousands of dollars in recruiting and onboarding, and now faces another provider vacancy. The doctor has uprooted their career—and often their family—only to begin another job search.
This doesn’t mean every candidate has to be perfect.
No doctor is.
Every physician and optometrist has strengths, areas for growth, and different personality traits.
But there’s a big difference between hiring someone who isn’t perfect and hiring someone you’re already trying to convince yourself is the right fit.
If you’re explaining away concerns that genuinely matter to your practice simply because the candidate can start sooner, it’s worth asking yourself one simple question:
Am I hiring this doctor because I believe they’re the right fit…or because I need someone now?
Those are two very different reasons for making one of the most important decisions your practice will make.
The irony is that waiting a few more months for the right provider is often far less costly than hiring the wrong one and starting the recruiting process all over again a year later.
At OjO Recruitment Agency, our goal has never been to simply fill an opening. It’s to help practices build teams that are still thriving years from now.
Sometimes that means encouraging a practice to move quickly.
Sometimes it means encouraging them to wait.
When you’re desperate, the greatest risk isn’t that you won’t find a doctor. It’s that you’ll convince yourself the wrong doctor is the right one.
Reach out to us anytime.
Hiring a provider is one of the most important decisions your practice will make. If you’d like an objective perspective on a candidate—or simply want to talk through your hiring strategy—we’d be glad to help. There’s never any obligation, just an honest conversation. Email us at info@ojorecruiting.com
