Every year, outstanding independent optometry practices lose exceptional candidates.
On paper, everything seems to line up.
The practice has an excellent reputation. The doctors enjoy working together. The staff is friendly, the equipment is modern, compensation is competitive, and everyone leaves the interview feeling optimistic.
Then a few days later, the email arrives.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity, but I’ve decided to pursue another position.”
If you’ve ever experienced this, you’re certainly not alone.
After recruiting optometrists nationwide for more than 17 years, we’ve learned something that surprises many employers.
Great candidates rarely turn down great opportunities because of one major issue. More often, it’s a series of small moments, unanswered questions, and subtle impressions that gradually tip the scales toward another opportunity. Usually, it’s a collection of small moments, unanswered questions, and subtle impressions that gradually tip the scales toward another opportunity.
The encouraging news?
Many of those moments are completely within your control.
Most Practices Don’t Lose Candidates Because They’re Doing Something Wrong
When a candidate declines an offer, it’s natural to wonder what happened.
Did we miss something?
Was our compensation too low?
Did another practice simply outbid us?
Sometimes those things happen. But more often, that’s not the whole story.
Many of the optometry practices we work with are great employers. They provide outstanding patient care, invest in technology, support their doctors, and genuinely care about their teams.
Sometimes another opportunity is simply a better fit.
Perhaps a spouse found an excellent career opportunity elsewhere.
Maybe another community felt more like home.
Or perhaps one practice simply did a better job helping the candidate picture their future there.
The purpose of this article is to help your team improve its chances of signing the candidate you most want to bring on board. It’s to share what we’ve learned after thousands of conversations with optometrists over nearly two decades.
If reading this article helps your practice avoid losing just one outstanding candidate, then it will have been worth writing.
1. It’s Rarely Just About the Money
Compensation matters.
It should.
Every optometrist deserves to be compensated fairly for the education, training, and responsibility that comes with caring for patients.
But after recruiting optometrists for nearly two decades, we’ve learned something interesting.
The highest-paying offer doesn’t always win – Sure, there will always be some small percentage of providers who are solely driven by the bottom line, but that’s not the majority.
Candidates are asking themselves questions that never appear in an employment agreement.
Will I enjoy coming to work every day?
Will a mentor invest in me professionally?
Will I be encouraged to grow?
Will I have the opportunity to practice the kind of optometry I envisioned while I was in school?
Can I picture myself building a career and maybe even raising a family – in this community?
Those questions often carry just as much weight as compensation. Sometimes even more.
The best candidates, the doctors you hope will become an important part of your practice for years to come, aren’t simply looking for a paycheck.
They’re looking for belonging.
They’re looking for purpose, professional fulfillment, intellectually stimulating work, and the camaraderie that comes from being part of a collegial team.
They’re looking for people they’ll enjoy serving alongside for years to come.
2. Today’s Optometrists Have More Choices Than Ever Before
Today’s graduating and experienced optometrists have more career opportunities than any previous generation.
Twenty years ago, many graduates were choosing between private practice and corporate optometry.
Today they may also be considering:
- Independent private practices
- OD/MD groups
- Corporate optometry
- Hospitals and health systems
- Veterans Affairs (VA)
- Community health centers
- Mobile eye care organizations
- Tele health roles
- Specialty practices
That means independent practices aren’t simply competing with the office across town anymore.
They’re competing with nearly every type of eye care employer in the country.
One of the biggest mistakes private practices make is assuming candidates automatically understand why private practice is different.
Many don’t.
You have to tell your story.
3. Never Underestimate the Value of Mentorship
In virtually every conversation we have with optometry students, residents, and new graduates, the topic of mentorship comes up.
Sometimes we bring it up.
Sometimes they do.
But one thing is remarkably consistent.
Young optometrists want mentors.
They want to join a practice where someone genuinely enjoys teaching, encouraging, and helping them become the best doctor they can be.
New graduates know they won’t have all the answers on day one. They understand there will be challenging cases, difficult conversations, and clinical situations they’ve never encountered before.
Most aren’t looking for someone to hold their hand.
They’re looking for someone they trust enough to walk down the hall and ask, “What would you do with this patient?”
That kind of supportive mentorship is incredibly valuable.
In fact, we’ve seen many candidates accept a slightly lower compensation package because they believed the mentorship, clinical growth, and long-term opportunity were worth far more than the extra money.
If mentorship is one of your practice’s strengths, don’t assume candidates will automatically recognize it.
Talk about it.
Show it during the interview.
Introduce candidates to the doctors they’ll be learning from.
One of the best things a practice can do is connect a candidate with an associate who joined the practice just a few years earlier. Let them have an honest conversation without the owners in the room. Candidates often appreciate hearing what those first few years were really like, what challenges they faced, how they grew clinically, and whether the practice truly invested in their success.
For many young optometrists, there is no better endorsement than hearing another doctor say,
“They promised they would mentor me—and they absolutely did.”
4. Move Quickly, Because Momentum Matters
One of the most common recruiting mistakes we see has nothing to do with salary.
It’s time.
The strongest candidates rarely stay available for very long.
If several weeks pass after an interview…
If communication becomes inconsistent…
If no one follows up…
Candidates naturally begin wondering,
“Maybe they’re just not that interested in me.”
Whether that’s true or not almost doesn’t matter.
That’s how it feels.
No practice should rush an important hiring decision. But thoughtful communication, clear timelines, and consistent follow-up and ongoing communication build confidence.
Silence creates doubt.
Momentum builds trust. Keep the communication flowing. If you’ve been in practice for twenty or thirty years, think back to your own interviews- your early days as a freshly minted doctor. Remember how excited you were after visiting a practice that felt like the right fit. Remember how often you checked your phone hoping to hear something. Your candidate is feeling those same emotions today. A simple phone call or email can go a long way toward keeping that excitement alive.
5. Candidates Are Interviewing Your Practice Too
Every interview is a two-way evaluation.
Candidates notice far more than most employers realize.
They notice how your doctors interact with each other.
Whether technicians seem happy.
Whether staff members smile.
How patients are treated.
Whether people seem proud to work there.
A beautiful office can’t hide a stressful culture.
Likewise, a modest practice filled with genuinely happy people can be incredibly attractive.
Candidates don’t experience your culture through your website. They experience it while walking your halls.
6. People Don’t Join Buildings; They Join Missions
This may be my favorite lesson from years of recruiting.
Every independent practice has a story.
Tell it.
Why did your practice begin?
What makes your culture different?
Why do your doctors enjoy coming to work?
How do you care for patients differently?
What opportunities exist five years from now?
People don’t join buildings.
They join people.
They join cultures.
They join a vision or mission they believe in.
One thing we’ve learned over the years is this.
Candidates don’t fall in love with job descriptions.
They fall in love with the people behind the job descriptions.
7. Remember, You May Be Recruiting an Entire Family
In our experience, very few optometrists make career decisions alone. More often than not, accepting a new position is a family decision.
A spouse may be considering career opportunities. Children may be changing schools. Families may be relocating hundreds of miles away and leaving behind grandparents, lifelong friends, and established support systems.
When practices genuinely help candidates picture life outside the office, it leaves a lasting impression.
Talk about your favorite neighborhoods.
Discuss the local schools.
Share your favorite restaurants or coffee shops.
Mention nearby hiking trails, parks, festivals, farmer’s markets or community events.
Tell candidates why you and your own family enjoy living there.
Sometimes candidates fall in love with the practice but still have questions about everything outside the office. Helping them picture what life could look like in your community often eases those concerns.
One thoughtful conversation about life outside the practice can be more meaningful than another conversation about compensation.
One idea we’ve seen work particularly well is scheduling a follow-up call that’s focused entirely on the community rather than the job itself. Invite several of your doctors—and, if appropriate, their spouses—to share what they enjoy most about living there. Talk about neighborhoods, schools, churches, restaurants, hiking trails, weekend activities, and the little things that make your community feel like home.
Sometimes it’s those conversations—not another discussion about salary or benefits—that help a candidate and their family confidently picture building a life in your community. At the end of the day, candidates aren’t just deciding where they’ll work. They’re deciding where they’ll build a life.
8. People Want to Feel Wanted
This may sound simple.
It’s also incredibly important.
Over the years, I’ve heard candidates say essentially the same thing over and over again.
“I didn’t hear anything for several weeks after my site visit, so I don’t think they’re interested in me.”
Candidates remember practices that return phone calls.
Answer questions honestly.
Follow up promptly.
Introduce them to staff.
Express genuine excitement.
Sometimes it’s the little things that leave the biggest impression.
I remember one practice that stayed in touch with a candidate after the interview by sending photos of community events, favorite restaurants, local hiking trails, and places they thought the candidate and spouse would enjoy.
Those weren’t recruiting tactics.
They were authentic gestures from people who genuinely wanted the candidate to picture life in their community.
9. Small Moments Build Trust
Trust isn’t built during one interview.
It’s built through dozens of small interactions.
Prompt communication.
Following through.
Honest answers.
Being prepared.
Keeping promises.
Each one tells candidates something about what it will be like to work with your practice after they’re hired.
The little things matter.
One Final Thought
After recruiting optometrists for nearly two decades, one thing has become abundantly clear.
Doctors aren’t simply choosing jobs.
They’re choosing colleagues they’ll learn from.
Patients.
Communities.
A place where they’ll spend thousands of hours over the coming decades.
Likewise, practices aren’t simply filling an opening.
They’re inviting someone into the future of their organization.
The practices that consistently attract outstanding optometrists aren’t always the largest practices or the ones offering the highest salaries.
More often, they’re the practices that communicate frequently, move with purpose, invest in people, and genuinely care about helping candidates determine whether their opportunity is the right long-term fit.
At OjO, we’ve always believed recruiting is about much more than filling positions. It’s about bringing together great doctors and great practices so both can thrive—and ultimately provide exceptional care for the patients and communities they serve.
Thinking Through Your Next Hire?
Every practice is different, and every optometrist candidate search presents its own unique challenges.
If you’d like to talk through your upcoming search, brainstorm about compensation ideas, discuss mentorship, review your job description, or simply get another perspective on today’s optometry hiring market, we’re always happy to help.
Whether you ultimately partner with OjO or simply use us as a resource, our goal is the same—to help outstanding practices connect with outstanding doctors.
Feel free to reach out anytime. We’d enjoy the conversation. Email us anytime at info@ojorecruiting.com
Other Articles and Resources for Practices Hiring Optometrists
Why Some Ophthalmology and Optometry Practices Struggle to Recruit Doctors
OD Compensation 2026: Salary, Bonuses, PTO & What We Typically See.
Why More Ophthalmology Practices Are Hiring Medical Optometrists.
Why Fast Employment Offers Matter in Ophthalmology & Optometry Recruitment.
