I was recently reading a report by The Adler Group and LinkedIn’s Recruitment Insights team titled “The Job-Seeking Status of the Fully-Employed.”  The whitepaper included a lot of metrics from a survey they conducted in September of 2010 seeking a better understanding of the job seeking behavior of professionals in the U.S.

83% (4,543 people) of the respondents in the survey categorized themselves as “fully employed,” but not “self-employed.”  The whitepaper then made the statement that “this is the group most companies want to target for hiring purposes.”  We’ll pause here because it’s important to note that there wasn’t anything in the study that backed this statement statistically, it was just an assumption on the part of the writers.  An assumption most likely steeped in experience, but an assumption never the less.  It is a popular notion that the fully-employed are the most desirable candidates, and a fact that the unemployed have more difficulty finding work than the already employed, but it’s worth considering, do the fully-employed always make the best candidates?  My experience is that more times that not, but certainly not an absolute.  I’ll let you ponder that question, and we’ll move on to other findings of the study.

1.  Most fully-employed are not actively looking for jobs, but most are “open to discussing opportunities.”

2.  If someone is actively looking, finding them early in their job-seeking process drives up the overall “quality” of candidates.

3.  If you want to target the fully-employed when you recruit, you aren’t going to find them on “static” job boards.

4.  The more active a fully-employed job-seeker, the more “junior” is their tenure.

5.  The vast majority of fully-employed Senior Managers are not actively looking.

6.  Just because someone is fully-employed, and says they are not looking, that does NOT mean they are completely satisfied with their job.

The predominant message in this piece was, if you want to recruit the fully-employed, passive-seeker then you need to adjust your recruiting strategies in order to target those professionals (and be aware that most of the solutions out there primarily attract the active job-seeker and unemployed).  ”With 60% of the fully-employed professional workforce either “tiptoers” or “explorers,” most corporate recruiting departments need to focus on ways to proactively influence and convert these harder to reach candidates.”

Does that messaging ring a bell?  Since 2008, Local Eye Site (LES) has been committed to and executing upon a strategy that gives employers in the eye care industry a very easy way to recruit both the active and passive, employed and unemployed eye care professional.  Jobs posted to LES primarily reside on localeyesite.com, and we get our fair share of the active job-seeking eye care professionals to our site.  However, what LES provides beyond your posting on localeyesite.com is what truly sets up apart.

The LES Power Network is a collection of industry publications, websites and associations that receive, display and promote a feed of LES’ customer jobs after they are posted on LES.  In addition to representing the industry’s largest audience of ECPs, what makes our Power Network uniquely powerful is that your job is served to ECPs in the places they already congregate for education, information, communication and to stay abreast of industry happenings.  The result, you guessed it, is that LES serves your job to a large audience of the passive and active, employed and unemployed ECPs. All you have to do is post your job on localeyesite.com.  We take care of the rest.

The LES Power Network includes career pages on ATPO/JCAHPO, ASORN, Review of Ophthalmology, Review of Optometry, 20/20 Magazine, Vision Monday Magazine, SightNation, Review of Optometric Business, and more.

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When it comes to recruiting staff for your practice or organization, do you consider the various characteristics and “selling” features of your job.  If not, then you are missing the opportunity to speak the language of many good candidates, and therefore, diminishing the likelihood of landing the best fit.

As you consider this question, remember that most of us have been greatly influenced by the generation we were born to.  Our workplace today consists of at least three generations, the Boomers (born 1945-’64), Gen X (1965-’78) and Gen Y (born in the 80’s or early 90’s).  Like any generation, members of these groups have grown up with influences that have shaped their concerns, values and interests.  Part of this shaping is that the boomers and the subsequent generations think very differently about the workplace.

Independence, flexibility, diversity, and “work-life balance,” are characteristics more likely to motivate Gen X, and to an even greater degree Gen Y.  Gen X and Y individuals typically are not intimidated by technology, can be aggressive, inquisitive, demanding, and predictably will challenge your dress code!  Boomers on the other hand are often most interested in stability, loyalty, traditional management structure, and will probably be more focused, but less likely to be tech savvy.

So, what does this look like when translated to recruiting language?  I found a couple of examples from job postings that I believe exhibit organizations that captured language that will appeal more so with one generation than the other.

Language more likely to resonate with Gen X or Y

“Each of our physicians provide the types of eye care that they feel comfortable with. We have doctors treating cataracts to strabismus, glaucoma to lasik, refracting for glasses to performing retinal lasers, providing contact lenses to blepharoplasties. We provide care to neonates thru centurians in both of our large fully equipped offices.”

Language more likely to resonate with Baby-Boomers

“A career in the Eye Care industry could provide you with long-term employment stability. Proven within our organization, many employees have been here for 10, 20 and some even over 30 years.”

Despite the fact that the oldest group of boomers are reaching retirement eligibility age, recruiting messaging to this generation continues to be relevant.  The boomers are working longer than their previous generation, and many of them have no intention of retiring any time soon.  At Local Eye Site, we’ve employed several Gen Y’ers who comfort level with technology has been a tremendous asset, but we’ve also employed more than one boomer, and we currently work with a part-time CFO that is a boomer.  His knowledge, experience and connections have proven to be very helpful for our business.  Here is what he had to say about his experiences with a multi-generational workforce:

“I know for a fact that I have difficulty understanding how a very attractive dollar amount is frequently rejected because the administrative structure of the work (no flex time, can’t work from home, feeling that collaboration is a waste of time) is not conducive to a Gen X or Y priorities.  One candidate rejected an offer we once made because he didn’t see us doing enough “give back” activity to the needy/community.  While I view all the elements of a great work environment important, they are not the drivers to me that they are to younger employees.  Our generational thought is geared to work VERY hard, put in lots of extra time, sacrifice family for the good of the company, salute the corporate hierarchy, and keep your mouth shut.  Hardly the priorities of today’s 30-year old, who can be your best employees.”

There is no question that generational diversity is a reality in today’s workplace, so learn to speak the language of all of these groups in order to cast a broader net.  Your results depend on it.

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As I write this, our economy continues to limp along at a snail’s pace.  It seems every time we read some good news, it’s just a matter of a days before corresponding bad data rains on our parade.  Whether it‘s the US employment figures, the debt crisis at home and abroad, the U.S. trade deficit or health care reform that’s got you down, the result remains that our confidence in the economy remains shaky.

Fortunately, we work in healthcare, one of the few bright spots in today’s economy.  The boomers are getting older, people are living longer (not healthier), and we expect more to be insured, so demand for our services is growing at a pace exceeding our ability to provide the necessary care.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Healthcare has added an average of 24,000 jobs per month over the 12 months prior to June of 2011.  Compare that to employment statistics in Construction or Manufacturing and you’ll understand how remarkable that number is.

It’s not all roses in healthcare, however.  Eye care professionals have real concerns about the near-term.  The healthcare reform debate, Medicare reimbursement rates and the impact of the economy on discretionary spending have limited the upside and tempered the mood, even in healthcare.  The mood of today’s Ophthalmologists would be best described as one of cautiousness.

The delicate balance that Ophthalmologists face (as does any small business owner) is the fine line between appropriately fueling your practice to maximize it’s revenue potential, without taking unnecessary risks and spending out of proportion with today’s economic environment.  Ophthalmic practices are looking to cap or cut expenses without impacting its lifeblood, patients.

As a small business owner, I relate to the feelings of uncertainty that creep in when making decisions impacting overhead, and none of those decisions are more impactful than decisions affecting staffing.  Keeping overhead manageable is important, and because there are lots of things out of our control, is it better to play it safe, and do more with less?  That’s good to a degree, but in my estimation, when it comes to staff there is a shallow point of diminishing returns.

Nothing is more important than people.  Nothing.  The most significant decisions we have ever made at Local Eye Site have all revolved around human resources.  Bad hires can seriously derail a business, and good hires can get it on track.  At their core, every practice, and every business is defined by its people.  People define its culture, and in turn the service it provides, and the feelings of its customers.

Back to doing more with less.  Prudence is good; maximizing productivity of the resources you have is good.  Making staffing decisions based purely on the short term bottom line is bad for business in the long run.  Making an long term investment in highly trained and experienced people of good character to a large measure define your business, and enable you to separate yourself from your competition.

Let’s consider Technicians as a position that greatly impacts the experience and level of care that your patients (customers) have, and what they tell their friends.  Do you hire experienced, highly trained and certified technicians?  What does certification say to you about the level of commitment to career (and care) of the technician, versus the not-certified technician?  Perhaps you hire “good people” that you will train?  I would suggest that hiring good people is in fact very important, but those good people should also be experienced, well-trained, and committed to our their careers and our industry.

Tara McAlister, Manager of Staff Development at Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat (CEENTA) in Charlotte, NC had this to say:

“Ophthalmic medical office practice productivity has become increasingly more important over the last several years with reductions in Medicare reimbursements and impending changes in healthcare. The most efficient way to control costs is to ensure that each task is performed accurately by personnel who are well qualified and trained in the latest techniques in ophthalmic diseases and conditions.”

Ms. McAlister knows that, especially in this economic environment, it pays dividends to invest in people that are highly trained and qualified.  If you are going to maximize the productivity and quality of care from your human resources, it’s best to start with quality resources.

A study published in Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists in 2008 by Woodworth, Jr., C.O.M.T., C.O.E., et al set out to “compare ophthalmic practice productivity and performance attributes, as rated by employing ophthalmologists, of noncertified and three levels of certified ophthalmic medical personnel (OMPs).”  385 American and Canadian ophthalmologists assessed 14 desirable professional attributes and 10 practice productivity measures.  OMPs were rated on attributes such as patient care, satisfaction and reduced patient complaints, doctor productivity, ability to work independently and be trained to perform multiple roles, good judgement, initiative, drive and revenue per patient.

Results showed that a statistically significant number of ophthalmologists believed that certified personnel showed more of all 14 of the personal attributes considered desirable compared to noncertified OMPs.  The study concluded that “compared to noncertified personnel, the employment of certified ophthalmic personnel enhances the quality and productivity of an ophthalmic practice.  Overall practice productivity is increased with certified ophthalmic personnel.”  Finally, Woodworth et al stated…

“The most efficient way to control costs is to ensure that each task is performed accurately by personnel who are neither under - nor over-trained for the given task.”

William Ehlers, MD President of the JCAHPO agrees:

“A key to increasing ophthalmologist productivity and efficiency is delegating eye exam tasks to their eye care team, especially to certified ophthalmic medical personnel.” Dr. Ehlers continued “Canadian and U.S. studies have shown that certified personnel made the greatest contributions to productivity in key areas such as triage screening, trouble-shooting rapport, doctor productivity, and number of patients seen per hour.  There is a growing recognition that certified personnel bring added value and a competitive advantage to their employers that increases their bottom line.”

As you consider how to best navigate the rough waters of this economy, be a good steward of your resources, but don’t cut corners on your people.  Making an investment in quality human resources will ultimately increase your practice’s productivity, reputation, competitiveness and profitability.  Happy hiring!

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy beat expectations in April and added 268,000 jobs in the private sector, 37,000 of them in health care. February and March employment numbers were revised positively as well. The economy has added 2.1 million private sector jobs since February, 2010, and over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 1.9%.

It is important, however, to keep these positive employment statistics in perspective. Consistent with Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke’s forecast, the labor market is only “gradually improving.” Continued progress for some time to come is needed, as the continuing high overall unemployment rate (9% in April) suggests.

Even with these numbers in perspective, it does appear that businesses have more confidence in the positive momentum of the economy. Employment is a good indicator of this, and recent unprecedented activity at Local Eye Site supports the notion of improved business confidence and an improving labor market.

What does this mean for your practice or organization? We believe that the combination of an improving business environment, and the inevitable affects of increased demand for eye care resulting from the influx of aging baby boomers will result in a significantly changing labor market over the coming months and years. It is well documented that we have a growing need for health care than is outpacing the training of providers at just about every level. As this dynamic becomes more evident, and business confidence improves, competition for this limited supply of health care physicians and support staff will heat up. Have you thought strategically about how your organization will respond to that?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself and your partners about your staffing plan:

1. Do we strategically think and act on staffing at times when we are fully staffed?

2. Is it time to move pro-actively, and replace some “C-players” with “A-players?”

3. Is our practice administrator or office manager charged with, and given time to think pro-actively about staffing?

4. My practice does have an employer brand. Do we know what it is? Do we really care?

5. Are we paying our staff market value?

We are all really busy, so especially if you are fully staffed, it is easy to let staffing slip to the back-burner. However, we also know that staffing is a top concern for most practices. Could it be that a lack of strategic planning is contributing to the pain you feel with regards to short-term staffing needs, and finally, what will be the impact of that to our practice in an increasingly more competitive staffing market?

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One thing we have learned in the past couple of years of this economy is that when a piece of equipment is not being used, eye care professionals are willing to get creative so they may get something they need.  Often, the idea of swapping product “X” for product “Y” gets the deal done.

For example, a recent customer had an older Zeiss IOL Master. She was not thrilled with the wholesale value through brokers and did not want to be in “selling mode” while running a busy practice. When asked if there was any other piece of equipment she was looking for, she said a good corneal topographer. The end result was the swap of a Zeiss Atlas 995 for an IOL Master. The customer was happy, and the relative value was equal and the deal was done.

Another creative swap example was with an eye care professional who had a lease on imaging equipment. She wanted to sell it, but was tied into a lease for three more years. She was interested in a fundus camera that actually had greater value than the imaging equipment. Because of this, the lease company was open to swapping the equipment because they would now hold title to something of greater value. We then took the imaging equipment and sold it to someone who happened to be looking for that particular item.

What ingredients are necessary to make a swap work?

1. You need to have an idea of the relative value of the product you want to trade.
2. You need to have an idea of the relative value of the product you want.
3. You need to find a willing seller.

Of course, this is not a simple proposition, but with thousands of eye care professionals that browse the Equipment Exchange every day, it is indeed possible.  Be creative and let everyone know you are open to a trade.

As always, if you need assistance in navigating this trade or help determining relative values, please ask a question on the Equipment Exchange or email Bob or Todd  at the Eye Care Alliance.

bpadula@eyecarealliance.com
todd@eyecarealliance.com

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Local Eye Site (LES) has been privileged to host thousands of eye care related job postings.  Over the years we have observed the good, the bad, and the ugly in online recruitment advertising.  Here we offer some tips and suggestions for ways to make your online recruitment advertising more effective.

Anonymity Hurts

With LES and most online solutions, you do have the option to post your jobs anonymously.  Depending on the circumstances, it is understandable that certain situations require discreteness.  However, in a relatively small industry like eye care, posting your job without revealing the employer will have a significant affect on your volume of responses for several reasons.  First, the job-seeker doesn’t want to risk applying for a job with their current employer; that’s always a bit uncomfortable.  Secondly, how can you properly promote your company and its opportunity if you can’t reveal who you are?

There are opportunities where anonymity is a must, however, we encourage you to weigh the necessity of that level of discreteness versus the affect it will have on your ad.  After all, how anonymous can your ad be at an “Optometric practice” in a specific town?

Speak their Language, and make your job “findable”

Another mistake recruiting organizations make is using language that does not connect well with a job-seeker.  Using Internal job titles as the title of your job posting is a great example.  We believe this is a mistake because those titles often don’t mean anything  to prospective candidates.  Additionally, internal titles often have limited “key word relevance” on the web.  In other words, make sure your job is findable on the internet by putting yourself in the place of the job-seeking ideal candidate.  What are the words and phrases that person will use when using search engines to find their ideal job?  Use those words in the title of your job posting, and again multiple times in the body of your posting, as well as be specific about the location of your job (city and state).  Do these things, and you will be more “findable” and better able to speak the language of your ideal candidate.

Put your best foot forward

Whatever you do, take the time to put effort into creating a job posting that does justice to your practice or organization.  Remember, everything has a brand, and your organization has an employer brand that needs to be cultivated (no matter how small your group).  Again, put yourself in the position of your ideal candidate.  Ask yourself the kinds of questions they will be asking when they look at your ad.  How respected will the person in this position be if the employer can only dedicate 5 minutes to creating the ad?  What are the redeeming qualities of this organization as a place to work?

There is intense competition for the best and brightest in the eye care field, and that competition is only going to get more intense over the next decade.  Realize that your job-posting is part of the playing field, so bring your “A-game” when telling us about your open position.

Show a little creativity with an eye for detail

We’re always surprised when employers don’t take advantage of some of the free options they have make a more aesthetically pleasing posting on LES.  Adding a company logo is a great example.  If you have the option to easily add something that makes your group look more professional, use it!

Also, where possible try to avoid stereotypical job ad language.  Be different to grab the eye of the best candidates.  We all know that  communication skills are important in most jobs, but how many job ads have you seen with “strong communication skills required?”  That may be a true statement, but my eyes can’t help but glaze over after I’ve seen the same old tired language over and over again.  Find a way to communicate what’s important in a candidate, but with fresh descriptive language that make me want to work for you.

Bottom line

I believe that the bottom line is that it’s important to think of your job ads as you would the marketing your organization uses to solicit business.  You wouldn’t dream of paying for a campaign to market your practice to prospective patients without careful consideration; it would serve you well to put the same amount of care into your recruitment advertising.  After all, is there better marketing than the grass roots word of mouth that results when great employees provide great service?

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Non-profit group RestoringVision.org issues its 1,000,000^th pair of glasses

San Francisco, CA – By day, Mark Sachs is a product manager for Blue Shield of California, where he helps California policyholders get the support they need to protect their health.

By night, Sachs is a virtual one-man healthcare machine, seeing to it that poverty-stricken people around the world get the much-needed vision correction they can’t get anywhere else.

Now, just seven years after founding RestoringVision.org in the basement of his home north of San Francisco, Sachs’ non-profit organization has reached a milestone achievement: issuing its millionth pair of reading glasses, which Damascus Road Community Church recently delivered during a mission to Honduras.

“It’s wonderful and humbling at the same time,” said Sachs. “I wanted to do something to help people, but I never would have dreamed that we’d be able to help so many people in so many different places as quickly as we have.”

The idea for RestoringVision.org came to Sachs during an eye-opening trip he made to Mexico in 1997.

“While I was there, I couldn’t believe how many people were struggling to get by with obvious vision problems – and then I realized that a huge percentage of these problems could be fixed with just a simple pair of reading glasses,” said Sachs. “So, I decided to do something about it.”

What Sachs did was reach out to leading eye care companies and share his vision: instead of just warehousing or writing off overstocked readers, the companies could provide the glasses to RestoringVision.org, which would then handle the logistics of getting them to mission groups headed out to improve the lives of others.

Reader manufacturers Zoom Eyeworks and Foster Grant agreed to supply Sachs with product, while companies like Transitions Optical and America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses stepped up with cash support.

According to Reade Fahs, America’s Best CEO, Sachs and RestoringVision.org are serving a glaring need.

“There are roughly 670 million people in the world who need vision correction, and around 40 percent of the glasses they need are standard reading glasses,” said Fahs. “But these people simply don’t have the access or means to acquire them. Mark Sachs and RestoringVision.org have done an absolutely awe-inspiring job of filling that need.”

RestoringVision.org has the assistance of a handful of dedicated volunteers and supporters. Document management company Ft. Docs has donated storage space for all of the glasses since the beginning, while the group Becoming Independent which works with developmentally challenged adults, assembles them into mission-ready packages consisting of 300 pairs of readers of assorted powers.

So far, RestoringVision.org has distributed roughly $10 million worth of kits of readers and sunglasses to missions bound for Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala, Ghana, Honduras, India, Peru, El Salvador, and Nigeria.

“One million pairs is a tremendous milestone, but I have no intention of slowing down,” said Sachs. “I encourage any groups that are planning a mission to visit our website, restoringvision.org, and make distributing reading glasses a meaningful part of their commitment to the people they serve.”

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Founded in 2003, RestoringVision.org is a non-profit effort that delivers reading glasses and sunglasses to underprivileged people worldwide that desperately need them. Citing the need for low overhead and the favorable commute, founder Mark Sachs continues to operate the organization from his basement north of San Francisco.

For more information, please contact:

Mark Sachs

(415) 699-9123 / mark@restoringvision.org

Caroline Carithers

(904) 359-0981 / ccarithers@trsg.net

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