We love listening to the comments from GPs after they interviewed with a GP practice. It’s always interesting to hear the reactions to the conversation with practice owners and managers. However, over the years, we have learned about six simple ‘turn-offs’. Not one of our GPs has ever signed up with a practice after hearing one or more of these.
The five top interview ‘turn-offs’ for 2018 include:
- “We need to you to see more than four patients an hour in order to cover the cost of your recruitment fee or visa sponsorship expenses (It is illegal for visa sponsors to directly or indirectly pass on visa or recruitment costs to a candidate).
- “If you decide to leave before the end of your contract, we will ask you to pay back the recruitment fee ‘ or at least a proportion’.
- “We need you to sign up for 3 years as we are looking for long-term doctors”. (This is especially difficult if you are not offering significant upfront sign-on bonuses or incentives.)
- “We need to you pay at least 50% of the projected loss in earnings from your services if you leave before the end of the contract. (This refers to money GPs haven’t even billed and is an estimate of what they may have billed, had they fulfilled their full contract.)
- “We need you to look after our registrars and/or do some extra after hours shifts to cover the costs of your recruitment.”
As mentioned in last months article on the speed of trust, we are seeing the levels of trust deteriorate in the world of General Practice. GPs often find it hard to trust practice owners and managers and practice owners become cautious and sceptical when dealing with GPs.