Why Hiring for the Future Trumps Hiring to Fill a Gap

A mistake I commonly see practice owners make when hiring is hiring to fill a gap.

It makes sense to hire for the now when you have urgent staffing needs due to a key member of staff leaving, or because recruitment is taking too long, and you want to ease the burden for the rest of the team. However, by hiring for the here and now, you are limiting the greatness of your business and team. Here’s why:

• Hiring for the here and now means you are focusing on the immediate needs, which may result in a narrow skill set within the team. It could limit the practice’s ability to expand into other specialised areas and meet ever evolving client demands.
• Hiring to fill immediate gaps can result in larger recruitment costs over time. You could see higher turnover rates due the team’s lack of opportunities for growth.
• There’s an inevitable knock-on effect of staff turnover which is lack of continuity for clients, which will lead to client dissatisfaction.

Why Hiring for the Future Works

In this busy world, and due to the reactive nature of the veterinary profession, future planning often gets put on the back burner. Before you know it, months and years pass by, and you’re still in the same position as you were before, doing the same things. Practice owners should focus on hiring people to take their business where they want it to go, not just for where it is today, for many compelling reasons, including:

• Growth: Hiring for the future allows a practice to grow because you’ll be hiring and retaining top talent, expanding the skill set within the team, and pushing forward with new services and technologies.
• A Positive Culture: If you're hiring people who align with the practice's values and goals, who are forward thinking, motivated, and eager to learn, and then invest in the growth of these people, they will feel valued and empowered. It also creates a unique sense of purpose and camaraderie within the team, which will increase job satisfaction, performance, and ultimately reduce turnover.
• Succession Planning: If you can recognise people with leadership potential, you can provide opportunities for their growth and make the transition in leadership positions in the future smoother and less disruptive.

Why some people resist this approach.

A common reaction to this concept of hiring for the future is, “What if I hire great people, invest lots of money in then, and they leave?” My response is usually, “What if you don’t invest in people, and they don’t stay?”

It was Richard Branson who said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, and treat them well enough so they don’t want to”.

Sometimes it can feel difficult to justify hiring for the future if there is no immediate ROI. Hiring for the future is an investment in the long-term sustainability and success of your practice, but as our minds are not naturally wired to take risks, I always invite practice owners to search for data and case studies to build confidence in this approach. Network with other practice owners who have successfully hired for the future to inspire and motivate you.

Want to get noticed? Do it differently…

The secret to success with most things is to watch what most people are doing and do the opposite. Many practices are consumed by the idea of a "recruitment crisis" and have fallen into the trap of hiring for the here and now. Some feel the future is too uncertain to dare to dream what their practice could be and just want to focus on getting through the rest of this week. Taking a leap of faith WILL pay off. You will stand out from the crowd for all the right reasons, enhance your employer brand by hiring meaningfully and investing in your people, attract top talent that other practices won’t, and retain your people longer.