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Consultancy helped Dr Martyn Hewett find the perfect manager for his practice

Article: "Using a recruitment consultant" by Dr Martyn Hewett

In March 2004, with the new GMS contract a month away, our practice manager told us that she had been offered at another, larger practice.

 It was several years since we had recruited such a key employee, so we decided to ask the adviuce of a local recruitment consultant, Catherine Price of The Moor House Partnership.

 Catherine first asked us to think about questions such as what sort of manager we wanted and what attributes and competencies we wanted them to have.

We decided we wanted a proactive manager who would identify areas for the practice to address, bring thought-out recommendations to the partners, and have good people-management skills, initiative and integrity. Catherine recommended trying to think about how our ideal candidate should work as much as what they should do because selection would be easier if we had behaviours in mind.

Behavioural approach

Catherine recommended that we start by using a specially designed application form. In addition to asking for all the usual details (employment history, education, qualifications), the form set out requirements under certain headings, asked the candidates to score themselves against these criteria, and then asked them to write (briefly) about their experience in that area.

Within a few days we had drawn up our 'application pack' and were ready to advertise.

We had encouraged applications by e-mail, and so very quickly my inbox started filling up. We had not really thought about this bit of the process, and we were slow in replying to enquiries, which probably did not give the best impression.

In our defence, we had not anticipated the size of response - almost 100 requests for application packs, which translated into nearly 50 applications.

The shortlisting process worked very well; the partners reviewed and scored all of the applications. Drawing up a 'long list' of the top 15 applicants was easy; reducing this number to six (the number we thought we could interview) involved protracted negotiations between the partners.

Our recruitment consultant joined us for the interview day, and we formed two interview panels. Candidates met some of our key staff members, and then took part in a group exercise, which was observed and scored by two GPs and the recruitment consultant.

We were advised to include a group exercise in our interview process because it would help us to evaluate the candidates' skills in several different areas, including oral communication, team working and problem solving.

Facilitation service

Catherine facilitated a meeting with the partners at the end of the interview day and helped us reach a decision. We had been hugely impressed by the quality of our applicants, but there was one who stood out from the rest, and we decided to offer her the post.

Before the interview day, the partners met with Catherine once at the beginning of the process and then she met once with me to review the application form design. In between, she developed all the assessment materials for us, and we commented on them and signed them off before the day.

Over all, we think that using the skills and expertise of a consultant saved us time because she helped us to focus on what needed to be done.

We estimate that we paid 5 per cent of our practice manager's first-year salary on top of our advertising costs for the additional help we got. Some of this was offset by time-saving for the partners, and in return, we gained expert advice and a tailor-made assessment process.

Taking a logical, clear, step-by-step approach to deciding what sort of manager we wanted, and then designing a process that would identify the right person for us, helped to turn a crisis into a positive learning experience for all of us.

Two years on, our practice manager, Karen Pitney, has more than fulfilled our expectations. We feel the process gave us an excellent outcome and we will use it again.

• Dr Hewett is a GP in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. This article, which originally appeared in GP Newspaper, is reproduced by kind permission of the author.