Six Things Every Hiring Optometry Practice Owner Should Include in a Career Center Listing

Finding the right fit for your practice can be challenging but having high quality applicants can make the hiring process much smoother. Where some optometric practice owners go awry is in the crafting of their career center listings. Listings that incorporate a complete picture of what a potential hire’s life might be like if they were to be offered the role tend to attract more quality OD applicants than those that simply lay out the basics of the position.

Here are six inclusions you can incorporate in your listing to make it stand out in a career center:

1. An eye-catching headline – When it comes to career centers, the old saying rings true – you only have one shot at a first impression. Without a standout headline, your listing runs the risk of blending into the crowd with other listings. While many employers are tempted to use titles like ‘Optometrist’ or ‘FT/PT Optometrist’, including a few of your practice’s most attractive attributes in the title is a great way to pull more views from qualified applicants. Some qualities applicants look for are signing bonuses, competitive salary and benefits packages, great location, 4-day weeks, exceptional support staff and advanced technology. 
   
   View examples from other ODs who have eye-catching headlines for their positions.
   
   
2. Salary and benefits – Salary and benefits are at the top of the list of considerations for applicants. It is important to include some mention of what your practice will offer to the person who is hired. On the AOAExcel Career Center, listings that include the exact salary or salary range tend to generate a higher interest from seekers. Giving applicants an idea of what their salary may be helps them to plan for what their expenses would look like if they were to work in your practice. In the ‘Salary’ field on the AOAExcel Career Center, add a salary range that you expect your new hire will fall within, then add a note in the body of the post that the salary will be determined based on experience.
   
   While applicants are certainly interested in knowing what the salary range for a position may be, there are several other benefits to mention that can help increase interest in your position. Does your practice have flexible scheduling? Four-day weeks? You might also mention what your practice will offer when it comes to retirement savings, vacation, signing bonuses, membership dues, performance incentives, etc.
   
   
3. Details about your community – Location is the next most important consideration for applicants, following salary and benefits. Highlight what makes your community special, particularly if you are posting on a nationwide career center. To make an applicant feel comfortable about relocating, they need to be able to envision what their life will be like both in and outside of the practice. Is there a great music or arts scene? Is your practice located within a great school district? Some other attributes you might mention are low cost of living, hiking trails or other natural features, accessibility to metropolitan areas, community values, etc.
   
   
4. Details about technology and equipment – Many recent graduates and young optometrists have had the opportunity to learn with the most advanced equipment and technology in the industry and look forward to putting their skills to use. Consider listing any updated or advanced equipment used within your practice, including technician-friendly hand-held tonometers, OCT angiography equipment, wide field photography equipment, corneal topographers with dry eye modules and contact lens fitting software, digital computer screen eye charts, ERG/VEP equipment, and new technologies for early detection of AMD.
   
   
5. Practice and culture – To help applicants envision themselves as part of your practice, include details about your practice’s daily operations and what the new optometrist’s role will be within the practice. Does your practice have specialty areas, or do you have a broad scope of practice? What is the culture within your practice? How involved is the support staff during exams? What types of patients do you see most often? Describing the day-to-day experience within the practice can help an applicant determine if they will be a good fit for the practice.
6. Your contact information for questions – Many career centers include fields for employer contact information, but these fields are not always visible to applicants. Include a sentence or two that welcomes questions from your applicants and advises them to contact you directly via your preferred email address or phone number. By inviting questions right in the listing, you may open the door to a conversation with an applicant who needs more information to feel confident in applying to your listing.

The goal of your career center listing should be to open a conversation with potential applicants, and to help them envision their life as an optometrist working in your practice. It is important to remember that a career center listing is your opportunity to promote your practice to the best of the best when it comes to applicants. Just as applicants should craft their resumes in a way that gives employers an idea of who they are and what experiences they bring to the table, it is just as essential that an employer takes the time to craft a quality listing to help potential applicants decide if the practice is the right fit for them.

AOA members receive up to 50% off of posting packages with the AOAExcel Career Center. For any questions about crafting a standout career center listing, you can connect with one of our AOAExcel Career Center Specialists at AOAExcel@aoa.org.