Interview Questions for Every Veterinary Practice Role
Businesses across the country are struggling with staffing issues and the veterinary world is NO exception. During the pre-pandemic years finding great staff was a challenge, but since the pandemic began finding and retaining great staff has become a tumultuous experience. What follows are some interview questions that have helped veterinarians and their office managers sift through potential candidates – when you can get candidates. And the increased competition for workers has made this an employee-driven vs. employer-driven market. You’ve got to know your budget and get clear on what additional perks or benefits you may be able to offer in this now highly-competitive hiring process.
General Questions for Every Role – Veterinarians, Vet Techs, Vet Assistants, Office Managers, and Front Office
1. What are you looking for in a team and an office?
2. What does self-motivation mean to you?
3. What in particular motivates you?
4. How do you organize your day?
5. In a perfect world, how many hours per day and per week would you like to work?
6. How do you deal with conflict in the workplace? Describe a specific situation and how you dealt with it. Would you do anything differently now that you have had time to reflect?
7. How would the previous veterinarian you were employed by describe you if I were to call him/her? What about the other team members, what would they say? Would they say you were on time every day? Easy to get along with? Fun? Great with the patients and the clients?
8. What do you think are your greatest strengths? And what are your greatest challenges?
9. Describe a situation when a client was upset and describe what you did to rectify the situation or help.
10. What are three things you liked most about your last two positions/offices? What are three things you would have changed and why?
11. Describe a great day at the office.
12. What work situations, tasks, or duties cause you stress?
13. Where would you like to see yourself in two years? Where would you like to see yourself in five years?
14. If you weren’t in the veterinary field, what would you be doing? What are you most passionate about?
15. What qualities in a person do you think are important for this position?
16. How would you set the pay scale for this position? What qualifying events or skills would warrant a different pay scale or increase in compensation?
17. What do you think a bonus should be based on?
18. What benefits are most meaningful to you?
19. What have you learned during the pandemic? How did it affect your short and long-term goals?
20. Did you work remotely? Was that easy or difficult for you? How do you feel about being back in an office, working with a team, and having interaction with patients and clients all day?
Additional Questions for Specific Roles
Vet Assistant
1. Have you been involved with placing veterinary supply orders? Explain your process.
2. What have you normally done during downtime?
3. How do you talk with clients about recommended treatment for their pets? Provide an example.
4. What are your most/least favorite procedures?
5. Describe the perfect veterinarian to assist and why?
Office/Practice Manager
1. How would you describe your management style?
2. What are your thoughts about micro-managing?
3. What steps do you take when you realize that you have made a hiring mistake?
4. Do you enjoy being at the front desk or in an office behind the scenes?
5. What do you bring to a team to keep them motivated and smiling?
6. In your previous office did you have full responsibility for the accounts receivable? What was your average production to collection ratio?
7. In your previous office, how would the staff describe you?
Front Office
1. How do you welcome new clients and patients to the practice?
2. What have your past responsibilities been? Which did you enjoy most?
3. How do you talk with clients about treatment costs? Provide an exact example of presenting treatment and negotiating a financial arrangement.
4. How do you describe a perfect schedule and how do you create it?
5. How do you fill any last-minute appointments?
6. Do you enjoy scheduling? What do you enjoy about it?
Veterinarian
1. What does a perfect schedule look like to you?
2. How do you encourage clients to accept treatment for their pets?
3. How do you ask for referrals from existing clients?
4. What do you do at a new patient/client appointment?
5. What types of procedures do you like to do?
6. Are you comfortable being the only veterinarian working in the office?
7. How would your current/past veterinary assistant describe you? How would an owner veterinarian or office manager describe you?
8. What are your goals for each patient and each day?
Overcoming the Mental Hurdles of Owning your own Veterinary Practice
By Perhaps, you are a few years out of school with DVM credentials under your belt. Maybe you have been working as an Associate Vet and your confidence has grown to the point where you’re ready to take the next step with your career – owning your own practice. However, the mindset of this prospect can seem overwhelming and daunting. Most of your schooling has trained you for the practice of medicine, with the bare minimum of business course offerings. You spent more time focused on diagnosing parasites and animal dermatology than on economics classes and how to manage a business.
Perhaps you’ve heard through the grapevine that some of your fellow vets from school have taken the leap and purchased their own practices. Now you’re curious about purchasing your own practice and what your life would look like. But you’re not 100% sure that this is the right move for you. You are confident as a veterinarian, but not so much as a business owner.
Some of the questions that we field when working with potential buyers are the “what if” scenarios. What if the stock market crashes and I’m stuck owning a business that’s now underwater? How can I finance the purchase price of a practice while I still have student debt? What if I wait until I start a family and buy a house first before owning a business? On a good note, maybe the one positive part of living through the pandemic is that it has proven that being a veterinarian is not only an essential service but one that is resilient to major upheaval where other businesses have failed.
Undoubtedly, the financial aspect of owning a business is the biggest obstacle that every business owner faces. A good veterinary transition broker will help you understand the long-term potential of positioning yourself as an owner instead of staying in your current role as an Associate Veterinarian. Brokers are there to guide you through the complexity of purchasing your own practice. They can also act as a consultant on how to build your business and succeed. Our brokers at Omni Practice Group want you to be successful and that continues after the purchase of your practice with consulting services that we offer.
And yes, life will throw things your way that nobody is prepared to deal with. But having a plan in place gives you peace of mind to help you focus on building your business instead of worrying about what the future holds. Nobody wants to reminisce with classmates at a class reunion with regret about what your life could have been like. The should-have, would-have, could-have scenarios tease all of us with decisions that we wish we made earlier in our careers.
If you are ready to take the first step and start the learning process on how to begin your next journey, reach out to one of our experts and we can schedule a one-on-one meeting with you.
Read MoreGoodwill in Dental Practice Value
By As many of you know, in the purchase of dental practices, typically the biggest contributor in determining the purchase price is “Goodwill”. However, are you aware of the aspects that make up Goodwill? Of course, it includes the patients and the reputation of both the business and the selling dentist. But it’s also based on patient retention, which is the practice’s hygiene program or recall.
Savvy buyers and practice owners understand that the repeat or retained patients are critical to the ongoing success of the practice. It is also important to lenders that are working with buyers. If the selling dentist has a bulk of patients coming in for large cases and the collections are high, that is commendable; however, a new buyer will be concerned that the patients have completed all treatment leaving them nothing to do and eliminates the chance for the buyer to meet and retain the patients.
All dentists focus on getting enough new patients, as they should, but what happened to all the new patients that were treated over the years? As a buyer, recall is consistently an area of opportunity. Even if the practice’s recall isn’t where it has the potential to be, consider what can be done. Take a look at this example:
Let’s say that the practice averaged 15 new patients per month for 10 years and these patients were seen on an average of twice per year in hygiene or recall, you would need approximately 514 days of hygiene if an average of 7 patients per hygienist per day were seen. Some practices may see more patients in hygiene, but some may be scaling and root planing appointments after which these perio patients may be coming every 3 to 4 months. Dentists may work around 180 to 195 days per year so they would need approximately 2.75 hygienists. That means if the practice retains at least 85% of those patients, it will need more and more hygiene days each year. Is this happening in the practice that you are considering buying?
I have analyzed hundreds of practices and found that the average potential for increased collections from goodwill or patient retention is $30,000 to $150,000, depending on the size of the practice. I know it’s usually a high priority in any practice but needs a little tweaking that can bring big increases. And this doesn’t include potential increased collections from diagnosed treatment from all those periodic exams!
Savvy buyers need to know that every practice has areas of opportunity and here is one for you to capture.
Read MoreSteps to Purchasing a Practice
Most veterinarians dream of eventually owning their own veterinary practice. But veterinarians tend to put off ownership for a variety of reasons. A couple of big reasons are that you have never done it before, you are not familiar with the process, or you’re just completely afraid of the unknown.
A great philosopher once said, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball”. What does that have to do with buying a practice? A lot, actually. What the philosopher is referring to is that if you can dodge an object, a wrench, for example, you can dodge another object, such as a ball. Applying this theorem to the practice buying world, if you have ever completed a major purchase, or made a major decision, the process and steps are the same.
We know you have made major decisions in your life, otherwise, you wouldn’t have a DVM behind your name. You decided which veterinary school to go to. In doing so, you did research. You looked at the pros and cons of each veterinary school and weighed them. You may have talked with some friends or mentors who went to those schools. You analyzed other factors like the location, cost, and how good of veterinarians the schools have turned out. You also may look at socio-economic considerations. Then, you made the decision and lived with it. And here you are facing another major decision in your life. Purchasing a veterinary practice.
Buying a veterinary practice is similar. The first step is figuring out the variables of what type of practice you want. Where do you want to practice? How many rooms do you want to have? Do you want to own the real estate? Do you want a practice with high production or one that you can build? Once you’ve come up with your criteria, the next step is to locate potential practices that may be on the market. You may also consider doing a startup. You analyze the practices that are on the market. You may see one or two you like. You contact the broker to get information on the practice. This is typically called a practice prospectus or practice offering memorandum. Some brokers will send tax returns, profit, and loss statements, and practice management reports up-front. You get all this information, and it looks like it is written in Latin. You may not have any clue how to read the reports. The broker can go over the numbers with you, or you can also hire an independent broker, phone a friend who understands business, or possibly a CPA. After you have looked at the numbers and that passes your and your advisor’s scrutiny, the next step is to go see the practice.
You contact the broker and set up a showing of a couple of practices. Looking at a practice is like looking at a house for sale. You may see things you like and things you do not like. But know that things can be changed. We have had doctors decide they don’t want a practice because the carpet is outdated, or the paint is ugly. There are people who can paint and change out the carpet. They do it for a living. They’re called painters and carpet layers. So, don’t exclude a practice because it is ugly. Have a little vision and think about how you may make it your own style.
Another one that throws potential buyers off is equipment. The exam tables may be dated and worn, the x-ray machine may be old, etc. Prices of equipment have come down. Remember, you may be in this practice for 20+ years. Spreading out the cost of new equipment, even if it’s $50,000 or $100,000, can be as little as $2,000 per year.
After you have looked at the practice, you like the location, but there may be one or two things that do not fit your criteria. Remember that the cash flow of the practice is always the number one consideration. I have been selling practices for 15 years and I have seen some ugly, small, outdated practices collecting $1,000,000 and taking home $500,000. I have seen ugly practices collecting $400,000 and taking home $250,000 on 3 days of work per week. Don’t judge the book by its cover. It is what’s inside, or the cash flow inside that really counts.
After you have decided that this is a good practice and you would like to purchase the practice, you make an offer through a letter of intent. It is a non-binding agreement where the broker typically provides a template. You can either come up with your own offer or work with your advisor to come up with the offer. If it’s a good practice and the broker has reasonably priced the practice, make a good offer close to or at the asking price. DO NOT LOW BALL THE PURCHASE PRICE IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT PURCHASING THE PRACTICE! You will just upset the seller and they won’t even want to work with you after receiving a low-ball offer.
You will want to begin contacting bankers who specialize in veterinary practice financing. Brokers know almost all of them and which ones are lending at the moment. Ask the broker for a name or two. The banker will ask for your personal financials. They love to see you have some cash in the bank and not much credit card debt. Bankers will be more interested in how the practice is doing. They love to see a practice with great cash flow.
You next jump into due diligence on the practice after the offer has been accepted. You go into the practice on the weekend and go through the charts, x-rays, equipment, etc. There are checklists you can use to do the due diligence or bring along an advisor. However, be careful with advisors as some will just want to look for the bad things in the practice. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater if they point out vaccine appointments are not what they should be. Remember, almost everything can be fixed. Just note it and continue on.
If everything goes well on the due diligence, you let the broker know you are moving forward. The seller’s attorney will draft up agreements. You will then hire your own attorney. Ask your advisor or broker for a veterinary-specific attorney. Using a non-veterinary attorney will cost you additional money. We have seen non-veterinary attorneys charge double, triple, and more to put agreements together. After the agreements have been “agreed” upon, the next and final step is closing. At closing, you sign the agreements and take over the practice.
There are some additional steps in the process that your broker can help you with, but these are the basic steps in purchasing a practice. So, just like purchasing anything else or making any major decisions, you just need to go through the steps, rely on your advisors, and dodge those wrenches! As always, we are here for you for a free consultation, just give one of our experienced brokers a call.
Read MoreDental Practice Buyer FAQ
by Megan Urban, Practice Transition Specialist
Where / How do I start?
Where do you want to live? Not that you can’t change your mind and sell, move, or buy again. But it’s typically best to determine where you want to live, such as in close proximity to family members, or near an airport, or close to beaches and surfing, or near ski resorts. Are you a city dweller? Are you a nature enthusiast?
Next, contact a reputable transition consultant/broker to discuss the general process and to get answers to your questions. This broker will also recommend dental lenders, dental CPAs, and dental attorneys.
What is your confidence level with all procedures? For example, if you do not yet place surgical implants, you will want a practice that doesn’t place implants. However, if placing implants in a particular practice keeps their production numbers high, it might make sense to consider the practice and keep the seller on for these procedures until you can take them on.
If you are currently working, be sure to print out a production by procedure report so your advisors can see what experience you have.
Can I afford a practice?
We can recommend several dental specific lenders to assist you and they expect you to have student debt. They will ask you for your tax returns and debt details such as student loans, cars loans, home mortgage, etc. Then once you find a practice that you like, the bank will analyze the cashflow of the practice and work with you to determine if or how much they can lend on that specific opportunity.
Do I need to utilize a dental-specific lender, attorney, and CPA?
Sometimes dental buyers have a relative that is an attorney or another advisor, but when both the buyer and seller utilize dental specific folks, the job gets done correctly and in a timely manner. You are a dentist but may not feel confident with complete boney third molar extractions. It’s the same thing. Using the right people will give you the best experience and result.
What do I need to know about a practice?
The listing transition consultant will provide a Prospectus reflecting all the important aspects of the practice and can walk you through the details. No practice is perfect, and you will want to go in knowing what is happening now and areas of future opportunity. Below are just a few of the items that may be in the Prospectus and if it’s the practice you want, you will have due diligence time later and we can provide an example of how the process typically works.
- Cash flow
- Procedure frequency
- Active patient count
- Accounts receivable and credit balances
- Hygiene stats
- Insurance participation
- Team information
What else should I know or think about?
The listing transition consultant will provide you with a Closing Checklist of what needs to be addressed. Your consultant/broker will work closely with your other advisors to complete a Letter of Intent and conduct due diligence. Your attorney will complete all purchase and sale documents, non-compete agreements, redo treatment provisions, etc. Your CPA will help with taxes relating to the purchase, and set up payroll and accounting, etc.
Should / Can I purchase the real estate?
Many young dentists assume they can’t afford the real estate piece or that the seller wants to wait to sell in the next year or so. We strongly believe the best person to own the dental real estate is the dentist practicing there. Depending on the cash flow of the practice, you may not need any money down and if you do, the seller will often carry the loan on the down payment and the bank will carry the remainder.
Do I have to keep all or most of the existing staff?
It is recommended that you do keep the existing staff. If they are good at their jobs and have well-established relationships with the patients, their presence most definitely contributes to a smooth practice transition.
However, there are always exceptions. If the practice overhead is very high due in part to high salaries of some staff members, then it may be recommended that staff be cut back. Or there may be instances where a seller has kept an underperforming employee on board and letting that person go may be a healthy decision for the overall morale of the other employees.
In Summary
The sooner you purchase a practice, typically the more money you make over the life of your career. The more you make, the more your CPA gets involved to assist you to keep more of what you make by implementing tax and retirement planning. So, start today by talking with your practice transition specialist/broker.
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