Preface:
This article is the second in a two-part series related to the topic of job interviewing in the hearing healthcare field. Part I focused on how to prepare for an interview and included a list of sample questions that could be asked by an employer. The current article will analyze the interview questions in more detail from the perspective of an employer and gives suggestions on how to best answer these questions. As a pragmatic exercise the reader is encouraged to write out how he/she would answer the questions given in Part I so that they can compare them to the answer suggestions given in Part II. Please note that the questions and answers given are based on our experience working with a large number of audiologists at HearUSA. Differences in practice settings may vary the type of question asked and the type of answer a professional may want to give. The authors hope that in either case this exercise was found to be helpful!
Interview practice questions:
- HearUSA audiologists typical take one hour for their initial consultation .This includes a case history, impedance testing, a complete audiogram with bone and speech, and counseling on amplification if indicated. Generally how long does it take you for your initial exam?
Why is the employer asking this question?
The employer asks this question to get a feel for how the candidate handles a first appointment with a patient.
Suggestions for answer:
Expand on the type of testing you do; is it as comprehensive as HearUSA? Describe your process and how long it takes. Do you put an emphasis on any one part of the testing process?- HearUSA prides itself on consistently having a very low return rate company wide. Tell me about a time one of your patients wanted to return his/her hearing aids. How did you handle the situation, and how might it have been avoided?
Why is the employer asking this question?
HearUSA places a high degree of importance on presenting realistic expectations. We ask patients to attend HELP (our Hearing Education and Listening Program), and we schedule consistent follow ups throughout the first 6 months. We want to make sure that candidates understand that patient care is critical to us and a high performance expectation.
Suggestions for answer:
Describe how you handle a patient that may be having difficulty adjusting to amplification. Ask he/she about the positive experiences he/she have had thus far with the hearing instruments and remind the patient how returning the aids does not accomplish the goal of improving quality of life. Try to figure out what is not working for them, and address the concern
One of the ways to avoid returns is to stay in close contact with our patients. We often know when our patient is not doing well and at times we need to react sooner. This might include exchanging the hearing instrument, having the follow up visits closer together, as well as attending rehabilitation classes if applicable. - Studies show that when indicated binaural amplification significantly improves communication ability in many different listening situations. If your patient was a candidate for binaural amplification but was adamant about wearing one aid, what approach would you take?
Why is the employer asking this question?
This question is asked because we know how important it is for our patients to wear binaural amplification if it is indicated. We want to know how the prospective candidate feels about this concept. If they do not agree, we would be interested to know their rational.
Suggestions for answer:
Explain your process here. One answer may be to ask the patient why he/she would choose a single aid. Quite often it is not a money issue; it may be cosmetics or vanity, and if we can uncover the reason(s) why the choice is to use just one, we can counsel and work through objections.
Some patients have heard that it is more difficult to get used to two hearing aids rather than one, he/she may have heard it is much nosier with two, or they might even tell us "we feel older" if using two aids.. These are all counseling issues that need to be addressed. If we do not ask why, we may never get the true reason for a monaural choice. - Part of our history taken includes a Hearing Health Profile, a Patient Self-Assessment of Communication (SAC), and a Significant Other Assessment of Communication (SOAC). Other than your Audiogram, how do you assess your patients' needs?
Why is the employer asking this question?
We ask this question because we feel the more information we get from our patient the better opportunity we have of assessing the patient needs and ultimately improving communication abilities. We want to find out from prospective employee that he/she is familiar with the HHP, SAC, and SOAC tools and if so, how they are utilized.
Suggestions for answer:
Explain how you assess patient needs. You may have other tools that you use? Some audiologists involve the patient's significant other, or utilize similar techniques to establish the impact of the hearing loss. - HearUSA provides our professionals with the necessary Continuing Education credits through a variety of different events and meetings throughout the year. What topics would you like to see discussed to enhance your education of our industry?
Why is the employer asking this question?
This question is asked to get a feel for the type of CE events the candidate may have been to and his/her exposure in the industry. We also want to know what might interest them as a new employee entering into our field. This knowledge might help us to develop new topics that we have not covered previously in our educational programs.
Suggestions for answer:
The audiologists should tell us various topics in our industry that he/she would like to learn more about. He/she could ask us what topics that we have covered, and ask about or guest lecturers from the industry. - Our company recognizes that our front office staff is an integral part of managing successful clinics. The audiologists and office staff have adopted a "team concept" to their approach to excellent customer care. In your previous position, how did you try to accomplish this with your office and support staff?
Why is the employer asking this question?
We want to know what type of setting they have worked at in the past and if this "team concept" was part of their work environment.
Suggestions for answer:
Bring up any relevant past experience working with office staff and co-workers. Talk about your thoughts on patient care when professionals and office and clinical staff work together. Testing and fitting hearing aids is just a part of what our practice. We provide batteries, ancillary products, troubleshoot hearing aids, send out repairs and our front staff can really help with all these tasks. - Our approach to successful hearing aid fittings, involves consistent follow up. Once the hearing instruments are dispensed we regularly provide a 48 hr phone call to our patient, one week follow up, a two week follow up and they are enrollment in our Hearing Education and Listening Program (HELP). What form of Aural Rehabilitation do you use in your current position?
Why is the employer asking this question?
We ask this question because we want to know what type of rehabilitation was provided in the past and the importance of such.
Suggestions for answer:
You should tell us the importance of aural rehab especially for the first time aid user. Describe the types of counseling and approaches you have used in the past, such as making sure the patient can handle the instruments as well as demonstrating the use of features like, memory buttons, directional microphones, and telecoils. - Part of HearUSA protocol is to perform verification on every hearing aid fitting as well as any significant changes in programming. We use Real Ear Measurement as our method of verification. What tools do you use to ensure the hearing instruments are appropriate for your patient?
Why is the employer asking this question?
We want to know if candidates do any verification at all before they send their patients home or if they have used other tools that achieve the same results.
Suggestions for answer:
Explain how you are sure that the hearing aids are a good fit with your patients. Bring up types of objectives and subjective verification methods that you have used in the past. Explain why it is important to them for their patient needs. - HearUSA does a lot of print advertising as well as direct mail to our existing data base. This brings in unscheduled or "walk in" business. What would your approach be if a patient walked into your clinic without an appointment and you had no available time to see them?
Why is the employer asking this question?
Many of our clinics are extremely busy and we want to get an idea of how they handle unexpected situations and a heavy case load.
Suggestions for answer:
Explain what you would do and your philosophy on customer service.
If time allows we will try and fit the patient into the schedule. If time does not allow, we try and take 5 minutes with the patient and see what they might need. If they need to be seen as soon as possible, many people offer their lunch hour, later in the day or first thing the next morning. - HearUSA believes that our employees are our most important asset. What kind of environment do you find most challenging and fun?
Why is the employer asking this question?
It is equally as important the candidate is right for us as it is for us to be right for the candidate. This question helps us determine a preferred culture in which they work best. We like to have fun at work, and positive attitudes from candidates are great attributes.
Suggestions for answer:
Be honest! Do you like to work in the same office each day, or do you like to travel from office to office? Do you find that the most challenging environment is a very busy one? Do you like to know your schedule in advance?
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Paige Brough is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and has been an HearUSA employee since 1992. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida with a major in advertising and a minor in business.
Jeff Singer is the Vice President of Sales Development and has been with HearUSA for the past 11 years. Jeff has been a dispensing audiologist for 24 years and worked in private practice for 13 years prior to joining HearUSA. He has a master's degree in audiology from Hofstra University.
About HearUSA
HearUSA provides hearing care to patients through contacts with health insurance and managed care organizations and to retail private pay patients. The company-owned clinics are located in California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri and the province of Ontario, Canada. In addition, the company has a network of approximately 1,400 affiliated audiologists in 49 states. For further information visit www.hearusa.com.
