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Practical tips for hiring staff at your general practice

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If you own or manage a general practice, you know the challenges of hiring quality staff.  
 
Hiring the wrong person can lead to repeated recruitment efforts, operational disruptions and a negative impact on team morale. 
 
Here are six tips to help your practice hire quality staff.
 
1. Identify capacity gaps
Understanding capacity gaps can help ensure you recruit for the right reasons. The following points can help to identify gaps:

• List unmet tasks: Highlight tasks that aren’t being completed effectively. For example, are incidents not being followed up, or is a lack of administration support causing delays for patients? 
• Ask your team: Your staff can provide insights into where help is needed most. Ask questions like, “What tasks take up the most time?” or “Where do you think additional support would make the biggest impact?” 
• Evaluate systems: Review whether certain tasks can be automated using software or outsourced

 
2. Work out what skills your practice needs
Determine what skills, qualifications or traits you would like your new hire to have. A skills matrix can help you assess your team’s strengths and where they need support. Here’s how to create one: 

• List your employees: Create a spreadsheet with each staff member’s name
• Record current skills: Note their competencies and qualifications
• Compare against needs: Write down the skills your practice needs, such as experience in appointment scheduling, risk management or RACGP compliance
• Identify gaps: Highlight missing skills that the new hire should have

 
3. Highlight what sets your practice apart
Make a list of things to entice candidates. For instance, you could highlight your practice’s: 
 

• mission and vision – many candidates want to be part of a team fulfilling a bigger purpose
• culture – what are the values your team embodies that can resonate with candidates? 
• benefits – for instance, social events, flexible work or development opportunities.

4. Write a compelling job ad
Your ad is an opportunity to sell your practice and the role. Tips for writing a great ad include: 

• Use a friendly, professional tone
• Clearly outline the role’s responsibilities, skills, qualifications and experience required
• Include details on working hours, conditions and salary range
• Highlight your mission, values and benefits
• Ensure compliance by avoiding discriminatory language
• Make sure everything is accurate, as there are penalties for misleading ads

 
5. Interview for skills and culture fit
Think of the job interview as a two-way conversation where candidates sell their skills, and you promote the role and benefits of working for your practice. Interviewing tips include: 
 

• Delve into their skills and experience. Ask for examples of how they’ve solved problems or managed stressful situations
• Get a sense of their attitude and work ethic
• Be mindful of asking discriminatory questions about religion, race, political views or pregnancy status 
• Keep a record of your questions and the candidate’s answers
• Consider follow-up interviews with other team members

 
6. Streamline onboarding
Effective onboarding ensures your new hire feels prepared and valued from day one.  
 
In a busy practice, it’s often hard to organise all the policies, procedures, registers and other critical documents they’ll need, as well as organise and deliver mandatory training.  
 
One way you can simplify HR processes is with Avant’s practice efficiency platform PracticeHub. It can help you create a digital onboarding process that allows you to: 

• provide new hires with access to all registers, policies and procedures in one place
• assign policies for digital signoff and track compliance through instant alerts 
• offer eight e-learning courses on key topics like work, health and safety, and risk management. 

 
Avant for practices
From practice finance and management to insurance and legal advice, Avant can help you build the practice you desire.
 
The information in this publication does not constitute legal, financial or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. It is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on matters of interest and it is not intended to be comprehensive. Persons implementing any recommendations contained in this publication must exercise their own independent skill or judgment and seek appropriate professional advice relevant to their own particular circumstances. Compliance with any recommendations will not in any way guarantee discharge of the duty of care owed to patients and others coming into contact with the health professional or practice. Avant Practice Solutions and its related entities are not responsible to any person for any loss suffered in connection with the use of this information. Information is only current at the date initially published. © Avant Mutual Group Limited 2026.
 
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