Are you ready to be analyzed, tested, and checked out from all angles when you apply for a new job? This is the new norm for health systems and other healthcare organizations hiring CIO executives. In hopes of improving the viability of a CIO hire, hiring managers at health systems and executive recruiters conduct a variety of psychometric/personality tests, background checks and verification processes to minimize the risk and guesswork of hiring. This reduces the reliance on the brief interaction during a face-to-face interview, and gives the employer a chance to use other ways to select or analyze potential CIOs and other executives. Here is an overview of the most common types of screening tools, and some cautionary advice.
Candidate questionnaires
You may be asked to complete a lengthy questionnaire for your next CIO opportunity. Sample questions you may be asked include:
1) Write a brief paragraph about yourself, family, etc. (i.e. a brief auto-bio) and tell us why you ended up in your area of interest, as well as how you selected the schools you went to.
2) Briefly, “walk” us through your previous jobs (going back the last 10 years or so) and explain how you ended up in them and why you left each one.
3) What is your vision of a successful information technology department?
4) Describe your strategic planning experience and your ability to work with an organization’s business plan.
5) Describe your experience in overseeing the implementation of electronic medical record (EMR) and computerized physician order entry systems (CPOE). Describe your experiences in meeting “Meaningful Use” requirements.
Caution — Be particularly careful of your writing style, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and be as concise as possible.
Verification checks
Your potential new employer or recruiter will routinely verify your academic degrees, certifications, licenses, and employment history as part of the search process. We use a company called Aurico, and there are many other educational and verification companies. Occasionally candidates run into issues when resume dates do not match employment history or graduation degree dates.
Caution – Be sure your resume is accurate before applying for a position. Check dates of employment carefully, use the correct titles. Make sure your degrees are from fully accredited colleges or universities.
Other tools
In Part II, I’ll discuss other tools used by employers and recruiters to evaluate potential employees and share some cautionary advice with you.
Anthony Guerra says
Thanks for this great post, Bonnie.
This sounds like potential CIOs will have to do a lot of writing in applying for these positions. If someone is not very comfortable with that, are there services that can help them put their experiences and thoughts into fluid and clean prose?
Thanks!
Bonnie Siegel says
Thanks, Anthony, luckily there are a vast number of business communication resources available for CIO candidates. Check out business communication book offerings on Amazon and online courses from accredited universities like University of Illinois-Chicago and others. Actually completing a candidate questionnaire is a great experience in organizing your experiences in a concise manner. I also recommend always utilizing MS spell/grammar check.