Recruit, screen, and hire: staff selection and the decision-making process

This article focuses on the role of the clinician-manager in staff selection. The duties of the clinician-manager in a mental health center include those tasks described as "recruit, screen, and hire" but little or no guidance on the steps involved in this sequence of events is available. The "how" of hiring is transmitted by word of mouth, by following another's example, or by trial and error. This article examines the component parts of staff selection from the assimilation of procedures, rules, and regulation of the public authority under which a particular mental health center operates, to the compilation of a "short list" of those to be screened and finally the risk taking and decision-making process by the clinician-manager who makes the choice. Some speculation on the emotional impact it has on the clinician-manager is examined. The impact of personal value judgments of the selector are considered. Recommendations are made for the inclusion of training in staff selection by academic programs for mental health administrators.