Hire for the vision, not the vacancy.

Most practices hire to fill a gap. The ones that grow hire to build something.

When a practice owner calls me, the conversation doesn't start with "tell me about the position."

It starts with: What are you trying to accomplish — with this business and with your career?

Because the right hire for an owner who wants to open a second location in three years looks nothing like the right hire for an owner who wants to build enterprise value and step out of the operatory. Same job title. Completely different person.

That's why I think of recruiting as a byproduct of what we actually do.

The real work is strategy: understanding the owner, the culture of the office, and where the practice is headed. Finding the person is the solution that falls out of that — because almost every goal an owner has requires the right people to get there.

A vacancy tells you what's missing today.
A vision tells you who you need for the next five years.

Hire for the second one.