Roger,
 
I apologize if my remarks were patronizing. I have the great respect for histotechnologists. 
Our job hinges entirely on the performance of the histology lab. A key role of any supervisor
 is to maintain staffing and deal with personel issues. It sounds as though Allison has a
 new director who may not yet have gotten to know his staff well enough to let them do
 their job without his assistance. Or possibly he is a control freak. My point of view
 simply outline what I felt was a the role of the supervisor and director in the hiring process. 
My comment about reviewing the CV did not imply that the supervisor could not do this 
task equally well. It is simply a role the Director can share in. Unless the director is one of 
the few pathologists who has taken the time to learn histology anywhere near the level of 
a technologist, he will not be much help in evaluating skills and experience. This leaves 
him with the aspects of hiring that we do experience. Recognizing non-technical clues 
that may prevent hiring of an indevidual who may become a problem. She will develop a
 better relationship with her director he will more quickly gain confidence in her if she makes
 an effort now to include him in discussions. When he chills out a bit and the numerous 
other tasks in his job start wearing on him, there is a strong possibility that 
his interest "supervising histology" will take a back seat. Hopefully his confidence in 
Allison will let him leave her to her responsibilities without holding her hand.
 
Stephen  


"Rogerson Kemlo (ELHT) Pathology"  wrote:
Apart from the rather patronising view that "The pathologist experience
in reviewing references and recognizing the incongruities of the techs
CV may help you to recognizing personal issues that may impact the
performance in an otherwise well skilled worker", I rather agree with
your views.

Communication is everything and even though the hiring is the
supervisor's ans manager's responsibility, it's best to involve everyone
else in the exercise. Run the CV past the Medical Director, can't do any
harm, probably won't understand most of it, but DON'T let the Medical
Director anywhere near the interviews; they are renown for picking
exactly the wrong person!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Peters M.D. [mailto:petepath@yahoo.com] 
Sent: 23 May 2005 18:02
To: Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Who should be doing the hiring?

Allison,

Pathologist point of view. It is the pathologists job to keep you
informed of their 
histology needs and any new programs, studies, antibodies, techniques,
which will require 
new or additional staffing so that you can adjust your staffing in a
timely manner. You 
should keep track of your changing workload so that you can predict need
for additional staff 
in a timely manner. When it comes time to interview and hire you are
best suited to 
recognize the skill or lack of it in a given candidate and how that
person will fill the needs 
of your department. Checking references should be your job as your
knowledge 
of histology will allow you to best understand the subliminal messages
that often are the 
only negatives you are given. If the pathologist has the interest to
call about references I 
would welcome his help. The pathologist experience in reviewing
references and 
recognizing the incongruities of the techs CV may help you to
recognizing personal issues 
that may impact the performance in an otherwise well skilled worker.
When it is time to 
make a decision I think your impressions and any impression the medical
director has 
made should be discussed by both of you. If you have made a decision on
a candidate 
that you are confident about, I would hope that your medical director
would support you in
this decision. If you have a medical director who does not care to
learn about the 
candidates as much as he feels the need to control everything in his
enviornment then this 
can lead to problems. Bottom line. You are responsible for the day to
day workings of your 
lab, the working enviornment and quality of the work. You will have to
live with the 
misery of bad hiring decision. You will be the one to feel the heat when
mistakes are made
or work is repeatedly late. You should be the one to decide who to
hire. If you are 
relitively inexperienced then I would invite other input if it is a
tough decision. I would foster 
a good working relationship with your medical director, keep him
informed of your progress 
and when you have made your decision, discuss it with him and consider
his input. If he
has faith in you and he is doing his job as Director I hope he would
respect your decision 
and allow you to do the job you were hired to do. If he feels the need
to choose a 
different candidate which you have reservations about then I would
discuss your reasoning in 
a collegeal manner. Explain the pros and cons of the candidates. If you
feel he
is making decision which will have a negative impact then your last
resort is to discuss it
with your lab manager or other superior, they are ultimately responible
for you. 
Good luck
Stephen
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