Human Resources
Helping hands
How Richard Satcher finds the people who will take Largo Medical Center to the next level
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Tampa Bay | January 2009
Page 1 of 3
You don’t need to tell Richard H.
Satcher about the importance of hiring
the right people. With a background in
human resources, Satcher has experienced the time it takes to find the right
person for a job, and he has fought the
urge to take the first decent candidate
that comes along.
“Probably the first critical point in
recruiting talent is to not get caught up
in what in human resource areas we
refer to as the ‘warm body syndrome,’ or
just having somebody in the position is
better than the position being open,”
says Satcher, president and CEO of
Largo Medical Center. “A lot of times
that comes back to bite you more than it
does to help you.”
Satcher avoids getting caught up in the
panic of the position being open and
focuses a lot of time and energy on the
interviewing process, which includes
multiple interviews with candidates.
He wants to make sure he finds the
right people for each position at his
1,400-employee organization. When you
hire someone that isn’t a good fit, the
person typically leaves to find a better
position. Satcher wants to prevent that
from happening by doing his best in the
hiring process to make sure the people
he chooses stay with the 456-bed facility.
“There’s an old human resource adage
that says selection is everything,” he
says. “Get that right, and everything is
easy. Get that wrong, and everything else
is correction.”
Since Satcher came on board as president and CEO in January 2006, revenue
went from more than $675 million that
year to more than $750 million in 2007.
No doubt, having a thorough hiring
process played a role in the organization’s growth.
“If you select the right person and you
get the right person the first time around,
it saves the organization a lot of pain and
suffering and time to come,” he says.
“Secondly, recruiting people is not
inexpensive. It’s an expensive process
that you go through to get candidates
identified, to get them on-site and get
them interviewed. So, you want to be a
good steward of the resources of your
facility.”
