The practice had an office manager who had been with them for years. She was a good worker. Reliable. Familiar with the systems and trusted by the team. Like many long-tenured employees, she wasn’t perfect. She could have used a small attitude tune-up, but overall, she did the job and kept the office moving. There were no major red flags.

The office thought they had struck gold. Billing had been a persistent pain point, so when a coder applied claiming nearly twenty years of experience, strong confidence, and fluency in all the right terminology, it felt like the solution they had been waiting for. The interview went smoothly. The résumé looked solid. The explanations sounded convincing.

For practices, this can be an unexpected hiring pipeline. For students like her, it’s a head start on adulthood. Real responsibility. Real skills. Real confidence earned early. That doesn’t mean every homeschool student is a fit. Just like any hiring pool, you still need structure, training, and clear expectations. But it does mean many practices may be overlooking capable candidates simply because they don’t match the traditional profile.