We all know that dental practices are struggling post pandemic to find and keep qualified dental professionals to fill the open positions in their offices. There are any number of reasons why this is happening, but it is critical in this climate to change your approach to hiring. I will admit that I can still recall how completely lost I felt when I had to find a new employee. For so many Dentists and Office Managers, hiring is just something they must do, and it interrupts their daily tasks of producing dentistry and running the practice.

May I suggest, we need to get highly organized and professional about our approach in finding the right employees. The risk of a lackadaisical approach to hiring  is far too costly.

According to CareerBuilder, “almost three-quarters of companies who made a bad hire reported an average loss of $14,900.” This finding can come from the cost of:

• finding the new employee
• lost production
• decreased employee morale
• lost patients
• lost time in supervising the new hire and more.

To combat this error, here are some suggestions:

On the Dental Staffing website, you can request the candidate’s resume in advance of the interview. There is one caveat to remember: I’ve recently learned that 50% of resumes contain lies. Lies about length of employment, years of experience, references who are friends and relatives. That said, here are recommendations to prepare:

The Resume

• Study the resume. Is it neat, orderly, and easy to read? Neatness speaks volumes about a candidate’s organizational skills.
• What does it say about their work history? Are there gaps in the sequence of past jobs? Is the time spent at each position significant, or do they move from job to job in abbreviated time?
• Many former employers are hesitant to talk about how they feel about their former employee. In an age of an increasingly litigious society, employers are careful when answering your questions..
• To make things simple and to avoid conflict, we recommend two questions:

1. What can you tell me about the finer characteristics of this individual? Few of us have zero redeeming qualities, but if you notice any hesitation or an inability to produce a quick response: red flag.
2. I also ask: if the position this individual left became available again, would you rehire them? This is a simple yes/no question that is telling.

• Are references made available? Personally, I like references readily available because without a doubt, I’m going to call them.
• If references are only available upon request, request them in advance!

The Interview

We’ve discussed that it’s possible for candidates to fool you and cheat on their resume, and if you’re careful, you can catch these discrepancies. No matter how much we talk about how great the interview went, they can fool you there as well.

Someone can be a great interviewer but demonstrate poor work performance. Nonetheless, there are visible ques that can help you narrow the pool of candidates. Remember: All these issues are important, but none of them give you the true big picture!

• Attire: Is the individual dressed appropriately for the interview. It doesn’t need to be designer clothes, but neat, clean, professional attire is paramount.
• Eye contact: Strong eye contact has been shown to demonstrate confidence and truthfulness.
• Phone off and out of site.
• Is the Candidate asking questions about the practice, the position, the Dental Team, and details of their perspective job responsibilities?

The Hire

We’ve narrowed our candidate selections down to two or three based on their resume, the interview, and their likeable personality. And still, resumes and interviews can be untrue and manipulated, and personality doesn’t determine performance. So now what?! What do we do to block risk and protect the practice? What if we could assign the candidates a 15-minute task that could identify:

• their real attitude towards people
• their work ethic
• their ability to work as a team
• their degree of empathy
• how well they’ll perform on the job
• how well they perform under stress
• their judgement and how they make decisions

Would you consider this information valuable? I certainly would!

For more information on how you can make better hiring decisions contact Jeff Henderson of Insight Hiring. He can be reached at (919) 247-4068 or jeff@insighthiring.com. Discover a process that cannot be manipulated and cannot be fooled. Insight Hiring can take the work you’ve done and elevate your hiring system to help you make the best hiring decisions you’ve ever made!

For help in writing your ad, be sure to read: 
How to Attract and Hire the Best Dental Team: Writing the Ad

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“Success depends upon previous preparation, and
without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”
- Confucius