Dentistry is one of the most competitive fields in the United States. If you run a dental practice, you know how difficult it can be to find the right people to enhance your already impressive team. If you had more time, more money, more everything, it would be easier, right?
Fortunately, Dental Staffing can help. We're here to make sure your practice is staffed with the right people. Let's look at the most common staffing mistakes that can plague your dental practice and then let’s see how we can help.
The Mistakes:
- Failure to Dedicate the Proper Resources to Hiring: As a dentist, your priorities will likely fall within your medically based education and training. If I’m correct, you weren’t trained in how to find and hire the right team. By not dedicating the appropriate time, attention, and resources to hiring can prove disastrous than you might think. Your priority might be the patients and dental procedures, but a key part of running a successful dental practice is having great receptionists, office managers, hygienists, and dental assistants on your team.
- Hiring the First Candidate You Interview: When a dental receptionist or dental assistant submits their two-week notice, it's easy to hire the first pleasant applicant who walks through your door. Overlooking lack of experience or other resume and interview red flags can cost you. What if the applicant you hire is only in it for a paycheck? When your staff doesn't care about the practice, you can lose more than money. Don't let your patients or your already impressive Dental Team down!
- Keeping an Employee Who Is Not a Good Fit: A bad hire is one thing, keeping that bad hire on your team after you realize they're not a good fit is a huge mistake. Not only are you spending money on this person, but their bad attitude or lack of productivity can negatively impact other members of your Dental Team. Inefficiencies around dismissing a bad hire can be a serious morale-killer and drag your office culture down. Make no mistake: patients can feel this.
At Dental Staffing, we understand that hiring can be a tricky process. That's why we've taken measures to make the entire process easier. But once you've found a handful of great candidates, there's still work you need to do on your end. Here are tips on what to do after you've found great candidates on your employer dashboard.
What to Do:
1. Read the Article: How to Attract and Hire the Best Dental Team: Writing the Ad
2. Craft a Purposeful and Thorough Interview Process: Our employer dashboard makes finding qualified candidates easy. And once you've found them, the interview will often make or break your decision. If you haven't developed a standardized interview process, take the time to do so. Who will greet the applicant? Where will they wait for the interview to begin? Will there be a tour of your facility or an opportunity for them to speak with a current employee? Each step in your interview process should serve a purpose, whether it's determining a cultural fit or technical skills.
- Here are other items that should be on your interview checklist:
- Make note of specific resume items for which you'd like more details
- Include at least one other member of your staff in the interview process
- Start with small talk, then move to your interview questions
- Take notes when an applicant answers a question
3. Take Your Time Making a Hiring Decision: When you have a great interview with a highly qualified applicant, you might be tempted to offer them a position right after the interview. Don't! The first person you interview might be perfect for the position, but you'll never know until you interview the remainder of the applicants.
Remember: you're hiring for the long term. While it's recommended to communicate next steps to a candidate (regardless of whether they're being hired or not) within 48 hours of their interview, it's important to put thought into your decision. You should consider consulting other members of your team before you make a final hiring decision.
And, out of courtesy and respect, write letters to those candidates you don’t choose. It places you in a better light and sets you above the crowd. Applicants remember gestures like that.
4. Let DentalStaffing.org Help: Even if you don’t see the resumes you’re looking for, we know there are anonymous Dental Professionals on the site who look at ads every day. We think they’re looking for that one terrific opportunity and they don’t want their employer to know they’re looking!
60 Minute Complimentary Consultation
When you spend your time and energy dealing with non-clinical issues such as insurance, employee turnover, accounts payable and receivable, you can’t enjoy the work you were trained to do. At DentalStaffing.org, our consultation will work with you to identify the issues and give you solutions for moving forward. Then you can start running your practice instead of your practice running you.
[Click Here to Schedule a Consultation at No Charge To Your Practice]
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“For it’s not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”
- Rene Descartes