There is a definite oxymoron in the title of this blog. Hiring IS stressful, someone has given notice, or you have decided to change out a weak link on your team. Either of those scenarios are already stress-inducing. Finding the right person to fill the right position on your team is always a balance.
The staffing crisis in dentistry is continuing, let me present some ideas that you may want to consider that will help you the next time you are needing a new team member.
- There are times that you can get creative and re-task one or two team members to spots that are a better fit for the team member and the office overall. If you have a team member that is underperforming, see if they can be re-tasked to another provider or perhaps another task in the office. This is best when the balance of personalities is good in the office, and you have one person struggling. An example of this may be moving an assistant to some admin duties, moving an administrator to some non-chairside duties such as ordering, health and safety, sterilization, etc. Thinking outside the box and re-tasking is always better than starting fresh with an unknown track record.
- If you determine that you need to hire someone new, spreading out the tasks without hiring a new person can be detrimental to the morale of the team over the long run. Everyone is likely happy to pitch in for a few days, but it gets very old when it drags on being short staffed. You will find the excuse of “I don’t have enough time” becomes a common theme in the office. The extra tasks that you need done in the office could be put aside and forgotten in this scenario.
- If you need to search externally, you need to be creative with any type of posting that you have. When you create a post, it needs to be creative, stand out from the others and make your office core goals very prominent in the post. For example, if you don’t work evenings and weekends you can start your post with “ Are you looking to improve your work/life balance, you can be home for dinner every night with your family working at ____________________ Dental.” You will need to market your practice in today’s job market, your post needs to peak the applicant’s interest. Be creative with where you post, your post may peak someone’s interest who may have not even been looking at that moment. By creative, it may be on a Neighbourhood Facebook Page, a local dental professional’s page on social media, or even set up a proper Google ad targeted to your area for the position.
- If there is a local school for assisting or hygiene hold a job fair one evening for the students, you may not need to hire them that minute, but wouldn’t it be great to have a list of perspective applicants when you need them?
- Choosing the least-worst option is never a good thing, capture candidates’ attention by texting them for follow up as soon as possible when receiving their resume, ensure that you engage with them quickly as everyone wants to work in an office who is prompt and organized. You will want to set up a specific time of their choosing for them to call you, this will weed out any applicants who aren’t responsible enough to call at the time they have chosen.
- Most importantly, once you have made the decision to hire a candidate, ensure that your office protocols are all clearly printed in a manual, give them best chance of learning by providing proper onboarding and training that is both verbal and written. Team members perform best when they know exactly what is expected of them.
Using these tips will cut down on the stress of hiring, always the best scenario is creating a culture where your team wants to stay with you and their friends are lining up if and when a position becomes available in your practice.
