Before you assume this article is not for you because you have all your staff in place, think again. In the last national Levin Group survey, we found that two-thirds of dental practices were seeking to hire at least one team member. Even if you're in the minority, you never know when it may be necessary to hire and that can create chaos, stress, and frustration. The key is hiring preparedness.
The chaos of hiring
Dr. Roger P. Levin.
Dental practices do not have human resources departments to manage all of the employee factors that go into running a business. Hiring is one of those factors, and it often falls directly on the dentist and office manager. If there is no office manager, then it falls directly on the dentist, who has little time available to suddenly shift to the critical element of recruiting and hiring new team members.
Understanding hiring preparedness can avoid a great deal of the scrambling to hire someone when a team member decides to leave. Most team members do not give you lots of notice so you can prepare. Some team members don't give you any notice, and you're definitely not prepared. So how do you get ready to hire new team members when you don't really need them at the current time?
The following recommendations will help any practice develop hiring preparedness before they need it. If and when you need it, these tips will make the entire process easier, smoother, and far less stressful.
1. Write new job descriptions every two years for every position in the practice. Don't be lazy and simply gloss over the current job description and assume nothing has changed. Many job descriptions leave out the important categories that clearly list what the team member in the job is accountable and responsible to achieve. Having these job descriptions ready is a critical factor in sending them out to potential candidates before interviewing so that the candidate understands the requirements of the job.
2. Write your ads now. Nothing is more frustrating than having a team member resign with all of the associated emotion and then you've got to sit down and write an ad. You should have your advertisements for every position in your practice ready to go at all times. In other words, write them now. If you then end up needing the advertisement for a new team member, you can quickly review it, add anything that seems new or relevant, and be ready to place the ad on a moment's notice. You may not want to go through this exercise when you don't need to, but when you need to, you will be pleased that you did.
3. Know where you are going to place your ads in the event that you need to hire a new team member. The online recruiting and advertising sites are fairly stable, although some perform better than others. You want to know which sites are the best at any given time for dental practices, and you can find this out by talking to colleagues, periodically looking at sites to see how many representative dental position advertisements they have, and getting a feel of what's being advertised. For example, should you be offering a signing bonus if there are 10 other ads in your area to hire team members, six of which are offering signing bonuses. You can be sure that a potential team member will gravitate first to a position that has a signing bonus, or at least they will be interested in checking it out.
4. Know the general compensation or "going rate" for each staff position. Some offices have been fortunate not to match the significant increases in staff compensation that we are seeing across the country. Levin Group estimates that at a minimum, staff compensation has increased by 10%, and we are already seeing areas that are increasing by 14%. As this happens, it will be important to know what the average and above average compensation is for each staff position rather than trying to base it on what the previous team member was compensated. Even if the previous team member is not leaving for financial reasons, hiring new team members who have access to all of the information on compensation for their position will require a competitive compensation package.
5. Develop your list of interview questions. The worst type of interview is the one where you sit down and have no planned questions other than the most obvious for the potential candidate. Have at least 12 questions prepared to ask the potential hire ranging from logistical questions about their background and experience to philosophical questions about their values, what they like in a job, and what they don't like in a job. While the interview should be in a conversational environment, it is important to have a general direction to take to get to know the potential team member and determine if they are the right fit. Once again, it is far easier if you have these questions in place in advance rather than throwing them together at the time of staff turnover. If you go online, you can find lengthy lists of interview questions that would be beneficial in a potential hire interview.
Summary
Hiring preparedness can save a lot of pain and suffering when a team member leaves. First, you have the emotion of a team member leaving, which many doctors and office managers feel is some type of betrayal rather than simply a normal course of business. Second, you have to then get it together quickly to be able to advertise, find the right place to advertise, know the job description, interview and hire including the right compensation package. All of this can be avoided if the practice follows hiring preparedness.
Dr. Roger P. Levin is CEO of Levin Group, a leading practice management and marketing consulting firm. To contact him or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit LevinGroup.com or email [email protected].
The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.
