Growing your practice is an exciting time for your business. As your clientele list increases so does your need for skilled and qualified dental practitioners. Selecting the right person to join your team is a task that should be approached with forethought and planning.
The type of person you hire matters as much as the experience and qualifications they have. A new hire needs to suit the culture of your practice. There should be a match between your business ethics and core values and those of the new recruit. Consider the following when beginning your hiring process.
Why Are you Hiring?
The catalyst for your need to hire might be that your dental practice is growing or that an existing team member is leaving. Neither of these is the ‘why’. You are hiring because specific skills are needed, certain technical know-how is lacking in your existing team and you need to find someone that has it. “When you are deciding on what is needed, don’t be tempted to throw in all the skills you can think of. You are more likely to hook a suitable applicant with a role that is clearly described and fits in with their career pan than a ‘one fits all’ type of description,” Brook McCambridge a dental expert at Bigassignments and Revieweal.
Aside from specific skill sets, ask yourself and your team, what other attributes a new employee must have. Get clear on the necessary skills and attributes that your new hire must have and put together a precise job description based on these needs.
Stick To A Timeline
There is a fine balance when it comes to the hiring timeline. You may need someone ASAP but hiring quickly can cause problems down the line. On the other hand, if your hiring process is unnecessarily drawn out and disorganized, you risk losing potential recruits to competitors.
Decide a timeline before you start the hiring process. Check that everyone that needs to be involved will be available when needed and if there are any holidays to take into account. When you advertise a job, the standard application period is 30 days from job ad publication. Aside from this, you will need a week at most to review and shortlist candidates ready for the interview stage. Ideally, you will interview a maximum of five applicants per role available. Interviews should be done over two days and a decision made by the end of that same week. This brings your hiring process to six weeks minimum.
Advertise In The Right Places
There was a time when an advertisement in the back of a newspaper was all you needed to have to find staff. Times have moved on quickly and though print is still an option, there are many others too. What is important to consider is which of the options is most relevant to the type of skilled applicant you are looking for. Do a little research to find out which job boards are most used by dental professionals in your area. Look also for social media pages and groups that share jobs in your locality. It is not necessary to advertise everywhere but it is important to have the role on your own site and channels too. “What you put in your advertisement does not have to be the whole job spec,” says Alena Costner a writer at Eliteasignmenthelp and Oxessays. “Focus on the most important things you need. The full spec can be shared with the shortlisted candidates later.”
Protect Your Brand
The most common complaint about employers is a lack of communication or feedback. Over time, and thanks to the nature of social media, this can damage an employer brand and cause a lull in interest for working at your practice. To avoid this, no matter how many applicants you receive or how irrelevant some of them are it is paramount that you respond to each applicant. It is a good idea to set up an auto-response that lets applicants know their CV has been received and what your planned timeline is. When your shortlist is made, a regret email should be sent to those who didn’t make the cut, thanking them for their interest. Following interviews, all candidates should receive realistic feedback to help them improve in future interviews.
Katherine Rundell is a medical and dental writer at Best Australian Writing Services and Top assignment writing services in Queensland . Katherine is a regular speaker at graduate open days and is a blogger at Academized reviews.