At TempStars, we love providing great resources and information to help dental offices and hiring managers find the best possible candidates to fill their team. To assist in this process, we’ve partnered with Transitions Group, North America’s premier Dental Practice Management solution provider. Transitions Group specializes in providing dentists and their teams with cost effective dental training and coaching programs with proven results.
As Canada’s largest and #1 rated dental temping and hiring service, we’re well-equipped to provide a unique insight into finding the best possible candidates for the job. Together with Transitions Group, we hope that our shared years of experience provide you with some helpful direction in your hiring journey.
Hiring Strategies
After carefully considering the need for a new member for your team and deciding to hire someone new, it’s time to begin the hiring process! Typically, the decision to hire a new team member is inspired by one of the following reasons:
- You don’t have enough team members to be able to maximize your schedule and keep your patients happy.
- Your team needs someone with a specific skill that your current team is lacking.
- An existing team member left and you need to replace their role.
Whatever the reason, hiring someone new to your team is something you’ll want to get right. That means you must make sure the process is cost and time effective, and results in the best possible candidate being hired. Hiring may seem straightforward, but don’t make decisions without carefully figuring out a plan first.
Of course, nothing can guarantee your new team member will be the perfect fit. However, there are certain things you can do to make sure you attract the best candidates and choose the right one for your office.
Determine Your Needs
Before you begin the hiring process, you need to know what you need. You can’t find what you’re looking for if you don’t know what that is. The better you understand the position you want to fulfill, the more equipped you’ll be to evaluate candidates and choose the person who’s most tailored for the job.
When it comes to evaluating applicants effectively, job descriptions and specifications are essential tools for you.
Job descriptions inform you of the responsibilities the particular job requires and they will serve as a guideline. In other words, they provide a list of qualifications the job requires.
A job description should indicate the following clearly and concisely:
- Title of the position
- Salary range or method of compensation
- Work area
- Who they must be accountable to
- Work schedule
- Job summary
- Major responsibilities
- Required qualifications
This is SO important because you’re going to be making an agreement with the new hire – verbal and non-verbal. You have to let them know as clearly as possible what it’s going to be like working to work in your office. Any uncertainty or fogginess in how you describe the role, responsibilities and expectations for their new position is a recipe for problems down the road. You don’t want them thinking “You didn’t tell me I had to do that, I should be earning a higher wage if I have to do that too.” So make sure you spend time detailing the role, responsibilities and expectations in your own mind, so you can communicate that clearly to any candidates and new hires before you offer and they accept the job.
Writing a Good Job Description
Useful job descriptions will be organized in a way that indicates not just the responsibilities required for the job, but also how important those responsibilities are. It must include information such as:
- Required experience with particular softwares, tools, etc.
- Working conditions
- Terms of employment
When you’re hiring for a new position, the job description will allow you to define the requirements and qualifications for the position. If you’re hiring for a vacated position, if possible, ask the departing employee to update the job descriptions because they can become outdated rather quickly. Departing employees can help review the description of the job so you can determine if the activities required still provide value to your practice. To help you determine whether a duty is critical to the position, ask yourself the following questions:
- What’s the job’s purpose?
- Which daily duties are performed?
- What additional duties are necessary?
- How do you supervise the position?
- How much control is applied to the position?
- What instruments, computers, or equipment need to be used?
- Are there particular software or equipment skills required?
Determine the Position Requirements
To determine the hiring criteria, you must examine all the requirements for the position, including education, experience, personality, and qualifications. These requirements are objectively determined if you analyze the position, the job description, and the job specifications as well. This way you will determine what traits are directly linked to effective performance.
For example, you can analyze your former employee’s performance and determine at least three aspects that have impacted their success in the position the most. Before you start looking for qualified applicants, you must consider education, experience, personality, intelligence, and physical requirements.
What you need to do is make sure each requirement you identify relates specifically to the job in question. This will help you avoid potential issues down the road. Don’t make job determinations in a vacuum; employee feedback is very useful here, so get your team member’s perspective on this.
Post Your Job!
Pro Tip: Craft your Job Posting in a way that highlights the benefit to the candidate. One thing we know about the dental job market: Most of the best candidates already have jobs! But they may not be happy or fulfilled in their current role and you want to entice them to your great office. So rather than just list off a string of “This is what we need from you:”, be sure to add to the posting reasons why the candidate’s life would be better working at your office.
Once you have your job description nailed down and you have a good idea of what you’re looking for, head over to the TempStars Job Board to post your job for free! We have thousands of great dental professionals waiting to find their dream job, and it could be with your office!
Get Started – It’s easy!
If you or your office are not yet a member of TempStars, it’s free and easy to join. We offer the largest and #1 rated dental temping and hiring experience across Canada. Thousands of dental offices like yours trust TempStars to find them a dental temp when they need one, and to help them hire the best candidate to their team. We don’t charge any hiring fees! And our temping fee only applies after a successfully completed temp dental hygienist or dental assistant shift. There’s a reason we’re the most-loved in Canada! Join here now if you’re not yet a member!
Need a Little Help?
If you’re interested in seeking professional consultation for your dental practice, whether for hiring or otherwise, get in touch with the amazing team at Transitions Group. Transitions Group also has a fantastic “Pandemic Proof Your Practice“ program if you need any help or advice on accelerating your re-opening recovery and avoiding future problems if (please, no!) anything like this happens again.
