Thinking Outside the Box in Hiring

Episode #374 with Robyn Reis

Hiring the right person for your practice was always hard. After the pandemic, it got even harder. So, what can you do to find that amazing, capable candidate? To help you start thinking outside the box when it comes to employment, Kirk Behrendt brings in Robyn Reis from Bent Ericksen & Associates for the best hiring practices. Don't hire the first person who comes to your door! For her creative advice on attracting the best people, listen to Episode 374 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Prospective employees are now asking for higher wages.

Get creative with benefits. They don't need to be in dollars.

Have a structured onboarding program for new hires.

Help your team master what you hired them for.

Be mindful of burnout for your existing employees.

Showing appreciation to your team goes a long way.

Hire for attitude, train for skill.

Quotes:

“Pre-plague, if you will, [hiring] was really hard to begin with anyway. You had to be really mindful about the ads you're writing, what you were promoting. But you had a really good chance of finding a qualified dental person to fill in for a dental hygienist, front office, assistant, treatment coordinator, whatever it might be. Post-plague, we have discovered that there was a tremendous amount of exodus of people that just didn’t want to return to the profession. And that created such a tsunami of openings that we just, you know, supply and demand. There wasn't enough inventory for the dental practices to find qualified dental people that have the skills and knowledge that a lot of practices are looking for.” (4:13—5:05)

“We always have talked about the adage of hire for attitude, train for skill. Well, we’re finding that it is extraordinarily hard to find those skilled dental people, number one, but then to find the attitude and the behavior and the person who’s pumping sunshine, they then don't have the training resources at the dental practice to actually train the technical, the terminology, basic skills of the position. It was hard before. It’s even more hard now. So, employing different strategies and thinking outside the box, such as having a conversation with your mailperson, nowadays, is not unusual in looking for dental personnel.” (5:17—6:07)

“[Candidates asking for higher wages] is definitely a trend that we’re noticing for any position. If the position was traditionally a $20 an hour position, administrative or dental assisting, we’re finding that candidates are asking, on average, for about a $10 to $12 increase. So, they're now asking for $30, $32 for what a $20 an hour position was, traditionally. And they are discovering that, yeah, practices are willing to pay for it because there's such a shortage.” (7:18—7:51)

“Can the practice afford [paying higher wages]? Can you negotiate? Of course. I would absolutely not walk into or make a commitment to a new hire of a high wage if, a) you're not comfortable and your practice numbers don't support it and, b) be willing to negotiate, especially if they say that they have experience in a prior dental office. What we have found is there are not apples to apples in dental practices. You work with the best of the best, and that is much different than somebody who is maybe insurance driven, or has a lot of high turnover, or does scheduling differently. So, not only do you have to worry about if they say they have five years in a dental practice, keep in mind, they have five years in another dental practice, not yours. So, still, the training, the onboarding, is so important in helping make that new hire a success.” (7:54—8:55)

“If you have the resources to devote and onboard this new hire in your way of doing things and teach them the technical, absolutely, I would choose that over