The busy season is upon us, so you might be in the process of hiring a new staff member. Or perhaps you’re thinking and hoping to grow your clinic by hiring someone in the future. Either way, you might be trying to suss out the best strategy to find that perfect recruit, so we here at Shift Accounting have complied some tips to help you along your hiring journey.
Where to find the best staff
Where is always the first question when it comes to hiring someone new. There are so many places to look for someone, but how do you know you’ll find the right person? There are many ways to find staff, but here are two that we find the most helpful.
Talk to your staff
The absolute best way to start your journey when it comes to finding a new staff member to add to the team is by talking to the already great staff you have. So start the process by chatting with them to let you know what you’re looking for and where they’ll fit into the clinic.
Your staff is a great resource because chances are they know a few people who do what you’re looking for. They also know what it’s like to work at your clinic, what kind of fit would work well within your dental family and most importantly what kind of person will be best to work with.
Write a compelling ad
Once you’ve put the bug in the ear of your staff that you’re looking for someone new to join you, it’s time to write a compelling job advertisement. We want to stress the word compelling because there are a lot of boring advertisements out there, and those aren’t the ones that are going to attract the best staff catches.
When it comes to writing a compelling job advertisement, skim over the regular stuff. Sure, you want to tell people what kind of work they’ll be doing and where they’ll fit on the team, but your biggest goal is to tell them why they want to work for your clinic, not someone else’s. You can do this by adding a personal touch. Try showing your personality and highlight why this job and this clinic, specifically, is a great opportunity. Differentiate your dental clinic from the rest and tell your next employee what it really means to work there! Maybe even consider recording a short personal video to do this.
The Interview
Once you have a few good applicants picked out it’s time to think about the interview process. When it comes to your time in the interview room, you’re going to want to ask open-ended questions. Open ended questions solicit answers that can give you insights into motivation, attitude and work ethic all while letting you get to see your perspective employees personality. Examples of open-ended questions include:
- What is the most challenging experience you’ve encountered with a patient and how did you handle it?
- What do you believe to be your greatest asset and why?
- Ideally, what do you hope to see for your career in 5 years?
It might be a great touch to have your team provide input as well. Now it’s not best practice to sit your perspective employee in a room with six people firing questions at them (nor can you sacrifice your whole team’s time to interview 5 to 10 people), but walking your top 2 or 3 candidates around the clinic and introducing them to your current team might be a great solution. Likewise, if you have an office manager or a trusted staff member that acts as your right-hand, having them in the interview room might help too.
Conduct a working interview
A working interview is a little extra work, but it can really pay off in the end. A working interview, typically conducted after you’ve done a sit down interview or two with the prospective employee, is when you bring them in for a short period of time to work so you can evaluate them.
Working interviews are unique in that you get the opportunity to see the prospective employee interact with other team members and patients. While you shouldn’t have them do anything too technical (because they are not yet your employee). They can lend a hand in many tasks. Make sure you assign them tasks that can be done during the day and appoint someone on staff to lend them a hand if need be.
Do your due diligence
Once you’ve decided on your pick, make sure that you do a thorough background check, call their references and make sure any training or accreditations they have are up-to-date and valid. You don’t want to put yourself at risk of embezzlement.
Onboarding
After you’ve selected, hired and gotten the contract back from your new employee, it’s time to get started with the onboarding process. Many onboarding processes inadequately prepare new employees for their work, so let’s make yours great!
Actually introduce them to staff
I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the first 15 minutes of a new staff member’s day where you parade them through the office, introducing them to everyone just long enough for them to catch the last syllable of their name before you move on to the next person. Instead of doing this, try planning something like a team lunch or a get-together where everyone in the office has a few minutes to sit, introduce themselves and chat.
Policies & Procedures
Every new employee needs the time to go through and learn your training information and policies, and not everyone has time to train them one-on-one (the whole time). Make sure each new staff member has easy access to your training materials and, if need be, a quiet space to go over to them.
With that in mind, prior to hiring a new team member, make sure you have up-to-date policies and procedures so you can properly integrate them to the team without leaving them behind. Not only does documenting your processes and having them readily available to you help streamline your onboarding process but it can also help you scale your business.
Assign them a buddy
Give them a ‘go-to’ person who they can approach when and if they have issues. Make sure you talk to the training buddy beforehand and be clear with them about what you’re asking them to do and assess their workload and ability to help. Have their training buddy check in on them throughout the day and periodically in their first few weeks to see how they’re doing and give them the chance to ask questions.
Welcome them with a personal touch
In a recent video, Stream Dental Staffing Solutions recommended giving your new hire a little something to welcome them. Anything from a personal handwritten card to branded merchandise to help them integrate into the team and feel personally welcomed and appreciated.
The hiring process doesn’t have to be complicated, and it shouldn’t be if you’re well-prepared. So lean on the resources you have, make sure you’re policies and procedures are up-to-date and get ready to welcome your new team member. Happy hiring!