Well… here we are. 4 years after 2020 and we are still finding it challenging to hire.
The ADA and the Health Policy Institute released their 2024 Q1 report and we find that a 3rd of dentists are trying to hire and that 89% find hiring a hygienist to be extremely or very challenging and 77% find Dental Assistants to be extremely or very challenging to hire.
I was talking to one of my colleagues and he said, many of his clients practice a “Post and Pray” policy when trying to hire. Meaning they post their job on one website and pray that they get applicants. Sometimes, that could work but in today’s market a more proactive approach should be taken to get your job staffed.
In this post, I want to introduce you to alternative ideas to get your job posting out in the world. But before you get started, I beg you to take the time to write up an amazing job post.
Once that is done, we will look at my 5 favorite tools for your job post in front of candidates.
#1 Job Boards
My approach to job boards is the more the better. Obviously as a busy dentist or office manager, you don’t have time to create and post your job on a hundred different job boards. So look for job boards that offer you a Programmatic Job Advertising service. This basically means they use technology to buy, distribute and optimize your ad for you to get it on as many sites as possible.
Also, a job board that will email blast your job out to all the applicants they have in your area. This gets your job in front of those that might not be searching the job boards, but could be lured to apply to your job if your posting is enticing enough.
If that is not an option, make sure whatever site you do use, is the site that most of the applicants in your area are using. You can simply ask your team what job board their friends are using to find jobs. And post your job there.
#2 Your Social Network
Your social network consists of your study clubs, classmates, previous and current colleagues and employees. Ask them if they know of anyone looking for a job. This is the rarest way to find applicants but usually always yields the best employees.
#3 Social Media
Then turn to social media. Obviously post your job on your office’s social media sites. Even ask your tech savvy employees to make some fun reels or images.
Search Facebook and LinkedIn groups in your area and post your job there. On LinkedIn you can even search that position and location and then “friend” the profiles you like and in the notes section include the link to your job. These are great ways to get your job in front of people who may not be on the job boards.
#4 Temp Agencies
Temp agencies are still a great option. The downside is they are very expensive. But they do have a great network and have the means to get your job in front of potential applicants that might not be on the market. They can also assist with temps should you need coverage.
#5 Artificial Intelligence
What is currently available is programmatic job advertising which I touched on in this article already. These services use AI to see where candidates are then automatically adjust funds and expand the jobs to get more applicants for you.
Services also use AI for candidate matching. That isn’t really new, but we are seeing it greatly improve and will continue to improve because of Artificial Intelligence.
You can also use AI to help you write an amazing job post with ChatGPT or similar services. Just make sure you include enough info that is personal to your office so you don’t end up with the same job post as everyone else using AI.
We also see AI being used in offices to help them grow enough to add a 2nd hygiene column and increase production.
I have high hopes for the future of AI.
One being a service that reviews your resumes for you and then automatically sends a text to get that candidate scheduled for an interview.
Another fun possibility is AI scanning your dental software and notifying you if you need a temp for the day. And then once you approve they will send that temp request into your temp platform for you. Which would be amazing.
And those are my top 5 tools to hire with.
I know this all sounds like a lot of work. But these are great tools to implement to shake up your search for a dental assistant or hygienist. If you really don’t have the time to do this, check out our Boosted Staffing Plan. Where you have a dedicated recruiter that does all of this for you.
Smiles,
Holli Perez
DirectDental
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