Being a part of a DSO has its benefits. Just like running a private practice has its benefits.
One of those benefits DSO’s have is a bigger budget and better tools to staff their openings for Dental Hygienists, Assistants, and front office dental personnel.
But even though they have the budget and the tools for this, it doesn’t mean that private practices can’t gain access to those tools as well.
In this post, we will discuss the tools that Dental Service Organizations utilize to staff their dental jobs and how you, as a private practice owner, can access those tools as well.
Let’s first start with the basics.
#1 A Strong Reputation
DSO’s spend a lot of time and money building their brand and reputation. This includes:
- A gorgeous and functional website
- A strong social media presence including LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and even TikTok
- Many 5 Star reviews across Google, Yelp and other review sites
- And an overall positive reputation with their employees and community
These are all items that are manageable and affordable to build. So do some research and get after it.
Now onto the other stuff.
#2 Recruiters
DSO’s employ dedicated recruiters whose only job is to post jobs and contact candidates. That means while you are working on a patient or your office manager is on hold with the insurance company, the DSO recruiters are calling your applicants before you even get a chance to see that they applied.
Having the time to reach out to applicants and the know-how to convert them into interviews takes a lot of time and skill. If that is a luxury, you simply do not have, contact us. We have dedicated recruiters available to you for $1099/month.
If this sounds like a good option, you can stop reading, and we will take care of the rest. But if you have the time to manage your applicants, please continue to learn how to become your own DSO recruiter.
#3 They have access to Programmatic Job Advertising
Programmatic job advertising (or programmatic recruitment advertising) is the use of technology for buying, placing (distributing), and optimizing job ads – and their associated budget -automatically across the Internet. … and advertising on the right channels, to avoid both over-and under-spends.
Meaning it is a system where you post your job once, and it gets sent out to hundreds of job boards. The system then monitors applicants reallocating your job’s budget to better optimize your results.
Up until recently, only DSOs could afford this luxury. Leaving private practice dentists having to manually post their job to multiple job boards and somehow manage all those applicants coming in from different places.
Luckily for you, DirectDental was built to give private dental practices a programmatic system.
When you post a job on DirectDental, we send it out to every major job board, including Indeed, Ziprecruiter, Google Jobs, Monster, Career Builder, and more! Then all applicants, no matter where they apply from, get sent directly to your DirectDental dashboard for you to contact and manage.
#4 They Buy in Bulk
It should be no surprise just how expensive it has gotten to post your dental job. Even Craigslist has raised its rates. But it is getting to the point where a single dental office can spend $700 for a handful of applicants.
Dental Service Organizations don’t have that issue since they purchase their clicks in bulk. Meaning for every $1 you spend on getting your job in front of applicants, they spend $0.05.
Stretching their spending much further than a private practice can.
DirectDental also buys in bulk, and we spread those savings across all our clients. So you now are also only spending $0.05 for a click. Woohoo!!
Upgrade your job to a priority or a boosted job plan and really see your job in action.
#5 Applicant Tracking System
Since Dental Service Organizations have so many offices they have to staff, they most likely run into the same applicants repeatedly. And they need to track those persons.
Well, I think in these last few years, private practices have realized just how small the applicant pool is for hygienists, Dental Assistants, and front office personnel. And you probably find that you, too, are running into the same applicants over and over again.
DirectDental helps you track those applicants. When an applicant applies to your job, you can see at a glance on their profile if they applied to one of your jobs in the past. Any notes you input on them, follow them always, so you can remember every interaction you had with that applicant.
Easy Peasy.
#6 They Text
Another tool that Dental Service Organization recruiters use early and often is text. They text their applicants and keep texting them reminders to get them in for the interview.
98% of all text messages are read vs. 21% of emails vs. 33% of voicemails are listened to.
So dental recruiters use texting as the tool that gets interviews scheduled.
They most likely have a text service, but you can simply use your phone or google voice if you don’t want to give your personal number out to applicants.
But DSO recruiters text applicants when:
- They leave a voicemail to schedule an interview – a quick “Hey I left you a voicemail text” could make all the difference in having them call you back.
- They text right after they schedule the interview with all the interview details (time, date, address, who they are meeting with and what to bring)
- They text the night before and the morning of interviews to remind them.
- They text the night before and the morning of working interviews.
- They text them multiple times between signed offer letter and start date to ensure the applicant feels welcome before they actually start their new job.
Here are other ways Dental Recruiters get applicants to call them back and schedule interviews.
#7 A Structured Onboarding Plan
Research shows that new hires who go through a structured onboarding process are 58% more likely to stay with the company for three or more years. Yes, 3 or more years! Most Dental Assistants stay at an office for 1.5 years. So if you had a strong and structured onboarding plan, you could double that. That is an amazing return on investment!
And I have written many articles to assist with retaining talent –
4 tips to effectively train your new employee
How to improve the attendance of your dental employees
Onboarding Dental Employees to Increase Retention
How to Prevent Dental Candidates from Ghosting You
Struggling with Dental Practice Employee Turnover?
Make Your New Dental Employee Stick
Retain Your Dental Employees with Thoughtful Gestures of Appreciation
But here is the
Paperwork: The first day should be all about getting the proper paperwork in and signed. Review all benefits and pay and make sure any and all questions are answered.
If you don’t already have an employee handbook, I urge you to get one. HR for Health can help with that.
Time with the Boss: Sometime within the first 2 weeks, your new employee should get some one-on-one time with the dentist and the office manager. The new employee needs to understand the practice’s goals and methodology, and there is nowhere better to learn that than from the office leaders.
Time with the team: Do something fun to get the whole team together. It is hard being the new kid on the block. So take the team to lunch, or order in lunch and play some fun get to know you games.
Get and Give Feedback in a timely manner: Don’t let your new Dental Assistant, Hygienist, or Front Office Dental Personnel suffer in silence. Make a point to meet with them for 30 minutes once a week for their first month, to answer any questions and get any feedback or concerns about the position or team. Addressing concerns early and often can result in a harmonious and productive team.
#8 An HR Department
Labor laws are constantly changing and it can be scary to be a private practice trying to stay on top of all of them. DSO’s have HR deparments dedicated to making sure they stay complaint.
But, private practices can have these tools too. HR for Health is designed for healthcare practices by healthcare professionals. They specialize in dentistry and can handle all your HR functions to give you peace of mind. They can help you Onboarding, Employee Handbooks, Payroll and much more!
There you have it
8 Tools that Dental Service Organizations use to keep their jobs filled. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
Also, none of this matters if your job posting doesn’t convert. So make sure you write an awesome job post before you worry about the rest of this.
Smiles,
Holli Perez
DirectDental
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