How to hire during the Holiday Season

Last week I talked about the stresses of keeping your productions up during the holiday months.   

This week, we are going to talk about keeping your practice fully staffed during this time of the year. 

When it comes the holiday months, you may find that:

• You need to hire someone but your job post isn’t getting any applications.  
• The time-off requests from your employees are piling up. 
• Too many of your patients are trying to use their insurance benefits by the end of the year and you and your team can’t keep up.

If any of these sounds like you, I suggest you keep reading. 

In Real Estate, there is a buyer’s market and seller’s market.  The dental field is very similar in how there is an employer’s market (everyone is looking for work and you have plenty of options to choose from) and an employee’s market (where there are more jobs than candidates and you really have to stand out to get the good candidates).   

In all honesty, all of 2019 felt like an employee’s market, but the last two months of the year is when it feels like all dental assistants, dental hygienists, and front office personnel just stop looking for work completely. 

But if you need to hire,  you need to hire. 

This post aims to give you some tips to keep your office fully staffed and functional during the holiday season. 

Lets first identify why your job post is not getting any candidates. 

I have been recruiting in the dental field for the last 4 holiday seasons.  So it is safe to say, I have a really good understanding of this. And there are 2 major reasons why dental assistants, dental hygienists, and front office staff stop looking for working during November and December. 

1. Everyone gets into this weird mindset that they now need to wait until January 1st to make any major changes in their lives (ie. Working out, Dieting, budget, new job, etc.).  
2. They don’t want to lose their paid time off that they have been saving for the holidays. 

The #1 reason is pretty ridiculous and I wrote this post in hopes of getting dental professionals to look for a new job during the holiday season. We will see if it work ;). 

The #2 reason is completely understandable, but it is an easy objection to overcome, but… you might not like it.

Simply, don’t make your new hires wait 90 days for their paid holidays and vacations to come into effect.  I only mean this if their start date falls where they would have to take Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years off unpaid. 

And make sure you include, highlight, maybe even put into the title of your job posting that paid Holidays start immediately.  

This should make the looky-loos stop what they are doing and apply!

Now, if offering paid time off is not something you can do, then a second option is to utilize dental temps until you either find someone or until January 1st hits and the job boards are flooded with people looking to make a change. 

Success with Dental temps. 

Dental temps are great if you:

1.  are short-staffed
2. have too many employees taking time off
3. or need some extra hands because all your patients are trying to get in for cleanings and treatment before their insurance benefits expire.  

I have this post to explain how to have success with Dental temps, but a few things to keep in mind for the end of the year. 

Be flexible

Some of the best temps, have jobs and are only available 1 day a week.  During this time of year, it is almost impossible to get 1 temp to work with you 5 days a week.  So be prepared and flexible enough to have multiple temps on different days of the week. 

BUT if you find a temp you like that can only work Wednesdays, ask them to work every Wednesday until the end of the year.  They will love the extra income and stability, and you will love that you have a great temp coming in on Wednesday. 

Stay compliant

Make sure you are paying your dental temps in the right manner.  We have this post to help explain, but we highly recommend you talk with your CPA and payroll company to ensure you are staying compliant. 

Remember they are temps

Having your lead RDA out or being overly busy can be stressful and when stressed we can lash out if things aren’t going as planned.  

Please remember, that temporary assistants, hygienists and front office staff are doing their best, but they aren’t 100% familiar with your practice or how you like things done. So take a deep breath and calmly explain how they can better assist you.

Find Dental temps the right way 

DirectDental.com allows you to post temp jobs and reach out to temps directly to schedule the coverage that you need.  You can also reach out to our partner staffing agency Direct Dental Staffing and they can work with you to make sure you have the right temp when you need them. 

We hope this post helps you this holiday season to make sure your office stays fully staffed!

Happy Holidays!