5 Tips to get more applicants for your dental job post

by | Jul 14, 2020 | Dental Office, Employer advice, Hiring, Practice Advice | 0 comments

The question we keep being asked is “It seems like there are more jobs than there are candidates.  Is that true?”

The short answer is yes.  

BUT that isn’t anything new, there has been a shortage of dental professionals in the field since 2017.  

The good news is that we are starting to see a lot more dental assistants, hygienists and front office staff sign up and apply to permanent and temporary positions.  Woohoo!  

Since there is still a shortage, we want to help you get the most candidates possible by making your job posting extremely attractive.  

Here are 5 tips to get more applicants for your dental job post.  

#1 Make your job post as easy to read as possible

Keep it short, sweet, and simple.

  • Use bullet points to list benefits and duties.  

Make your hours bold.

Italicize, CAPITALIZE and underline other important items, just don’t go overboard. 

Try to keep your job post between 250 to 500 words.  

When you post a job with DirectDental, we offer a free template for each position.  You can edit it and make it your own before you publish your job. 

#2 Make it extremely easy to apply for your job 

PLEASE stop asking dental assistants to write a short essay as to why they want to work with your practice.

First off, they have never met you, so they don’t know why they want to work with you.

Secondly, all they are going to do is hit apply to your job and move onto another job.  

Remember the candidates have their pick of jobs here, so you need to sell them on why they should work for/with you.  

#3 Offer Benefits 

Another way to sell applicants on why they should work for you is by offering benefits.  Due to COVID-19, we are seeing a lot more applicants gravitate towards the offices that are offering health insurance.  So start offering medical insurance.  

Take Command Health offers tax-free reimbursement for health insurance for your employees.  And offers them some great low cost plans.  

If you can’t offer medical insurance, offer additional sick days, PTO and bonuses to drive candidats to apply to your job. 

Make sure to list those benefits at the TOP of your job post.

#4 Apply for candidates

What does “Apply for candidates” mean?  Glad you asked.  Unlike other job boards, DirectDental lets you search our whole database of applicants at no additional cost.  It is included in your plan.  We also let you search based on Skill Sets, Pay Rate, Specialities and more to show you the best available candidates for your job

Once you find candidates that you like you can invite them to apply OR request them to temp in your office OR just send them a message.  All at no additional cost.  So basically, you search for dental professionals and then “apply” for them to come interview with your practice.  

#5 Refresh your job often

Remember that dental offices are posting jobs daily.  To stay in the eye of the candidates, make sure to clone and refresh your job weekly.  

I really hate bragging, but… on DirectDental you can clone and publish your job with two clicks (hit the clone button, then hit the publish button) to get your job back up at the top of the job boards.  

And yes, I did mean to say job boards (with an S) because when you post your job on DirectDental it automatically goes on Ziprecruiter and Google Jobs. 

BONUS TIP: Have fun with your candidate search

Here is some advice for when you are calling on all the great candidates that apply because you followed all the tips in this post.

I know being short staffed is hard and stressful.  But if you are calling candidates and you sound stressed, they are not going to want to work with you.  When I am calling on candidates I put on a fun playlist, do some light stretching, read a few jokes or talk to someone I really enjoy for a few moments.  

That way I hit the phone with a smile.  

Candidates can hear your smile over the phone.  And when you sound happy, they are going to want to work with you.  

I hope these tips help.  But if you feel like you need even more help with your job post give us a call (619-295-1002) and sign up for our boosted plan.  With that plan, we make sure your job post is optimized on various job boards to make sure you get the most possible candidates.   
But don’t just take my word for it.  See what Resha had to say about our Boosted Plan.