Dr Phillip Palmer, Gail Neeson, November 2001 - Like any small business the issue of how to attract, recruit and retain staff is a constant challenge for our clients. Whether you’re recruiting a front office person, dental nurse or a hygienist, to attract the best you need to adopt a professional formal process from writing an ad to formulating a full training program for the new employee.

Gone are the days when an employer had a wide range of outstanding candidates to choose from. In today’s tight market good candidates know their value and can pick and choice from a wide selection of offers. Multi-skilling has also seen an increase in employees easily shifting across industries, which is also a great opportunities for employers to look outside the traditional square for their staff.

Recruiting staff should be addressed as a public relations exercise – it could be a potential new patient that walks in the door for that interview. It’s not only about you, as an employer, ‘checking’ out each candidate, but the candidate ‘checking’ out you, the staff and the environment.

We encourage our clients to write up an ad, where possible, that incorporates their philosophy statement, created in their first workshop with us. This makes a strong statement to potential employees about the vision and mission of the practice. But before you can write the ad it is important to review the position and draft a job description that includes the key skills and attributes of the ‘best fit’ employee. The job description is a powerful tool not only in the recruitment and training process but also during performance reviews.

So after we’ve put together a job description and written an ad we just wait for that phone to ring or the mail to come in. Well, that’s OK if you can take the time off during business hours, but not very productive. If you pride yourself in having both the latest clinical equipment and being fully computerized, then it will be a given that you have an email address – so put this in the ad. This will say a lot about your practice and will not only help you to receive candidate’s CVs in a quick turn around time but you will also have a permanent record of applicants, reducing confidential information laying around the office. This also allows for correspondence to be efficiently sent to the unsuccessful applicants. Another option to think about is making yourself available over the weekend with a mobile number – crucial if you’re on a tight deadline to replace staff.

If you’ve been putting off designing a practice logo then put off no more! This can really make your ad stand out from the rest and again make a strong statement about your business. Remember you’re competing not only with other dental practices but other industries, especially when recruiting for office administration staff.

To ensure you only interview the strongest candidates an effective telephone screening is critical. Questions on hours, days and salary expectations should always be included at this stage to reduce bringing in any candidates whose expectations are outside the set conditions and criteria. During this telephone screening you should also be finding out what is the candidate’s ideal position and place of work in order to help you prepare your PR presentation of your own practice at the interview.

So you’ve got your shortlist of say 3 and explained to them over the phone that you would like to arrange a face to face interview with them to find out more about their experience and skills. You’ve also let them know that this will be an opportunity for them to find out more about the practice, yourself and meet some of the team. Remember if they’re a good marketable candidate and they are actively job hunting you will be one of several interviews they are attending – so you’ve only got one opportunity to make an impression – so remember the 3 p’s – prepare, prepare, prepare.

So the first preparation is to get the environment ready! Make up a running sheet of the candidate’s name (first name only), contact no., and date/time of interview and advise team. The front reception will need a copy of this list to assist them in meeting and greeting the candidate – as Directors of First Impressions; they play a crucial role in setting up the environment. An application form should be handed to each candidate to complete at front office. This allows both the candidate to gather their thoughts and relax and will also supply you with some basic information on qualifications, reasons for leaving positions and also give you an opportunity to measure their attention to detail and handwriting. It is also recommended that you include a section requesting their permission to conduct verbal reference checks and allow them to sign and date the application.

The second preparation is needed to design an interview form that addresses questions to the candidate relating to the skills and experience required for the position. This is where the backbone of the recruitment process comes in – the job description. So it is important to spend some time analyzing what are the skills for the position and this can be done at a brainstorming session with staff.

The big moment is approaching and it should not only be the candidate that has butterflies, remember if this is a strong marketable candidate you have only 30 – 45 minutes to impress and asses them. You go through your checklist:

• booked a room/office with a ‘please do not disturb sign’
• glass of water
• pen and pad for them to take notes
• the candidate interview list in a folder together with interview forms and each candidate’s CV
• verbal reference check form

Once you’ve greeted the candidate and spent some time relaxing them with general chit¬chat it is important to let them know what’s going to happen during the interview.

You’ll be asking them:

• set questions about their past positions
• examples of where they’ve solved problems and interacted with patients and staff
• what is one of their proudest professional achievements

By explaining to each candidate that all applicants will have the same questions addressed to them you are stating that the process is fair and consistent.

During one of our most recent workshops on this topic we took our clients through role¬plays of interviews – this is a powerful way on improving skills and techniques. Taking notes during the interview process is also advisable as this shows the candidate that you are not relying on your memory and allows you to reflect on the candidate’s responses in more detail after the interview.

So what happens if you see a really good candidate at the interview stage? We advise never to make an offer until all aspects of the interview are completed, especially the verbal reference check/s. But there’s nothing wrong with telling an excellent candidate at the end of the interview that they are on a short list. This will keep them warm and interested. Asking the candidate, at the end of the interview, what other positions they are currently looking at will let you know how fast you need to move forward.

So just what should you ask previous employers about the top candidate you’ve interviewed? Given we’re all pretty busy and often only have a couple of minutes it’s best to verify their position, duties and reason for leaving. Checking on what they consider are the past employee’s top strengths and areas for development are also useful.

You should have a standardized verbal reference check form with additional questions to assess their suitability, like technical/clinical skills, problem solving ability and customer service techniques.

It always pays to obtain at least 2 if not 3 verbal referees. This helps to mask which referee will be called to the candidates and also covers missing someone in case they are unavailable.

Once you’re satisfied with the verbal reference check it’s on to the phone to make a verbal offer – recognized legally. You will need to go over the salary and conditions and start date and organize a letter of offer to be either sent out or picked up. BUT IT’S NOT OVER YET!

It’s now time for the final preparation – you’re on the home run. If it’s some weeks before the new employee starts make sure the letter of offer is signed and returned and make a ‘hello’ call to let them know how excited you and the team are with them coming on board.

Now back at the office you should be putting together a little pack that includes an employment contract, full job description and a training chart for the first 2-4 weeks. Believe us new employees are very blown away with this last preparation.

Remember you need to set the expectations from day 1 and the above documents will ensure there is a structure in place. A warm welcome with a cake and/or flowers is also a great way to start the relationship. Make sure you mark off at least 30 minutes to spend with the new staff member the morning they start to go over the documents.

Before you relax though, don’t forget to ring the unsuccessful candidates you interviewed to let them know as well as sending out unsuccessful letters to the candidates that replied but were not interviewed.

Adapting this process may seem daunting at first but once you put a formal structure and design some forms they only need minimal editing for each recruitment exercise. A process like this also says something about your professional standing to the potential employees. And remember it’s a two way process – you’re both checking each other out!

[Published in Australasian Dental Practice, November/December 2001]