Covid has been a tough time for dental professionals. Implementing safety rules meant higher operation costs, not to mention the reluctance many people had to leave the house, let alone get dental procedures done. Thankfully, things are starting to turn around, and dentists can start looking at recruiting new staff again. But, finding great people in this field can be difficult, and needs a solid plan of action. Let’s take a look at how you can find the right dental staff in Covid times.
Make Sure You Measure Up
The safety of your staff and clients should be a priority by now and you have to make it very clear. Even if some restrictions will be lifted, it would be wise for dental practices to maintain many of them to reassure both staff and patients. You want to make sure that this is front and centre in your marketing and branding message. Also, know that many have left positions because they felt that safety wasn’t taken seriously enough, so that would be your chance to pick up on this.
Use Specialised Sites
If you want to simplify things for yourself, we suggest that you pay special attention to specialised recruitment sites for dental professionals. Sites like https://www.dentaljobsonline.ie/ are a perfect example. These tend to attract highly motivated individuals and will allow you to save a lot of time. Not only that, but they are often referred by schools to students once they graduate, so this would be a great opportunity to take some under your wing. They also tend to be more enthusiastic and eager to learn, and you could get yourself some very loyal employees that way.
Improve Your Benefits Package
Know that candidates will be in high demand in the next coming months, and you will see more competitive packages being offered. If yours is not the best, you will have to re-evaluate it and make sure that you’re up to par with the rest of the competition. Don’t focus on the basics only; make sure that you have things like wellness resources as well. The more you have to offer, the more attention you’ll get from top candidates.
Flexible Schedules
People are looking for a better work-life balance as well. Staying at home close to the family has changed priorities for a lot of people and those who offer flexible schedules to their employees will stand out. So, you will need to start offering flexible options. Some may want to switch to a 4-day week/3-day weekend format. Or, you can split shifts to make them shorter. You might also want to consider adding more staff than you had before, especially if you have expanded your opening hours. This will keep their workload manageable and open up scheduling options.
Dental recruitment during and after Covid will present some challenges, but none of them are insurmountable. Be ready to compete and do everything to make your practice as attractive as possible to potential candidates.