Around half of all dental practices are looking for full-time talent right now. Most will struggle. Let’s cut to the chase; it’s really, really hard to find good dental talent. You know this. Talent acquisition has been the underpinning theme of most dental conferences and magazines this year. But finding full-time positions isn’t just challenging because of the elephant in the room. There are a plethora of headaches that makes finding good dental talent extremely frustrating in today’s environment.
The Headaches of Finding Great Dental Talent
The staffing shortage makes finding any talent challenging
Dental staffing shortages — which spread from Seattle and Victoria all the way to Ontario and PEI — aren’t going away anytime soon. According to the latest data, around 40 percent of dental offices are actively looking for hygienists, with 90 percent admitting finding them feels nearly impossible.
It’s not just struggling to find good-fit hygienists and assistants. Simply finding any dental staff is challenging, especially in talent-strapped areas like Ontario, Seattle, and Toronto. Dental offices are fighting tooth and nail for the few hygienists that fill out applications, appear on FB groups, or join Indeed.
Here’s the big secret: this shortage is here to stay. It will take at least a half-decade for a minor correction. And we won’t go back to pre-pandemic levels for at least 15 years. The hygienist-to-dentist ratio of new graduates was 3:1 in 2010. It’s now at 1:1. And it’s not picking up steam.
Best-fit hires are expensive and time-consuming to track down
Finding dental talent is already hard. But finding best-fit hires can be a downright nightmare. A bad hire costs you around $15,000. And those are just the tangible costs associated with finding, onboarding, etc. Bad hires also drop employee morale by 32 percent and productivity by 36 percent.
The scary part? 66 percent of workers admit they’ve been a bad hire before — with two-thirds of all respondents saying they took a job and quit it within a 6-month time period. Bad hires aren’t rare; they’re the norm.
Suddenly, finding talent is about much more than simply dropping a line into the water. You need the right bait. You have to source the right soft skills and talents. It ends up taking months upon months, and you spend big trying to attract the small fish in the big ocean.
You don’t have time
Finding a new hire is very, very time-consuming. On average, it takes around 42 days of non-stop searching to fill a new position in a normal talent economy. In today’s dental space, we see offices spending 6 months or more to score an interview with a good-fit client. It’s not pretty.
But you don’t have 10 hours a week to spend on talent sourcing. Dentists are already burnt out, exhausted, and tired. And, most work long hours. Add running an office to the responsibility list, and time becomes a precious commodity.
Most headhunters are expensive and underperform in the dental space
Most headhunters have exactly zero idea of how to operate in the dental space. Don’t get us wrong; we have an extensive talent network. And we pay plenty of recruiters. But the headhunter space is really, really sketchy in the dental space. For starters, they’re expensive. Many charge upfront fees and placement fees. To find the talent, they’re not burning the midnight oil trying to discover the “best fit for your practice.”
Let’s be honest; they’re just spamming a bunch of hygienists until one bites. Not all practice this way. But plenty do. And it’s unfortunate. Most headhunters do not specialize in dental talent. But even the ones that do are often driven to get as many placements as fast as possible — which usually ends with them just throwing the first hygienist they find at you.
A Look at WORKFORCE’s Talent Pipeline
Brag time. We get resumes; lots of resumes. WORKFORCE specializes in securing bright and talented hygienists. We have a wonderful network of recruiters and former hygienists on the payroll, and we spend time and money on social, email, and blogging.
But here’s the big secret: we’re massive advocates for hygienists, assistants, and staff. And we spend significant resources ensuring they have a wonderful experience that puts them in control of their working future. So, hygienists naturally come to us. In fact, we get more resumes through our door than the top DSOs, even without our massive dental talent outreach network.
Yes; many of our dental workers want to test out temping. But from our internal data, most actually want to go full-time (and 80 eventually percent do!). They’re just testing the waters, and getting familiar with different offices before making the jump. It’s one of the benefits of temping we preach about regularly.
Overall, we’re the most talent-drenched staffing solution on the market in Canada, and we’re quickly becoming equally talent-packed in places like Seattle.
Why are we telling you this…?
Using WORKFORCE to Secure Full-time Talent
WORKFORCE isn’t just Canada’s leading dental temp solution, we also help hygienists score full-time gigs at offices that fit their style. In turn, we help you do the same! Our massive team of recruiters and our deep talent pockets help us source the best-fit candidates for practices across Canada and the United States.
But we’re not your traditional staffing company. For starters, we don’t charge anything unless we find you the perfect candidate. We have a flat placement fee, no matter how hard we work to source your talent.
We also exist in an interesting space. We’re both office-centric and talent-centric. We do not place hygienists in an atmosphere that’s not a good fit for them — ever. When we find your talent, it truly is a good fit for both parties.
But that’s just a taste. Our real secret power is our “try before you buy” capabilities. You can test out dental hygienists on a temp basis. If you find one that really vibes with you, we can help you both make the transition to full-time. In fact, most of our hygienists are doing the exact same thing! They want to find the right office for them. There really is a best-fit place for every type of person. You just have to find it.
Here’s the even cooler component, you can actually use temp hygienists to justify a full-time position. We call this “proactive staffing.” Check out our blog on ways to boost revenue to learn more about it.
Are You Ready to Find Amazing Permanent Dental Talent?
WORKFORCE doesn’t just have deep talent pockets, we’re fanatical about placing dental talent in the right atmosphere and helping offices find hygienists, assistants, and receptionists that are a good fit with their culture and office dynamics. We’re cost-effective, fast, and the most talent-drenched solution in Canada. Need a full-time hygienist, assistant, or receptionist? Let’s talk!