Learn to reduce your bias when seeking out a job candidate, whether good or bad, to hire the best team member for the job. Hiring mistakes can be costly. Don’t be guilty of relying on your feelings to hire dental staff only to regret it later. People are definitely more drawn to those who are of our own social group or who are more familiar to them. It is where they feel the safest; but you can benefit greatly by reducing or eliminating bias when it comes to screening candidates for a position with your professional dental care team.
Diverse Teams are Stronger
When a team of diverse individuals come together as a team, they each bring their life experiences, social style, background, knowledge, and approach to problem-solving. Each individual has their own unique talents and abilities that will attract different types of clientele. The more diverse a business, the more it will be a financial success. You are not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.
Before you actually begin the hiring process, it will help to make a list of your hiring priorities. Take into account the personalities of your existing employees and your practice culture. Talk with your current dental team and ask them to make a list of certain characteristics a new hire might possess to balance out your team. This will make them feel valued and make the process of onboarding a new team member easier.
The Same Action Receives the Same Result
The labor market after the COVID-19 pandemic is not the same. New ideas and approaches must be entertained to attract the best applicants. Focus more of your attention on skills and personal qualities of job candidates to determine the best dental professionals for the job. It is better not to hope to choose the candidates that have enough credentials, but to seek out the job seekers who will take your dental team forward and assist them to learn and grow together.
Reduce Bias in Screening and Hiring Evaluation
Actions can become so ingrained they are hard to notice. The goal is to keep an open mind when it comes to screening and hiring potential dental team candidates, so you do not bypass ideal candidates for the position. We are constantly judging people we come in contact with naturally. It is a type of safety precaution built into us. Sometimes we do not even realize we are being biased toward others. Do not miss out on hiring some of the best dental professionals due to unfairness.
Use of Assessment Tools
Sometimes a good way to narrow down the pool of job candidates is through using assessment tools. This can provide you with a multi-faceted view of the prospective team member’s personality and skill set. There are tests for integrity, aptitude, personality, and skills just to mention a few. These tests can help to provide the clarity, perspective, and confidence to make a decision to replace or add a team member.
Commit to Non-Bias and Diversity
Sometimes bias comes up in relation to gender, age, ethnicity, race, and appearance. It can be as simple as someone’s name or a certain college or university you tend to favor. As the person responsible for hiring individuals for the workplace, do a self-check of your internal leanings on a regular basis. Your goal is to be objective when it comes to evaluating job candidates. This will take some effort on your part, but will tend to make you stronger in the long run.
In turn, dental programs, schools, colleges, and universities need to reflect the demographics around them and offer a diverse pool of dental professionals from which to choose. It is not an instant process, but needs to be done sooner rather than later.
Staffing can either make or break a dental practice. There are so many practitioners battling for the same group of patients. Everyone wants to raise the bar when it comes to patient service. And hiring the right professionals for the job can increase your team’s dynamics. How would you like to access assistance to temporary or permanent talent acquisition for your dental office? Would you like help to market the positions your dental practice has available? How about having someone to handle the details of interviewing prospective new hires such as scheduling and testing?
You can elect Strategic Practice Solutions Dental Staffing to assist you in locating and choosing a talented replacement or new employee without having to deal with the loss of revenue and stress on your team during the screening and hiring process. This can save your dental practice close to $1,000 per day in lost revenue! You and your dental team can focus on being productive and efficient while a proper fit for your team is selected and placed. Check out their staffing/recruiting portal today!
