326: A New Spin on Hiring

We’re going to be honest with you: Hiring has been hard as of late. Just like many of the practices we visit, the Dental A-Team has experienced staff turnover. We might be desperate to fill these important positions in our practice, but THIS episode is about how we didn’t let that desperation take the driver’s seat to bring someone new aboard.

Today’s new spin on hiring is all about how you write the job description. Hint: Be brutally honest when you fill it out; list exactly what you want out of your dream hire. Not so sure about that approach? Press play to hear how we did it.

And! The DAT also has a hiring course to help you on this journey. Visit www.TheDentalATeam.com to sign up, and use code ‘hire7’ to get a sweet discount.

Podcast Transcript:

Kiera Dent:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent. And I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner. And I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep. We don't just understand you; we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I could help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast.

Kiera Dent:

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. You guys, how are you doing out there today? I hope it's a fantastic day. I hope you're just in such a great place. I hope you're loving your life. You guys, we work in the best industry possible. We work in dentistry, and that means we get to experience all the greatest things in life, in my opinion. You guys get to choose what you agree with. That's my opinion on life. So, as always, let's kick today's podcast off. If you guys have yet to subscribe, to rate our podcast or share it with somebody, please just take a second, do. That helps our podcasts grow, helps us impact more people. And I know you guys are on a mission to grow your practices. We're on a mission to grow our podcast. So, this year, you guys joined us on our journey. We have big lofty goals. Our goal is to double what we did last year. So, please, help us out, help us reach that goal, if this podcast provides you value.

Kiera Dent:

All right. Today's topic is a new spin on hiring. So, this is coming because one, the Dental A Team headquarters, we are drinking your same Kool-Aid, guys. We are struggling with hiring. We have gone through the burn. We have had turnover. Yes, the Dental A Team, the greatest company to work for. I think that we are the greatest company to work for, other than the dental practices that we work with and those of you listening. Of course, your practices are great as well. But we love what we do. And I think we have an incredible culture. I think we have a lot of autonomy, a lot of growth. I think it's just a great place to work. But we've had the turnover. Hiring's been hard.

Kiera Dent:

So, I'm excited because this is thanks to my business coach. She came up with this idea. So, what happened was we were struggling to hire, and I finally was like, "We've got to change this up." Tiffany, she's been consulting a ton. I've been consulting a ton. We've had consultants move. We've had consultants start. We've had headquarters turn over. It's just been a lot as a business owner. And I thought, "Man, this hiring, you guys have all been talking to me. I've been coaching you through it. Now, we're dealing with the same thing you guys have." So, just so you know, across the nation, most of our practices are having some type of turnover, struggling to find employees, looking for innovative ways.

Kiera Dent:

So, dental assisting schools or certificate programs are a hot topic right now. If you have the space in your practice, if you have driven people, if you're struggling to find dental assistants, you could create a program. I know Dr. Summer Kassmel has a great program. I know other people are using... There are schools out of Florida, different places. Lots of different options. That's a great idea. Check with your state regulations to see if that's an option for you. But that's a great thing.

Kiera Dent:

Find how you could incorporate where you're struggling. Could you create an after-hours front office training program? You guys, the Dental A Team has a ton of pre-made materials for you. We've got all of our downloadable courses. They've got workbooks in them. You guys, take them. Use them. Create schools. Create training opportunities. You guys could create businesses off of it. Different ways to utilize your practices. These are things that are struggling.

Kiera Dent:

We're looking at how do we create a consultant onboarding? So, if you guys know anybody, obviously we do not take from practices we work with, nor do we take your employees. So, guys, if you're with an office already: tough luck. But if you're an office that is open and you know somebody who'd be a great consultant, we'd love to interview them. We'd love to work with them. So, be sure to reach out to us and let us know.

Kiera Dent:

Reality is, though, you guys, hiring, let's do a new spin on it. So, we have our hiring course. If you guys have yet to get that, snag it. It's so helpful. It's part of the Dental A Team downloadable library. You guys can snag that at thedentalteam.com. That's thedentalateam.com. We're cool, like The Facebook and The Home Depot. So, don't forget the "the." And if anybody knows who owns dentalateam.com, let me know because I definitely want to buy that domain at this point in my life. But snag the hiring course. We have it on there. Use the coupon code "hire 7." The number, 7. You guys get a discount on that course. All of our courses come with coaching calls now, except the hiring course. It's pretty self-explanatory. But all the courses come with coaching calls. So, if you have a new hire or you guys are thinking of putting somebody through this who has no experience, awesome, they all come with coaching calls because we wanted to give you guys a better experience. We're trying to think of how we could help offices more. So, every one of them come with coaching calls to ensure you guys get the best resources and the best help.

Kiera Dent:

So, with hiring, we've already talked about building your avatar, all those things. Get the hiring course. It goes through that. Listen to the other podcasts. But I'm going to give you guys a new spin.

Kiera Dent:

So, recently, what we've done is Tiffany and I, true confession, have had a little bit of a desperate mold to us. Who's with us? I know we're not the only ones desperate to make a hire, desperate to get somebody in our office because we're just drowning and we feel like we're treading water. Okay. So, we're putting that energy out there. Whatever energy we build with today is what's going to come back to us. So, that desperation? Don't worry, we are hiring desperate people. That's not fun because desperate people leave. So, just, I've heard from rumors, not speaking from... No, I'm totally speaking from complete and total, like that's my life.

Kiera Dent:

Hello, Dental A Team. I hope you are as excited as I am because, guess what? May 14th and 15th this year, we are running Dental A Team's Full Team Summit for the first time ever. It's May 14th and 15th. A Friday, Saturday. And it's CE training for you and your whole team in your practice. So, in the past, you've had to fly your whole team to get full team CE. And instead, we're bringing the CE to you. You guys, I've attended so many virtual events, and I cannot wait because this is going to be epic of all epics.

Kiera Dent:

We're going to teach you guys, with your whole team working together, how to build your dream practice, how to have accountable teams and run effective meetings. We're going to have breakout sessions with each department specifically, so billing, OM, TCs, schedulers, hygienists, assistants, and doctors. And we're going to round table style, learning from the best. We're going to have lessons on leadership. We're having guest speakers come in. You guys, it is going to be epic. And I want all of you there. So, head on over to our website, thedentalateam.com/events and snag your ticket for you and your team to attend Dental A Team's Full Team Summit this year.

Kiera Dent:

So, what we did this time is we actually changed it up. We decided we're not getting desperate. And so, my business coach, which is a beauty of having a coach, she sees my business. She knows. So, she knows me intimately and really was able to give me a lot of direction and guidance, which is why I love doing the same thing for dental practices. So, you guys, if you're needing help, do not hesitate to reach out to the Dental A Team. You guys, we're always there. [email protected].

Kiera Dent:

We are accepting new clients right now. And I will tell you, we've had a lot of awesome clients sign up this year. They said, "We are not doing what we did last year. We want a different year. We want to build our leadership team. We need organization. We need simplification. And we know there's got to be an easier route." So, if you can resonate with that, contact us. We've already made great headway with all the offices that we've started with this year. So, be sure, we'd love to help you and your practice as well, if any of those things resonate with you.

Kiera Dent:

So, with hiring, what we did was we took our core... or our job description, and we realized we didn't really even have clear job descriptions, even though we had job descriptions because the position changed after the last person left. You guys, your job descriptions you create, but we create them before we change. And then we hire somebody, then our business changes, and then we need to hire again.

Kiera Dent:

And so, what we did, and I really appreciate Liz for doing this, is she had me stop, and we scrapped it all. We said, "Okay, if we were building everything we wanted right now, what would we hire?" I had been hiring these positions for awhile, guys. And so, sometimes we just scrap and think, "Okay, who do we have now? What do we need? And not even just using the people that we have, what would be the most ideal situation?" Because when we have to rehire, guess what? We get to start from zero. We get to figure out what we want to do. So, with that, we took it, and we built it out. We said, "Okay, if we could make this perfect, this is what we would hire." And then we went to hire. We built a job description.

Kiera Dent:

And something I love that Liz did, is Liz actually told, in story form, the beginning of that job description. So, we're looking to hire a director of operations, which is the same thing as your office manager. We're looking to hire a marketing specialist. And we're looking to hire other positions, like a personal assistant, things like that. You guys, I've already had these. We had a business implementer. We've tried all these different things. So, don't be afraid to change it up.

Kiera Dent:

But what I love with Liz is she did this... It was amazing. She literally broke this down and said, "Okay, we're going to actually build this job description in story form, so that way we all know exactly what it looks like. So, for our marketing specialist, I am driving, so I'm going to pull this up for you guys, she said... She basically wrote it as, "This is the... " She said, "Every book has a cover. And as our marketing specialist, you are going to help be the cover of our company." And I loved that she wrote it that way. She really made it feel as if that's what it's going to be. And I love that she broke it down because I think sometimes people see job descriptions, but they don't actually, I don't know, I guess connect with it, whereas in story, we are able to then connect with it. And so, that was where we broke it down. We were able to get it more clear. And she wrote a little blurb at the beginning of every single job description.

Kiera Dent:

So, to give you guys an example of what I'm talking about, Liz said, for the marketing job description, "You are the cover of the Dental A Team's book, as people do judge a book by its cover. Your creative and keen eye provides dental clients and prospects a reason to want to engage with the Dental A Team and, better yet, become long-term, loyal clients. Your goal is to exponentially grow our followers, build our database, create beautiful graphics that tell a story, construct a sales funnel, is innovative, works well in a fast-paced environment, and is a dedicated member. Your role is everything marketing, from social to email campaigns, newsletters, event planning and preparation, creating PowerPoints, finding ways to grow our lead generators, and traditional, and more. You are one with our website, constantly spot-checking to ensure we have correct information and thinking of new, innovative ways to grow the company that also is cost-effective. You are also the creative genius behind projects, which come frequently. This position also plays a key role in supporting new initiatives." I loved that. And Liz went through and she wrote different pieces to each position and had a little blurb like that. And this is different than what we've ever done before.

Kiera Dent:

But then what we were able to do from there, is we took that, and then we wrote down literally everything. "Liz," I told her, I said, "Liz, we don't want to scare people away." And Liz said, "We're changing it up, Kiera. And we're going to put everything on there." And you guys can try this. It might work, and it might not for you. It worked insanely well for us. And I'll explain what happened with our results.

Kiera Dent:

So, what Liz did is she posted basically this job description. We have on there who they report to what they're going to do. It's a two-page, single-spaced document. We have the blurb on there. We have this. And on our job description, Liz said, "If you cannot do these tasks, do not apply for this position. We're looking for somebody that this job description does not intimidate." So, she almost challenged people to say like, "Hey, if this doesn't intimidate you, we want you."

Kiera Dent:

We didn't get very many candidates. I'm not going to lie to you. We put it there. We did not put a lot of money ad spend to this. We decided the person who wants this job is going to be the perfect fit for this. And we were willing to pay well for this position. We knew what we could afford. And, as always, we made the job description, and then we're going to find the person to fit it; not find the person, and then create the job description.

Kiera Dent:

So, I really loved that Liz had me... I was in panic mode, you guys. I went into desperation like, "Oh, just somebody." And Liz is like, "No, we don't want just somebody; we want the A Team, Kiera. And we're going to get the A Team." So, we put that job description out there.

Kiera Dent:

You guys, I have to tell you, from one week from the time that we had a position open, we have hired two people. Two. We've spent $75 on ad spend. And the girl who came in on that marketing, she read our job description, she said, "I know that you guys think that this is an intimidating job description." She said, "I've done everything. That's easy. And I'm excited to take this on. This is the area that I think I can grow you."

Kiera Dent:

She sent me over a 10-page marketing... I don't even know what it's called. It literally had... So, her sample... I told her, "I would like to see your work. I want to see a sample." She made me a graphic. The graphic was 10 pages. And it was to showcase our March 26 Billing Event, which, by the way, guys, if you want to join us, we'd love to have you. Pop on over to thedentalateam.com/events. We'd love to have you at CE for your team. We also have our Dental A Team Summit on May 14th and 15th. Be there. You guys, it's going to be incredible. I can't tell you, you guys know that when the Dental A Team puts on an event, we always over-deliver. And this one is nothing shy of that. So, get your team there. I promise you, you guys, you will definitely be sad if you miss it. Get your tickets now. I know there's early-bird pricing. Prices will go up. So, be sure to go snag those tickets.

Kiera Dent:

But I told her, I said, "Showcase off your work. I need a flyer for our sponsor, so that way they can help promote it with us for our March 26th." And she said, "Kiera, do you want an email? Do you want email copy?" She said all these words. I don't even know what it was, but I was like, "That sounds important. And that sounds impressive. And you got 32 million impressions at your last job. So, let's see what you create."

Kiera Dent:

She sent over 10 slides. It was in a PowerPoint form, but it had everything put together. And, you guys, this has never happened, but we had this sticky of a job description, and I'm telling you what it resulted in. She sent over number one, a newsletter. So, she had gone through, found images from our website. I didn't give her anything, guys. Literally, she just went from scratch. She sent over a newsletter that had all of our copy in it, pictures from our website that she pulled. She sent over social media post templates. She sent over three more email headers, so we could change up our email headers. She also sent over our sponsor graphics. She sent over the most beautiful graphics. No, they're not perfect, but it's like 90% there of everything we would want it to be. That's what she sent over in her interview.

Kiera Dent:

She met with me. She talked with Liz. You guys, she just started. So, I'm excited to see how she does. You guys will have to let us know how you like the newsletters, as we have a new marketing gal on our team. But the power of being clear, the power of writing a story basically, of what this position will be so they can envision themselves, and not sugarcoating.

Kiera Dent:

Tiffany and I will tell you, we got desperate. And Liz said, "No, I'm picky." Liz went through and she screened people. She would look at their Facebook pages, all of that beforehand.

Kiera Dent:

And I know you might be thinking, "I don't have time for that." Guess what, you guys? I didn't have time for it either, but you have people around you. Get innovative. I can't tell you, I was literally almost to the point of having Jason, my husband, start interviewing people for the company because there are other people that can help.

Kiera Dent:

The aha moment came to me when I was like, "Tiffany's too busy. I'm too busy. Kayla's too busy. Who do I know in my circle of people around me, supporting me for this business that could help me hire?" And that's where the idea for Liz came. I was like, "Liz. Liz is sticky. She's helped grow consultants. She's helped in other areas. Maybe she could help." And sure enough, she was able to. And if it wouldn't have been Liz, maybe she'd know somebody. But I thought differently. It was innovative. It was something I've never done before. And we're getting different results.

Kiera Dent:

So, that's my new spin on hiring for you guys of write that blurb that's in story form. We made the most hairy job description. We got very specific. Liz asked, and we put every single software that this person's going to need to know. We didn't... Usually, I'm the person that's like, "Just put it together. It's mostly done. And get it out there." I realized that I took... It took me about 30 more minutes. Took some revamping. Took me sitting down. It was about an hour to two hours of planning time of exactly who we needed in the company, what their job description really was, getting very crystal clear on that, and then posted ads. Within... I think we posted the job ad on Wednesday. We interviewed on Friday. I met her on Saturday. She was hired on Monday. I think it's worth it to put a little bit of time.

Kiera Dent:

Now, you might say, "Kiera, we've tried all these things." Fantastic. Try something different. At the end of the day, it's just results. If we're not getting the results, we want to try something different. Think: how could you make this process better? Where are the breakdowns? Why are we not getting the hires? What do we need to do? I have an office. They can not find dental assistants at all. They're just not there. So, cool. Let's come up with a way to make a training program. Even if we can't certify them, could we make a training program that would train these assistants? There are different ways. Think outside the box.

Kiera Dent:

But I want to give you guys some tips that we've done and the results we've gotten. Like I said, it's a brand new hire, but it was successful. We were able to find somebody far, far, far superior from anyone we've interviewed, that we're excited to bring onto the team, that I feel very, very optimistic. She has a great resume, great references. I was blown away with what she sent over to showcase her work after meeting on Saturday. So, little information about the company, and delivered that. Feel very excited about the potential. And if it's not her, guess what? It'll be someone else. But I do feel very excited that she's... She's the person we were looking for. We were that specific. And we were able to attract exactly who we wanted, who that job description did not intimidate. We held strong. Liz posts with a lot of confidence. We will find this person. And we don't want anybody who does not have this. Get specific.

Kiera Dent:

I just watched an office hire four office managers, and these people are rock stars. They knew what they wanted. They knew what they were looking for. And they didn't settle. I think raise our standards in this area, and get excited.

Kiera Dent:

So, there's your guys' new spin on hiring. And if you found this podcast beneficial in any way, share it with others. Subscribe. You guys can help us out. Subscribe. Leave a review. That's how we're able to grow our podcast. You guys have awesome ways to grow your practices with Swell. The podcast is word of mouth. It's you guys physically doing it. There's no reminder. I can't send you a reminder after you've listened to the podcast. So, please do us a huge favor. Go subscribe. Like. Leave us reviews. We love to hear from you. And if you have topics you'd love to hear about, email us [email protected]. As always, you guys, I love this podcast. I love being able to provide value for you. I love hearing from you. I love seeing your stories. I love getting text messages and messages, hearing how the podcast is changing your life, changing your practice. That is what this podcast is made for. So, as always, thank you all for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Kiera Dent:

All right, Dental A Team listeners. That's a wrap. Thank you so much for listening. And if you loved today's podcast, go leave us a review. It takes you five seconds, and your review helps more offices, more practices, more team members just like you find out about the Dental A Team. Thank you guys so much for being a part of my Dental A Team family.