When To Start Looking For Your Next Associate

You are a dentist and an owner of a successful business. You know the value of planning and you feel that you are ready to take your practice to the next step by adding an associate. What you may not know is that it could take much longer than you realize to find the right associate who shares your vision, clinical philosophy and is willing to put in the hard work to make your dreams a reality.

Factors that affect the quality and depth of the talent pool

There are many blogs and articles that cover the demographics of the dental field. To summarize, there are much fewer new dentists entering the field than there are baby boomers who are retiring. At the same time, patient demand is increasing as a result of population increase and the increased care required by aging boomers. In short, supply is not adequate for demand.

In the past, the talent pool met demand. Now, the unemployment rate for dentists is practically nil. Practices seeking to add help quickly have no choice but to accept an associate from a meager pool, indeed. Will you be satisfied turning over your patients and your practice’s future to just anyone?

Finding the right talent

We have been recruiting associates, partners, buyers and staff for dental practices for many years. We can confidently say that the best associate for your office is likely working with another practice. Our most successful placements were actively employed out of the area when we first came into contact with them. Is their spouse from your area? Do they share your clinical philosophy? What would cause them to leave their current job for a better match? We ask these questions and are able to make the best connections from a nationwide pool of contacts in our network. A successful practice owner simply does not have the time or the means to identify, contact and screen all the dentists who could be a match.

How long does the interview process take?

To answer this question, we analyzed data from our last 250 placements spanning a period close to two and a half years. We found that the average time between the first phone interview and a signed contract was 1 month and 26 days. During this time, practice owners and associate candidates typically have 5-7 phone interviews, two in-person meetings, complete reference checks and negotiate contract terms.

Now that you have an agreement, when can the associate start?

Keep in mind that the dentist who shares your practice philosophy, has the necessary experience and whose personality does not drive you and your staff crazy is likely already employed. He or she will have to give notice. Would you want an associate who would abandon a previous employer? There may also be other factors such as relocation, completing cases, and/or finishing a residency or a military obligation. The average time between an agreement and the actual start date is 2 months and 20 days.

Planning

It will take an average of 4 months and 16 days from the first conversation to the start date. That does not account for the difficulty in sourcing candidates. Many factors will affect your ability to source candidates:

• Practice location: A small city or rural environment could require more sourcing time than a similar practice in a dental school city.


• Practice type: Do you see Medicaid? Do you have a niche practice? This will limit the number of interested or qualified candidates.


• Specialty: Do you own a specialty practice?


• Clinical Philosophy: Are you a Pankey doctor? Do you provide sleep dentistry services? Extra training will limit your options.

As you plan for your next associate, be sure to allow yourself enough time to consider all of your options. Remember, hiring the wrong dentist can cost you thousands.

Written by Morgan Pace, Sr Account Executive/ Recruiter at ETS Dental. You can reach Morgan at (540)491-9102 or mpace@etsdental.com. Find out more at www.etsdental.com.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Report

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published its employment numbers for the month of October this morning. We asked Kitchen PR to put together a short summary and analysis of the numbers.

An Analysis of Today's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Report

The full report can be seen here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.htm.

Total U.S. non-farm employment rose by 151,000 positions in October, according to the Labor Department, while the unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent for a third month. In total, the private sector added 159,000 jobs, while the public sector lost 8,000 positions, with the most substantial loss being 14,200 non-education local government positions.

Of the 829,000 total gains in private sector employment over the last 12 months, 451,000 positions were with temporary staffing agencies. October, however, saw one of the most substantial gains yet in permanent positions, with additions spread across the services-providing sector. Seasonally adjusted, retail trade added 27,900 jobs from every category except building materials and gas stations. After an unexpected decrease of average weekly private sector earnings in September, earnings rebounded to an average of $779.64 per week in October.

The total number of unemployed people who were either laid off or completed temporary assignments fell to 9.1 million in October, the figure’s lowest level since April of 2009. Among workers who most recently held jobs in management, professional and related occupations, the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in October, down from 4.7 percent a year ago.

While October saw the first gains in total U.S. employment since May, private sector employment has expanded now for 10 consecutive months. Stimulus spending helped fuel a bump in private sector hiring in April of 241,000 jobs. Since then, the impact of stimulus spending has worn off; yet, private hiring has slowly increased its gains to the level we see today. Conventional wisdom says the United States needs to add in excess of 150,000 jobs to make up for the overall population growth, a rate we are at last achieving. Should private sector growth continue on the trajectory seen over the last six months, U.S. unemployment should begin easing in Q1 2011.


Provided by MRI Network and Executive Talent Search. Find out how ETS can help your career by visiting us at ETS Dental, www.etsdental.com; ETS Vision, www.etsvision.com; and ETS Tech-Ops, www.etstech-ops.com; or by calling (540) 563-1688.

An Aging Workforce Creates New Opportunities for Employers

The average life expectancy for someone born in 1950 is 68.2 years. For someone just ten years older, born in 1940, their life expectancy is 62.9 years and for someone born in 1988, likely just about to be graduating college and beginning a career, their life expectancy is 74.9 years.

While the U.S. retirement age, as defined by the Social Security Administration, is in the process of gradually increasing from 65 to 67, the length of retirements invariably is on the cusp of a sharp increase. The percentage of the employed U.S. workforce that is over the age of 55 has nearly doubled from a low of 12 percent in 1993 to 19.8 percent in January of 2010.

When people do enter retirement, however, they are in better shape both physically and mentally than ever before.

“The last decade has seen a redefinition of what retirement should and can be,” notes Tony McKinnon, who himself came out of retirement to become president of MRINetwork two years ago. “Retirees represent a growing population which workforce managers can tap into in new and unique ways.”

Keeping older workers on the payroll was once thought of as a deficit—they are often the highest paid, carry large healthcare costs, and sometimes have only limited computer skills—but that equation can change. Hiring contract staffers, who have already retired, lets companies bring on board top talent who have completed their traditional careers—sometimes at a competing company—and who are willing and able to continue to work.

These workers may only want to work part-time and won’t have as much interest in collecting benefits as full-time staff, yet, can offer the perspective and experience of decades in an industry. At a time when many retirees and near-retirees have lost substantial chunks of their savings, more seniors will also be looking for supplemental income than ever before.

“It has become increasingly common for companies to hire retirees as consultants, but it’s normally on an ad-hoc basis. Now is a good time for these post-retirement positions to become a formalised part of the org chart,” says McKinnon. “Not only are the number of candidates for such positions swelling, in the wake of the Great Recession, many organizations are giving long-term perspectives more deference than they have received in the recent past.”

McKinnon notes that some of the most obvious positions for post-retirement contractors to fill could be ombudsmen, mentors, or general strategic or advisory positions.

“After a downturn is a great opportunity for companies to reexamine every element of their business. Making large structural changes now will cost less and can potentially have greater rewards than changes made at the top of an economic cycle,” says McKinnon. “Not only are post-retirement contractors an example of the type of opportunity that exists to change the way things are done, once aboard, they can help to temper the degree to which changes are made.“

He continues, “While companies want to stay on the cutting edge coming out of recession, the sage advice of contractors who have already worked an entire career can balance that goal with decades of experience and keep a company off the bleeding edge.”

Presented by ETS Dental, Phone: (540) 563-1688, Website: www.etsdental.com

The Key to a SUCCESSFUL Private Practice

As a dentist, your main focus is to be able to take care of the oral health of the patients you serve. The clinical scope of your job is broad, and it is what you spend the majority of your time in the office each day doing. It is, after all, why you went to dental school and what pays the bills.

In private practice, the job of a dentist does not end there. One must also be a businessman/woman in order to successfully run a dental practice. This involves hiring and overseeing staff, implementing systems that will allow you to chart treatment, running an accounting department to bill patients, paying expenses and employees, all while making sure that you are keeping expenses lower than revenues in order to insure a profit margin that allows you to live the life you want.

This leads me to one of the most important hats a dentist wears in running a successful practice. Being a salesman! Selling treatment plans is the key to achieving the financial viability of a successful practice. This can be daunting and it is the part of private practice that many dentists know the least about and dread the most. It does not have to be that way.

The concept of how to be successful in achieving a high rate of treatment acceptance is actually quite simple and is based on what is found to be a common denominator in the successful sales people across all businesses. It is asking the right questions or asking the “Golden Question.”*

Rather than talking and talking and having your patient glaze over, you need to ask: “When you think about proceeding with treatment, what are your main concerns?"*. Having the answer to this empowers you to be able to address what is most important to the patient. If one understands their patients’ concerns clearly and addresses them succinctly as they discuss treatment, their case presentation conversations become amazingly effective.

*http://blog.6monthsmiles.com/?p=73, “The Golden Question for Case Presentation” by Dr. Ryan Swain.


Written by Gary Harris, Dental Specialist Recruiter at ETS Dental. You can reach Gary at (540) 491-9115 or gharris@etsdental.com. Check us out at www.etsdental.com.

Utilize Your Recruiter

Does your office have a need for a new Associate? Are you looking for a partner for your practice? Let an ETS Dental Recruiter make this happen for you quickly and efficiently.

Here are a few tips that I hope you will find helpful when working with a recruiter:

• Be timely in responding to the candidates presented. The candidates ETS Dental refer to you have been thoroughly screened and interviewed before their information has been sent. It is imperative that you reach out to the candidate within a day or two, either by phone or email, to acknowledge that you are interested in meeting at a mutually arranged time.


• Keep in mind that strong candidates are considering more than one opportunity. If you want to hire the candidate with the strongest credentials, you must act quickly.


• Provide feedback to your Recruiter. This is an extremely important point. It helps us make sure that we are presenting the appropriate candidates for your review. If you have received information on a candidate that you do not wish to move ahead with, respond immediately to your Recruiter so that the candidate can be notified, and we can find other prospects that better suit your needs.


• Finally, remember what it was like for you when you were searching for an Associate position. Strive to make the interview experience a positive and professional impression for the candidate.

Working together, we can make your hiring process both a gratifying and productive experience.

Written by Marsha Hatfield-Elwell, Regional Recruiter/Account Executive at ETS Dental. You can reach Marsha directly at (540) 491-9116 or melwell@etsdental.com. Find out more at www.etsdental.com.