are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real Dental drama if so then

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you've come to the right place join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr Reena Kuba as

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we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while

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managing Dental drama let's get started okay so Bethany I know what we're going to talk about

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today um for two different reasons can I tell you why can I jump in please please do okay so um you had a project for

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myself and yourself and your team to kind of f we're going to work on so uh

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sneak peek if I'm allowed to say or teaser or whatever we're trying to create like different um tracks if you

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will for our listeners it's what people been asking us for and we've just been a little slow so thank you guys for your

0:54

patience but people have been asking us to kind of like hey you know like now we've got a a a decent significant

1:00

amount of episodes and so if there's particular topics we're like oh go find this episode and they're like which one

1:06

and so we are now trying to organize ourselves so that we can go this is the

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you know five episodes you want to listen to if you're trying to um you know coach your team or your your what

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do you call it your office manager and then these are the five you want to listen to for responding to negative

1:22

patients and this is what right so we're still working on that but um what we

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discovered uh recently I'm not sure if you're aware or not yet but um when I was looking at what we have for

1:34

associates it's um we we realized like we have a a lot of really good

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information packed into several episodes but it's been a little while since we've done a more recent one yeah so I wanted

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to start with that um and again for our subscribers like just keep hanging on we

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will have those tracks designated um here shortly I promise it's in the works

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but um speaking of a Associates I think it's also on my mind because we're in

2:03

the middle of looking for an associate which is why I was kind of going back and I was like oh I'll take that topic

2:08

for us digging through and um so I don't think we've updated in a while and the

2:14

fact that you and I are like literally in the thick of it I think we have some pearls that we could talk through that

2:19

sure you know as we're as we're going through this super relevant topic right

2:25

now especially for us but also knowing that we haven't talked about it in a

2:30

while so I think it it's time for it to resurface again so yeah do you want to tell listeners why I'm looking for

2:37

associate okay um okay I should have thought about that what do I want to say um so I've

2:44

got my current associate who um might be most likely

2:52

this year is going to head out and do his own Venture and so um we're now

2:59

trying to go okay if and when he's ready to step out I don't want to be left in a

3:04

gap of where I'm now having to try to manage you know all these patients in all these days so we were like you know

3:11

at the end of the year last year we were talking about goals and differences for the next year and I know for me when I

3:18

mentioned like one of the things that was kind of in the back of my mind Weighing on me was going you know um I

3:24

know my current Associate's not going to leave me high and dry but he's got a do

3:30

his thing and if that happens to be 60 days that he needs and then he's bought

3:35

a practice or whatever he's doing like he doesn't know his timeline but we

3:41

don't know what opportunities are going to present themselves for him so uh you know I don't want to be caught off guard

3:48

and unprepared so what are what are we doing and you were like I'm 10 steps ahead of

3:54

you um I think we need to start the search now and so I feel like that's

4:00

where you kind of coming in and guiding me through that cuz my brain was all over the place and I had a ton of anxiety about it and I think this is

4:07

also relevant so for somebody else who's not in this same boat obviously um but

4:12

who has been thinking a while now like I may need an associate cuz I know you get that asked a lot a lot yeah um how do

4:20

you find good Associates and I I think I can name drop

4:26

I hope I guess you could edit me out if I can't do this but since he's been a guest on the podcast I'm going to take

4:33

the Liberty to throw out his name but Dr lllo Who talked us about his office manager model and and all of that um his

4:40

name came up because randomly like his town is not close to my town about an

4:46

hour probably about an hour MH and randomly we had patients that the the girls were like you know now older teens

4:55

16 18 and we had been trying they they had lived in my town they moved to his town and um for the last like year or

5:03

two years we're like well why don't you find a dentist closer to you like these these aren't like pediatric patients anymore all permanent teeth permanent

5:09

tooth needs and the mom still is like well we've been coming here which I so appreciate and I think it's you know

5:15

makes me happy on one side but we finally reached a point where I was like I don't do these procedures and um we were referring to

5:23

lll's practice which we don't you know we rarely get to do it's like random and so um

5:30

you know I kind of said well if you don't get to see lllo himself he's got a good practice though anyway so I

5:36

mentioned to you going hey you know it's so funny Low's name came up and I got to refer to him and that was so much fun

5:42

for me and I was like you know I don't know about the associates and you were like his associates are all phenomenal

5:49

mhm and I was like how did he do that mhm and so you kind of basically it's

5:55

y'all y'all were very clear about what it is that you wanted and the culture

6:01

that you wanted and what you were looking for so I guess you know it would not be a bad idea if we could get lllo

6:06

back on to talk about did he have some in between that didn't work out well or that what helped him kind of get to the

6:14

criteria that he was looking for I think having you helping him because you know the practice inside and out um which is

6:20

why I'm tasking you with that for me too it's like help me figure out because I see things from one perspective but

6:26

you're going to look at it from another going well yeah you may say you want this but looking at this aspect of the

6:33

practice so I guess also for people that don't have a Bethany to do that for you

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anyway all of that could maybe sorry llo I don't know if you're listening man but uh I'm I'm throwing this one at you I

6:45

would I would love to hear how you've kind of got this dream team of Associates because I think there's so

6:50

many people who have nightmares yeah with their Associates yeah um and I

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think for me it's also a point of evolution if you will because I think um my first associate we knew he

7:04

would be starting his own practice I thought I'd get him for two years we got him for six yeah um this current

7:11

associate like young guy and the sky's the limit and so I knew going in we

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don't know where and how long this is going to last we've had him for almost four years now yeah and depending on how

7:23

the year goes and what he finds we may have him for five so um I think for me initially where I was like well why

7:30

can't I hang on to an associate and you were the one who had to point out hey dum dum you You' you've taken on

7:36

candidates that have told you they're not sticking around long term right okay yes yes thank you for pointing that out

7:42

I don't feel like such a failure now it just I wasn't like clear about what it is that I wanted um but even me like if

7:50

you know if the first associate had come to me and said you know year three in and going never mind I don't want to start my own I want a partner I don't

7:57

think I would have wanted a partner at that point right and now I'm like okay possibly and maybe I still kind of

8:06

it gives me the heie GBS to think about like having to marry somebody else but at the same time I've got to look at

8:12

where I am in my life right now and I'm like I don't want to revolving door of Associates yeah I don't like it anymore

8:19

I don't have the energy for it anymore um but I'm still in my journey right I

8:24

still have young kids and aging parents and they require so much of my time but there's going to come a point where that's not not going to be the same

8:31

needs yeah and so at that point am I going to resent a partner going I don't really need you I want to go back to

8:36

making my own choices um but is it fair to ask an associate to not want a partner like I

8:43

don't think that's fair at all anyway all of those thoughts and things like I think my point is we're all evolving so

8:49

how do we figure out what it is that we're looking for because I think that's

8:55

a key part of it but then also what about the literal Logistics of

9:00

how to find somebody so I think maybe maybe we focus the conversation on that part of it and then maybe on the how do

9:07

you make the list of what you want maybe I'm going to TI llo with that one yeah okay yeah I think that'd be a great

9:12

thing for him to jump in on cuz he I think you're right so much of it is knowing about what you want not just

9:20

from are we looking at partnership are we looking at long-term associate um you know those are kind of

9:26

the big picture ideas but even down to to how much do I want them working what

9:32

type of procedures do I want them taking on how are we going to split up the patient base what does that look like

9:39

because there's a certain personality type that you got to have that can grow their own patient base and then there's

9:45

a certain personality type that you're looking for that's just willing to kind of share the patient base when you're

9:51

sharing the patient base there's a lot of lot of clinical like-mindedness that has to be there in order for that to

9:57

work long term and so I feel like half the battle is knowing what you want then you parlay

10:05

over into the whole culture side of things and what type of personality is going to fit well on our team what

10:12

what's really top priority is it um which sounds weird to even say this but

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like if you had to pick the order of qualities that are most important a lllo

10:23

for example is so heavy on the patient experience and how having these really

10:30

fantastic conversations with patients and this genuine care that he wants all

10:36

of his associates to have that that is first and foremost we can figure out some of the clinical nuances that might

10:43

be different or that we might disagree on but ultimately the patient care is

10:49

top priority um and the level of communication so it's like is that top

10:55

priority for Dr Smith that might be looking for an associate or are there

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going to be things that drive him or her more more crazy if this person doesn't have it so so much of it is just

11:08

thinking about what you want which is hard for the first associate I I'll say

11:14

that that when you're talking about things like this it's almost like when you build a house you're like oh I I

11:20

want it to look like this I want the bathroom to be here the kitchen to be here the you know Outlets to be here and

11:25

then you live in it and you're like a shoot I would have done this or that different it's very similar to your

11:32

first associate like oh in my mind this is what I want them to do and then they come on board and you're like uh I guess

11:38

I didn't realize that I didn't want that and so it is hard for the first

11:43

associate and then once you've lived with an Associate for a while you have a little bit of a clearer idea of what you

11:49

want which is where you're at because after having two long-term Associates

11:55

you have you're at a different phase of life and you have Clarity more clarity

12:00

now on what you want and don't want in an associate which is helpful I think in

12:06

this hiring process I think absolutely because there there's no way I would have known and again my needs have changed as

12:12

well so um I think it's it's interesting to look back on it and I think the other

12:18

thing like for a lot of people I think there's the fear of um you know yeah am I going to get stuck with the wrong

12:24

person yeah um so are your expectations realistic I guess is what would say or

12:30

ask I think the other thing is a lot of people that are like oh I was burned by this and then the non-compete and all

12:35

that so getting caught up in those

12:59

the answer that's no then why are you trying to make somebody else do that I think we go back to again like can I afford one you know will my patient see

13:07

one all that so we have a lot we could talk about with this um but before we

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get into all of that I think just yeah so it let's forward to here we are um so

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for me here I am going you know and luckily again my current associate he's

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so um respectful with that where he's like I'm not going to leave you high and

13:32

dry I'm not going to call you and be like I'm not coming back next week and so I do have some time to search for the

13:40

right person um excuse me so I think that's where I

13:47

can kind of go okay well maybe I can be a little more picky now because I have

13:52

the time and I've got more you know um experience I guess in kind of knowing

13:58

what it is that I want that we can kind of go okay how are we going to find said person but can we start there and maybe

14:04

kind of make the F focus of the rest of this podcast that and then maybe we come back and do another one if we need to

14:11

dive more into yeah all of that so um so once we decided that yes it might take

14:17

me a while because I am going to be more Discerning now about what it is that I want

14:23

um we we said let's go ahead and start so then when I was like where do I even

14:29

start Bethany so so to me the first step is figuring out how you're going to

14:34

market the position no matter what demographic you're in cuz we're in a

14:40

pretty big Metroplex that your office is kind of in the center of that Metroplex

14:46

more or less really close to the airport it's a good centralized location so even

14:52

knowing that you've got a great big Metroplex to draw from I always recommend being overly

15:00

aggressive on the marketing because I would much rather you have a big pool of candidates to pick from then oh I'm

15:07

going to Market on this one platform and let's hope the right person comes through there to me I'm like the the

15:14

question I always have in my mind is did we miss the right candidate because we didn't put the the post on the right

15:21

platform we didn't cast a wide enough net mhm and honestly that's worked really well for for your current

15:28

position that you're in we've got a ton of amazing candidates so I recommend kind of a multi-platform

15:36

approach um number one in Texas we have a platform called Dental post it's uh I

15:43

say in Texas it's really big in some of the metropolitan areas so like the DFW

15:50

metroplex the Houston area Austin area they're the candidates are very familiar

15:56

with d post now in other states there may not be a quote unquote Dental post

16:03

but my my guess is there's something similar that's a regional type thing um so in your particular case we did

16:10

thought Dental post was around the country so it is it has pockets of

16:15

popularity in other parts of the country but like right now we're doing an ass

16:21

associate search out in El Paso Texas which is a huge City it really is huge

16:26

uh but they don't have a big footprint out there doesn't so it just depends on certain

16:32

areas so you can certainly look into it um and dental post will tell you like a

16:38

unfortunately after you purchase the post they'll say hey by the way we don't have a huge footprint in this area but

16:45

still it's visibility that I think is well it's also it's not cost prohibitive it is a very reasonable cost to pay for

16:53

just to see what does come through it's me it's worth it it's worth it and I've often found it much easier to navigate

17:00

than say like indeed yeah it is a super userfriendly platform and I think it's they have done

17:08

a couple price increases but I think it's like $199 for 30 days it's relatively inexpensive so that to me is

17:16

a good platform the other thing that we do is either a

17:23

Texas or state sponsored job board or a

17:28

national job board sometimes both so in Texas it is the

17:35

tapd um and then of course nationally is the aapd for Pediatric Dentistry right

17:41

now again like I was saying for our Al Al Paso client it's a general dentist

17:46

and so we chose the Ada job board we chose the Ada job board

17:54

over the TDA job board because just looking at the history of our TDA post

18:00

we realized there wasn't a lot of good traction on our TDA post you could certainly do both but in this particular

18:07

case the numbers were so discriminate that we were like okay we're going with we're going to put our money into the

18:12

Ada basket um and that tends to get a lot of visibility with the Ada you have

18:19

different options it's similar to the aapd there's kind of your basic post

18:24

there's more of a premium post where they're putting it on newsletters and things like that so you might have some

18:30

options when it comes to your either going nationally or going state board

18:37

sponsored job post but to me you have to do that so don't do dental post and not

18:43

that do dental post and that in my opinion and it doesn't mean that you have to do both the state and the

18:49

national you can pick one of them beyond that indeed so sorry can I interrupt

18:54

there so would one of the drawbacks of doing

19:00

uh the Ada versus TDA um the whole licensing thing it is

19:05

so most of the time you're not going to get an applicant that's not in the works

19:11

or planning to move to the Texas area so we did nationally on your job post we've

19:16

gotten we were just looking at a resume from a lady in Michigan and so it's like you're going to get people from

19:23

different states but most of the time at least when I've talked to people from different states for years

19:29

they are already in the process of getting Texas lure they already have

19:34

Texas lure cuz they used to live here uh something along the lines of that I will

19:40

say I'm remembering now when when we you know what two months ago or so we talked about like okay what are we doing here

19:45

and Bethany help me because I have no idea what to do and uh I think you left me a voicemail maybe or an email and my

19:53

first thought when you guys said you know we could do tapd or do aapd and my

19:59

first thought was well I'm goingon to do tapd because I want somebody you know like that's licensed in Texas and it

20:04

just seems like you know Texas is a big state so we probably would have a big enough draw and aapd just seems like

20:10

could people come out of the Woodworks and and I just not know who these you know it's just so many um and then y'all

20:16

were like opposite you you were like you know we would recommend do whichever one you want we would recommend APD so

20:21

you're whatever I was like oh of course I would think the opposite like I okay okay let's do what you're recommending

20:28

and and you're right it has worked out well the other thing I do want to ask you cuz you said we've had a lot of

20:34

applicants MH and I want to set the expectation right for people because your version of a lot and to me a lot

20:40

were two different things right like so it's it's almost like when we post for an RDA yeah and back in the day when

20:47

you'd get like 50 and now you get I don't know maybe 20 or maybe you know and so it depends on your definition of

20:55

what's a lot not that it matters here nor there but I think for me if you were to be like a lot and I'm like Okay so

21:01

we've had what like 50 or 60 dentists and you're like no dummy we've had eight and I'm like oh eight I thought that was

21:07

less you're like well the average is two okay like I just had no idea so can you kind of walk us through

21:13

like know so glad you're saying that so yes expectations are going to be really

21:20

important here because first of all it also depends upon your demographic and

21:26

where you are so we were talking about state lines you know it's interesting

21:31

because Texas is so huge we don't often think about these geographically small

21:37

states so I've got a client out in Delaware and Delaware when you're out

21:43

there is so close to two states actually three states that it's like licensing

21:51

really is an issue there because there could be a dentist or a hygienist in this particular case is what he's

21:57

looking for that literally lives 20 minutes from the office but that 20 minutes from the office is in a

22:03

different state so then do they have a Delaware license and can they you know uh practice Dentistry or practice

22:09

hygiene so we have to consider state lines and lures for Texas it's less of an issue but in a lot of areas of the

22:17

world especially on the East Coast it is very much a issue that we have to think

22:22

about and in those small that sounds like a nightmare I know right don't you aren't you so glad to live in in Texas I

22:29

mean yeah so even in those smaller States looking for an

22:34

associate knowing you've got State Line issues you really might have one or two

22:40

candidates that you're looking at and that's it because it is a small pool

22:45

that you're drawing from now in Texas we tend to expect a bigger pool of candidates because it's such a huge

22:52

state that my goal when we started launching all of your associate posts

22:58

was I was really hoping to have five really good like not not really good

23:04

five total applicants and then out of that I thought that we could probably find the one for you and if not we were

23:11

fully prepared to keep running this as long as it needed to run to find the right person so I think we're from an

23:18

applicant standpoint we might be up to 12 or 13 for you now which is blowing my

23:24

mind cuz that is far beyond what I expected and those are still coming in

23:30

like uh we've had job post up now for I guess almost not quite two months and so

23:36

we're still almost two months in and we had two new applicants come in this last

23:41

week which which so then can I can I distract us one more time here and go what about timing um because part of me

23:49

went should we not post now because people are going to be graduating come May June so when do they start looking

23:57

actually maybe they do do start looking in January actually do I want a new grad maybe I don't you know like all of those

24:03

things but is that going to be the timing of where I'm going to get more bang for my buck because if I post in

24:08

January but nobody's yet looking so all those things kind of went through my mind and that's where I'm just like I

24:13

don't know man just whatever Bethany says to do just do it and we'll be good and now um CU I think we did Dental post

24:19

which is a 30-day and then we did aapd I think right those are the only two we did or maybe indeed and we did indeed

24:26

and so the aapd one was a we you could pick 30 60 90 days whatever the options

24:32

were and we did 60 and I literally just said to you recently like thank goodness

24:37

we only did 60 because I don't I don't want to keep looking when we highly

24:42

likely we found the person that we're looking for um and so we're going to

24:47

finish looking at the candidates that are still coming through just in case because the one that we're looking at I

24:53

mean there's still so much that needs to happen in in terms of us checking each other out yes like on paper we line up

25:01

now it's like let's watch each other work how do you treatment plan what do you want what compensation are you

25:06

expecting what days do you want to work can I make that happen like there's so much so much which is why I'm like this

25:12

is where people don't want to do this it's like it's your baby already and then there's all of these Logistics

25:18

Under the Sun so if we I think that's kind of where the point of this podcast for me was like I would have been lost without you how are people doing it so

25:26

maybe we could create like a resource for or these are your steps and this is what you're asking and whatever absolutely that we could make maybe in

25:33

our next digest that we do for our subers a super helpful component because

25:38

the March digest to me March is a fantastic time to look for an associate

25:46

because of graduation so most programs finish up somewhere in May June July and

25:53

then we've got a fresh batch of Associates that are on the market so to speak so March is a fantastic time most

26:00

of them are slowing down in their clinicals by that point and are starting to actually look for jobs they're

26:07

getting out ahead of it so March digest but what about the ones that don't want

26:12

they're like I'm not going to handle a newb I don't want that so that to me it any time of the year honestly the only

26:20

reason that we would look at a March Time FR time frame would be for new grads um but the rest of the uh anybody

26:28

that's already licensed already doing Dentistry there is no prime time I would say the only slower times can sometimes

26:36

be like that November December period of time because everybody is not thinking about changing careers at that point

26:43

they're thinking about holiday Christmas their plans for the end of the year so that is the only time that can be

26:49

historically a little bit low for hiring across the board whether it's associate or team members that's a low period of

26:55

time yeah but other than that the rest of the rest of the time now I would say give yourself a long enough Runway is

27:02

when you think about a timing standpoint if you're looking to add on an associate within the next 6 months or in about 6

27:10

months I would much rather have a longer Runway than a shorter Runway so I

27:16

normally recommend starting the search about 6 months in advance now if you're in a market that you know there's always

27:23

dentists looking for jobs and you just word on the street is there's a lot of people that you're be prepared for a lot

27:30

of associate applications then I would say you can shorten your Runway a little bit but um even if you find somebody

27:37

that's currently contracted with somebody else there's usually a 90day period of time that they have to give

27:44

notice to get out of their contract so let's say you interviewed people for a couple months you found your person

27:50

they've got to give 90-day notice that was still a five month timeline so ghost to me six months is usually the right

27:58

time frame with you we started a little bit earlier than that because I was

28:04

uncertain of what the application process would look like I didn't know if we would get a lot of

28:11

applicants just a few I knew we were looking for a very particular type of person so I knew we might have to go

28:18

through several rounds of job posts to get to the right person and so with you

28:23

we started a little bit uh earlier in the process I think it's that and also the same thing of

28:30

like we we don't know what our deadline is for as far as if if my current

28:35

associate finds a practice tomorrow to purchase then I don't want to just be sitting there going hbao you know I'm

28:41

just waiting on him to tell me like we wanted to be out ahead of it and have you covered so we mentioned uh obviously

28:48

Dental post Ada I cut you off it indeed you indeed is the other one that I would

28:54

say universally it nationally it's got good exposure when people are looking into job posts

29:01

they are normally frequenting indeed it is a more difficult platform

29:07

to utilize but you can figure it out so indeed you to me indeed is one of those

29:12

that you have to do it just to get the right exposure to cast The Net wide enough you got to have indeed there's an

29:19

alternate one in some demographics glass door is a good alternative to indeed or

29:25

might be used in conjunction with indeed uh but indeed we anytime we're helping a

29:32

client hire for any position it always goes on indeed so that's another one and

29:37

then I would say what we normally do is we start with dental post usually National Ada or aapd and

29:47

then indeed we see how those perform usually we give that a month sometimes 6

29:52

weeks and then if we need more traction we go the two extra steps which is

30:00

social media posts um so we Market any

30:05

post through our social media platforms but also we like creating little

30:11

Graphics that can go on Dental Facebook groups they can go on the uh doctor's

30:19

personal platform so if they're on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram then

30:25

they can utilize these little Graphics to be like by the way can't wait to I'm so glad that my

30:30

practice is growing can't wait to add a fantastic doctor um to our team um but

30:36

if nothing else even if you're LinkedIn with some of the like LinkedIn you know putting it out on LinkedIn or putting it

30:43

out on Dental Facebook groups that you're connected with then that's a good

30:49

way to just get the word out organically you could use that same little graphic

30:55

to um communicate with your Supply rep cuz they often have a good idea of the

31:02

market and who's looking for jobs and all of that so creating some kind of I call it a graphic um Sydney on our team

31:09

is the one that always creates these just they're color themed to go with the

31:14

practice and it's just a brief little synopsis it's a visual so it's not just words but it's actually got some color

31:20

pop to it and you can populate that out through your organic social network is

31:26

what I would say so so that's an optional added um thing if you're in a

31:31

really small demographic and you know you're going to be fighting to get two candidates then don't even wait on that

31:38

just go ahead and do that as part of your phase one marketing and then contacting the dental schools in your

31:46

state or in neighboring states they normally have a really good Alumni

31:51

network and you send that cute little graphic that you created and say hey we're trying to get the word out about

31:57

this amazing opportunity that we have and then normally they either have a job board that they will post the job to or

32:05

they have some kind of monthly newsletter that goes out where they can add your information to that so those

32:12

two additional ones social and dental schools would be if you're in a small demographic go ahead and do those and if

32:19

you're in a larger demographic try the other three broad platforms first if you're not happy with the response that

32:26

you get then you can add those to additional steps um fantastic I I love all that and

32:31

I think um yeah I would not have thought of like you're you're right your reps are another good um they they usually

32:38

know what's what the word is on the stre they got their air to the ground and yep um so I guess the next question I would

32:45

ask is um so again like the these resumés come in and then what yeah so

32:54

what's interesting about the associate search is most of the time res come in

32:59

and they're all qualified applicants now if a doctor is like I

33:05

absolutely don't want a new grad then when those come in those are kind of set

33:11

aside to go okay we'll pursue those if we need to pursue those so that can be kind of a clear dividing line but if

33:18

we're like we're open to new grads we're open to people who have been doing Dentistry then honestly most applicants

33:26

that come in are qualified then we go to some of the same qualities we look for with our you know assistant search or

33:34

our business assistant search what does the job history look like so we actually

33:40

for our El Paso client we actually have a resume that we that came in where it's like one year at each practice and so

33:48

then we start going okay we're still going to probably schedule a phone call an interview with this particular

33:54

candidate but we are going to be trying to figure out what's in the reason for the change why are you hopping and

34:01

honestly that's really some of the distinguishing things that we look at we also like to look at some of the

34:07

additional studies that they've done so if they're really into you know I can

34:14

think of one resume that came across our plate at one point where I was really looking into like homeopathic treatments

34:21

for um you know carries and all of that and we were looking at a client that we

34:26

knew that would not drive and so it's like this probably isn't going to be clinically the right fit for this

34:33

practice and so we might set that candidate aside now doesn't mean that we don't end up interviewing them but we're

34:39

going to interview all of our first choice candidates based on resume based on studies and what they've really kind

34:46

of dug into we're going to look at those first and then if need be we'll get to those so with an Associate it's hard to

34:54

eliminate just based off resume is what I would say well but it it could be

34:59

maybe I would say because like for example for me it's something that I wouldn't have thought of initially um I

35:06

I think because of the previous two Associates I've had I knew uh like we all trained at the same

35:14

Residency program yeah so I know you guys are finishing out of residency so I know you are qualified and uh ready to

35:22

go with special needs patients you're qualified and ready to go with oral sedation you're going to be qualified

35:28

and ready to go what the O are and all those things and so I think um now

35:34

looking at it though where I'm going you know what I I don't know that I want a new grad this time because I don't want

35:40

I I'm tired now and I'm I'm not in the office as much now and I need somebody

35:46

who can stand their own and be okay with that the days that I'm not there and new grad is probably not even if they're

35:53

comfortable I'm probably not comfortable with what they can do and not do um um in terms of the customer service piece

36:00

I'm sure their Dentistry is fine but anyway all of that to say like now I'm

36:06

going oh yeah are are you okay with oral sedation because we we are we the job

36:12

requires you to do that do you have a level two permit in in Texas so for you

36:17

to come in and not have your sedation permit is not going to be helpful to me exactly um so we needed to be particular

36:23

about that so I would imagine for a general office yeah it's like are you have you done Sak have you do you know

36:30

how to use a you know a 3D scanner do you do Invisalign do you like implants

36:37

like so not that those are going to be uh I guess you need to figure out when you're kind of looking at this candidate

36:44

going what is a deal breaker exactly um in another vein another thing that came up that I was not thinking about because

36:52

I why would I I guess but maybe I should have um looking at you had mentioned one of the candidates that we a resume we

36:59

got was actually from a colleague of mine and she said hey look at this person she's moving to Dallas and so on

37:07

paper I was like dude she's rocking and then this is my colleague that that has

37:13

recommended so to me I was like oh this person's going to be a star well you talked to this person and the candidate

37:20

was very much like what are my hours what are my days what are my pay what's my package what's my and I was like oh

37:28

God and I felt like a crumb like oh I don't cuz I feel like we are very robust with our uh Team package that like we

37:37

have a very good we're we're we're very competitive with corporate yeah but I

37:42

hadn't even thought about that I was like you're right like all of these corporates that are all over the place

37:48

can suck them up super quick cuz they can offer them a 401k and medical and dental and vision and time off and all

37:54

this and I'm like I'm a small small pedo practice and I can't offer

38:00

you any of that and so um it was really eye-opening and kind of crushing to me to go oh God you suck but it is what it

38:08

is and so it's like okay candidate but what do you want you are saying the culture matters to you and a lot of

38:13

times incorporate the culture is produce produce produce and maybe you're young and green and you've got a loan a lot of loans to pay back and you need to

38:19

produce produce great well this is not my practice is not going to be now you're saying the culture matters and

38:25

the team and the quality of the staff matters and the

38:31

um mentoring opportunities matter yeah but you're not going to get that and get

38:38

the full package and all of that so it's like you know you you were kind of like okay this is a candidate that's just not

38:43

going to fit in with this practice Yeah because she's kind of got unrealistic expectations for well she want she

38:49

wanted both she wanted you know to use the old phrase she wanted her cake and wanted to eat it too um to me

38:58

it was very evident oh if the package and all the offerings and all the extras

39:05

are what are primary of importance to you and I know they're primary because of how much

39:11

they're coming up in this conversation compared to other conversations interviews that I've had at this point

39:18

where that doesn't come up we're talking practice we're talking clinical philosophy we're talking the team we're

39:24

talking what is our day in the life of an associate at the practice looks like the the the conversation has geared

39:31

itself naturally towards that and in my conversation with you it has not gone

39:37

that way even if I've tried to make it go that way we keep coming back to things that I get are important for an

39:45

associate to ask those questions about but that is your primary concern and so

39:51

it becomes really evident when you have these backtack um phone conversations you're like ah this is the outlier and

39:57

this one is looking for a great environment according to her a great

40:03

culture that's what's most important but your questions all center around center around your financial package and in

40:10

that case you are looking for corporate because there are no I won't say no

40:16

there are very few privately owned practices that can compete with the

40:22

corporate compensation package for associates that includes medical benefits that includes retirement that

40:28

includes paid vacation and things like that like the Private Practice cannot afford that and so to me it isn't either

40:35

or you're either looking for this great Private Practice experience a certain

40:40

patient experience you're looking for that direct you know partnership relationship with the practicing

40:48

owner you're looking for that camaraderie there or you're looking for

40:53

an environment where you can drop in be the dentist produce produce produce and

40:59

be able to financially have this compensation package that is commiserate with

41:05

that I I'm not even going to say unfortunately it's not unfortunately in my mind it is two different things that

41:11

an associate needs to decide what are they looking for it's either or it is

41:17

not at this point and I don't think it can ever be both end it cannot be both

41:23

the corporate package and the private patient experience they do not coexist they're two different practices and so I

41:30

think it's important for a practice owner to know this is what we're looking for and for the associate to know well I

41:37

think um what I really liked about you clarifying that for me because I had no idea like I felt like a crumb I'm just

41:43

like my practice sucks I can't offer anything I'm not going to none of these people even the ones that when we get to

41:49

the compensation part they're not going to want to join my practice they're going to go to a corporate and they're going to and then you have to talk me

41:56

off the ledge and go but let them if that's their primary focus but that's

42:01

not who we're looking for which is why we cast The Net early so that we could find the person that you know obviously

42:08

everybody wants to earn a living but they have more goals like my current associate when he started with us he had

42:15

many job offers in the Metroplex yeah he had many people were trying to woo him over but he ended up wanting going well

42:24

I want Private Practice experience and he was smart he he he uh he had a day in

42:29

a Medicaid practice he had a day in a in a small town practice then he had a day in mine so that he could kind of figure

42:36

out what it is that he wanted and what was important to him but when he came to me he's like well why I'm interested in

42:42

your practice is because I want you do a lot of things here uh procedure wise

42:48

that I would love to learn yeah and so for for my practice he

42:53

wasn't difficult with me about well I want to get paid this and I should this and I should that it was very much like

42:59

I want to learn MH and so they are out there um but he could have been sucked

43:04

up by corporate at any time easily yeah and he know knew himself well enough to

43:09

go that's not really what I want and so he was doing the same thing I mean he could have had any number of corporate

43:14

jobs but he was kind of digging deeper and going wait I want to find this one experience so that I can get that under

43:21

my belt um and so same thing like we it's on both sides the the owner and the

43:27

associate need to both have that same philosophy and we may just need to look longer and harder exactly to find the

43:33

right fit for sure okay we've got a ton of content still to discuss on this but I think we

43:41

need to pause it here and do another episode on this how you feel about that

43:46

I agree okay thanks for chatting with me about it thanks for joining the conversation today we hope that you are

43:53

comforted in knowing that you are not alone but we also hope that you're walking away with some really great tips

43:59

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