How to Search for an Associate

Searching for a new employee is wrought with challenges and often with insecurity in the process. Trying to find an associate tends to be an even more challenging process. In this episode, Dr. Kuba shares how she is currently in the associate search process. Together, she and Bethany discuss the specifics of how to search for a doctor to join your team.  They start by reviewing how to market the position, and they finish by discussing finding the right fit for your practice. 

Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting: 

Making Associateships Win/Win 

Hiring an Associate Series – Part One 

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Transcript

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

0:09

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

0:15

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

0:20

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

0:25

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

0:34

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

0:41

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

0:48

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

1:11

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

1:17

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

1:28

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

1:40

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

1:46

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

1:52

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

1:58

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

6:39

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

6:55

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

7:17

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

10:17

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

11:01

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

13:13

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

13:20

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

13:26

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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