How Does Doing Your Own Dental Recruitment Cost Your Practice. Why You Should Use a Recruitment Specialist Like Fastnet Group.

With the current state of staffing and recruiting for dental practices, those running the show are likely aware and feeling the full effect of the most drastic staffing crisis in the history of the dental industry.  Evidence such as the percentage of NHS dental positions going unfilled is as high as 21% not to mention the upwards of 5’500 vacant dental roles nationwide. As a result, it is clear that the traditional methods to recruitment can’t cut it in these modern times.

Having observed various statistics across the dental industry, some of the results are staggering. Almost reaching 87% of dental practices have difficulties filling dental assistant positions. Similarly, the ongoing recruitment for hygienists continues to be extremely challenging for the majority of practices. However not all of them. Competing practices who have enlisted recruitment partners that specialise in the field are filling roles left right and centre in almost no time at all.

What Empty Chairs is Costing Practices.

Every day a dental hygienist chair remains empty, meaning your practice could be missing out on £400 to £600 in potential revenue. Now imagine if it was the practice manager position that was vacant. This could cause massive inefficiency around the running of the practice, as well as inconsistent operations which could cost thousands of pounds every week. A crucial fact that the vast amount of practice owners don’t know is that the average time to fill a dental position has skyrocketed to 180 days – this is almost four times the national recruitment average.

However, during those 180 days of looking for candidates yourself, you’re not only losing revenue. You and your practice are also:

·        Exhausting current staff with more tasks & responsibilities as well as overtime.

·        Having to turn away new patients, which 97% of practices are currently doing.

·        Potentially having high quality staff consider leaving due to their increased workload.

·        Wasting extensive time & resources on interviews & screenings that return no results.

A recent practice owner provided the insight:

“We’ve been trying to recruit a dental nurse for eight months. I’ve personally spent over 60 hours on recruitment activities, and we’re no closer to finding the right person. Meanwhile, my reception team is covering duties they shouldn’t be doing, and I can see they’re getting frustrated.”

Why Traditional Recruitment Methods Are Failing

The entire field of dental recruitment has fundamentally changed. As a result of Brexit, the number of EU-trained dentists that are registering to practice in the UK has since halved. Meanwhile industry restraints only enable 500 overseas applicants to qualify every year despite the remaining 2’000 plus in the pipeline waiting to do the same. The talent pool for dentistry has shrunk massively, even so practices continue to use the same recruitment strategies they’ve been hard-wired to for years.

Constantly posting on job boards & forums with a prayer of turn around no longer works due to:

·        Dental assistant turnover rates hit 25% annually

·        Pressures on the NHS financially are incentivising experienced & qualified professionals to search for better paying opportunities outside of dentistry.

·        The best of the bunch from the vast talent pool are already being sourced out by practices using better approaches to recruitment.

·        Visa requirements are creating more problems than solutions for international applicants who need job opportunities to get their Visa, however, also need Visas to receive job offers.

Benefits to Having a Specialist Recruitment Partner

Practices have ultimately stopped trying to be the specialists themselves and instead sort out the help from those who already have the skills and expertise to do it in partnership with them.

There is a plethora of benefits that professional dental recruitment partners bring to the table:

Access to Hidden Talent Pools: While practices are posting the same job advertisement on the same few platforms, specialist recruiters have and continue to build relationships with candidates who are considering these changes. From a dental nurse who has thought about a move but hasn’t taken the step to looking, or a practice manager who knows what they want when the best opportunity comes around but isn’t currently job hunting. Conclusively these recruiters create a stretching network between potential candidates and practices each with extensive professionalism.

Regulatory Navigation: Understanding the complexity of Visa requirements and the registration process for professionals, recruitment partners, such as Fastnet Group, can take care of the restrictions that constantly hold back most practices from seeing what international talent is out there. Having already conversed and built a connection with candidates that have completed their relevant qualifications like ORE exams, partners know who is ready to work.

Speed & Efficiency: Professional recruitment partners are filling roles with 3 – 6 weeks on average. Resulting in potentially saving between £15’000 and £20’000 in revenue for a practice. As appose to the standard sixth month timeline of doing it yourself.

Quality Over Quantity Screening: Specialist recruiters don’t spend endless hours interviewing candidate after candidate having seen them have all the right credentials on their CV but didn’t quite fit in the environment of your practice. They pre-screen each and every candidate, looking for technical competency, potential discrepancies, cultural fit, relocation requirements, and long-term commitment

Missing Technological Edge

Successful recruitment partners are maximizing the potential of technology that individual practices haven’t got access to. For example, the growing use of AI-powered matching systems are increasing the rate at which candidates are connecting with the right practice for them and vice versa. Evidence like how selected platforms are hitting 73% immediate response rates from candidates, in comparison to the diminishing results from simple job posting.

Platforms that are largely developed for mobile compatibility enable candidates to communicate with recruiters in real time. Combined with algorithms which cross match not only experience and skills but personality traits, work preferences and relatable interest, enabling them to predict long term success of specific candidates.

Beyond Placement: Strategic Workforce Planning

The best recruitment partners aren’t just trying to place applicants to fill vacancies, they help take care of events and circumstances afterwards too. There will always be constant workforce pressure and challenges, thanks to the demand in dental service. Practices that are hellbent on staying proactive and keeping up with the constant changes are always looking to keep building their own pipeline of talent for inevitable succession of employees.

If you were to consider the fact that one of your current employees could be considering a career change right now, if so, wouldn’t you prefer to be prepared in having already identified and developed a potential replacement now, instead of being stuck without anyone when they leave.

The Reality of the Expenses and ROI

“Recruitment firms cost more than they’re worth” is a common misconception that we hear all the time from various clients. However, let’s look at the statistics that can disprove this:

·        Average fee for professional recruiters having found and placed a hygienist: £3000 - £5000

·        The cost of a sixth month vacancy remaining empty: upwards of £21’000 in lost revenue

·        Staff burnout and offers of resignations: Incalculable

While yes recruitment fees at face value sound and appear expensive, they are nothing in comparison to saving thousands of pounds per successful applicant being placed. Not to mention the weeks of time saved to focus on the development of your practice and patient care.

What You Should Be Asking Yourself

Having read about the numerous benefits to having a recruitment partner, prior to posting your next job post hoping for better results, ask yourself:

1.      How many high-quality applicants did you receive from your last job post?

2.      What’s the real cost to your practice after your manager spends more than 10 hours a week on recruitment instead of operations?

3.      How confident are you in navigating all the visa requirements for international candidates?

4.      Do you have the extensive network to passive candidates who are actively looking for work?

5.      Can you afford another six months with unfilled positions?

How Practices Are Getting It Right

There are multiple dental practices that are thriving even whilst there is a recruitment crisis going on, all of which are sharing one common characteristic:

They have come to the realisation that recruitment is a specialist area and requires key skills, experience, technologies, and extensive networks to acquire the best candidates.

Successful practices aren’t trying to do everything themselves; they are partnering with recruitment specialists to prioritise what they themselves are the specialist in, being dentistry.

What is Your Next Step

This recruitment crisis within the dental industry isn’t going to improve overnight. Projections estimated by the government show that the shortage is only going to get worse throughout 2025, with Brexit continuing to restrain talent mobility as well as funding for the NHS continues to decline. Practices that have changed their approach towards their recruitment have certified an advantage over their competitors that will last for years to come.

If you, your practice, your staff, patients without appointments are all tired of empty chairs, then it might be time to consider a new modern approach to recruitment rather than doing it all alone and generating unnecessary costs for your business.

It’s not about asking yourself whether or not it’s worth your time and money investing in a recruitment partner – it’s a question of whether you and your practice can afford not to.

Ready to Transform Your Dental Recruitment?

If you’re done with such frustrations as empty dental chairs, it’s time to reach out to a professional recruitment partner like Fastnet Group. A team that are experience and understand the specific and unique challenges that dental practices need support with handling.

Get in touch with Fastnet Group today to learn about how we can help your practice become more productive and efficient, through providing experienced and qualified staff as well as ensuring that you are getting the right people to work for you.