If you are a new dental office manager, you have probably been warned about what happens to the office when somebody misses work. A dental office relies on every one of its employees every day. If an assistant is not there, people may not be able to make their appointments, which can affect the office for the rest of the week.
If a dentist does not show up, you will have to reschedule all their appointments. When a dental hygienist is absent, another hygienist will have to do double duty, or the doctor will have to take over the hygienist’s work. This will make appointments take longer, and some of them will have to be canceled. Your clients are certain to be very upset, and they may find another dentist or write you a bad review.
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Why Dental Offices Use Staffing Agencies
When you Google “ Atlanta’s premier dental staffing solution,” many agencies will come up. Most dental offices will use a dental staffing agency to get workers to their clinic in a hurry. A staffing agency will have a database full of dental professionals. A dental recruiter will take your order and ask you about the licensure you want, the years of training, and the experience you are looking for. They will begin to call dental professionals who match that profile. When they find such a person, they will send them to your office.
Using a staffing agency is not always ideal. In many cases, It may take a day or two to get somebody, and when you do get someone, they may disappoint you. Dental hygienists are very in demand; they have a low unemployment rate, so they can pick and choose their jobs. This makes finding a quality person a challenge.
Dental Staffing offices are often overwhelmed, so you won’t be the only person looking for a temporary and a desperate recruiting agent may fudge an applicant’s qualifications. Most office managers will want to find a staffing agency that guarantees their work.
Agency Guarantees
When you first contact a dental temporary agency, you will be asked to sign a contract. Make sure that that contract provides some sort of guarantee. Most agencies will give you your money back if a worker fails to show up. If the worker has an expired license, the agency should give you your money back as well.
The quality of a worker can be a very subjective thing. You are unlikely to find a staffing agency that guarantees you’re satisfied in every case. Some dental employment agencies are dedicated to finding temp-to-hire workers for dentist offices. They may ensure that they will find you a permanent employee within three months or give you your money back.
Companies that guarantee their temporary workers will typically have a detailed clause in their contract about that guarantee. They may require you to put what you found unacceptable in writing and may have a time limit for when you can get your money back.
Some agencies may not guarantee their temps because they want to avoid getting sued. If they do not ensure your satisfaction, it would be much harder to litigate against them successfully.
Agencies know that dentist offices rely on them as much as they rely on dentist offices. They may guarantee their workers and assume that you will never actually take them up on it. They may assume that you will not ask for your money back because you do not want to rock the boat.
Other Ways You Can Guarantee You Will Get a Competent Temp to Your Office
If a dental temporary agency does not guarantee their work, there are still ways of getting good temps to your office. You can go online and look for dental temporary staffing company review platforms. These sites will have reviews from dentist offices in your area.
Make sure to read through several of the reviews to ensure that they are legitimate. Some unscrupulous agencies will pay people to write good reviews for them.
If an agency has a hundred reviews and there are all five stars, those reviews may be paid for. If the reviews sound like they are written by the same person, you should be suspicious.
Word of mouth is also a good way of finding the best dental temporary agencies. You probably know many other people in the dental industry. Ask around to see which agency offers the very best temps.
Look For Alternatives
There are several viable alternatives for dental staffing agencies. You can try looking at job boards. Many professionals will leave their resumes on a job board in the hopes that it will be seen by someone looking for their skill set. You can also post your available jobs on these boards.
Be sure to use a job board that is dedicated entirely to the dental industry. If you do not, your job listing is very unlikely to be seen. A job board may not be the best alternative if you need a temp in a hurry.
Dental staffing apps are the newest trend in temporary staffing for dental practices. These apps work very similarly to rideshare apps such as Uber and Lyft. You simply fill out a profile for your office and begin posting jobs. When you post your job, all the qualified dental professionals in the area who are signed up with the service will get an alert. If they want to take the gig, they will accept the job. If you approve them, they will come to your office and you simply pay them at the end of the day through the app.
Just as with Uber, you will get to rate the temporary, and they will get to rate you. You can read the reviews of other dental practices to get an idea of what kind of worker a person is.
There are times when finding a dental temporary can seem like a daunting task, but if you take time to read contracts and read reviews carefully, you should be able to get someone fantastic to your office in a hurry.
