For so many dental practices across the country, trying to find, hire, and keep team members and associate dentists has been a challenge. However, could we finally be turning the corner in the quest to fill those open positions?
While the dam isn’t likely to break any time soon, it’s clear from Ignite’s travels to Las Vegas and Orlando last week that things are shifting in the right direction when it comes to people being available to fill openings on the clinical and administrative side of the dental business.
What did we hear last week about where the hiring crisis is heading? Here are three things to keep in mind.
First, changes in unemployment could make a difference
In many states around the country, shifts in unemployment benefits at the start of September could well mean that people need to find additional income to supplant what they were getting from unemployment to make ends meet. That means going back to work.
How important have those benefits been to people? And how much did they influence some to stay home rather than head into the workplace? Well, as it says in this article, “Economists have found that, on average, anyone who previously made less than about $34,000 per year would receive more money by collecting jobless benefits than the person would by returning to work.”
That amount of money is equal to what some team members make in certain parts of the country. At that threshhold and without benefits, it’s possible that some will be ready to come back into the dental industry as the fourth quarter kicks into high gear.
Second, applications are already rising
Our friends at DentalPost.net (by the way, have you checked out our free, always-updated job board that we partner with them on here on dev.ignitedds.com/? are telling us that they are seeing more and more people apply to be hired by dental practices through their site. That is excellent news for all of us.
The more applicants, the more options. It’s that simple.
Third, school is back
One thing that kept so many parents home last year and out of the dental practice was the lack of in-person schooling available for their children. Now, with school back in the vast majority of the country, parents have the ability to do other things than sit home and help them with Zoom learning sessions.
While some schools are being impacted by COVID-19 outbreaks, many more are open and instructing children. This is excellent news for an industry like dentistry that is so female-dominated.
These are three things we are hearing about the direction of the hiring crisis. What are you hearing? Let us know by joining the IGNITEDDS Insiders group on Facebook and letting us know your thoughts!
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Note: “Things will get better” by Kate Cooper is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
