Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

March 28-April 3, 201118 Business Management Tribune United Kingdom Edition Exceptional cleaning power AlproZyme Safe.Clean.ALPRO. ALPRO MEDICAL GMBH • Mooswiesenstr. 9 • 78112 St. Georgen • Germany  +49 7725 9392-0  +49 7725 9392-91  www.alpro-medical.com  info@alpro-medical.com Instrumentcleaning Enzymatic Cleaner Alcaline-enzymatic cleaner for the processing of medical and dental instruments and endoscopes. Pre-cleaning granulate for manual cleaning in soaking bath, ultrasonic systems and thermal washer for the removal of bio burden and the prevention of biofilm. u high effective u outstanding cleaning power u removes biofilm u very good material compatibility AnzZymeDTribuneUK07-11.indd 1 14.02.2011 13:26:21 I would, in all probability, say that one of the hardest tasks is recruiting for the right candidate to join your team. Over the years we have used differentmethodsofrecruitment to try and select the best possi- ble candidates. Due to this task being an extremely important role, we have streamlined our group policy and procedures on recruitment. We have used various meth- ods for recruitment, such as recruitment agencies, word of mouth amongst our own staff, internal promotions and outside recruitment for replacement of the post and the internet. We also have potential candidates who either email or post us their CVs. Out of all of the above meth- ods I have come to rely on us- ing the internet the most. We place our adverts on various websites; we source the best CVs that have been submit- ted and after careful screen- ing of the CV we then contact the potential candidates and of- fer them interviews. Once the interviewee arrives at the practice they are given a questionnaire to fill in so that we have a guideline to start from. The practice manager carries out the first interview, from this a short list is created and a second interview proc- ess is put in place with the selections where I then carry out the interview or either Dr Malhan or Dr Solanki to make that all-important final choice. This can be time consuming, but I find it most effective as I am thorough with my screening process as well as knowing what I will require from the potential candidate once I have elected them.Thisdoesmeanmorework as once you have made your selection it is important to collect all the necessary essen- tial documents as well as fol- lowing up on at least two char- acter references. This can be testing as at times it is difficult to get a character reference in a short space of time, which means you have to make the request several times, which means you are unable to make the job offer as soon as you may want to. To get around this issue we now ask the potential candidates to provide written references at the time of their interview. I find that going through the process yourself instead of us- ing a recruitment agency the process becomes a personal one due to the fact that the po- tential candidate has not been coached on what to say dur- ing the interview process. You can also negotiate your fee as to what you feel the candidate and their experience is worth to the role that you are filling. There is no placement fee in- curred as well as no disappoint- ment six weeks down the line if it does not work out as you are no longer entitled to a per- centage back from the agency. This process of recruitment may be time consuming but it is definitely cost effective and dur- ing times of recession we are all trying to watch our spending. I have been in England for nine years just gone and I have noticed that there is definitely a period of difficulty for recruit- ment at some point during the year. I have become aware that it is difficult to recruit for staff from September to January. The response to advertisements on the internet or through agen- cies slows down radically and this I can only be attributing to the end of the summer holidays and on the other end of the scale Decembers approach and staff waiting to be paid out bonuses or incentives. This can be extremely frus- trating as it creates stress for the whole team when someone hands in their notice around this time of year as the remain- ing members of staff have to pick up the shortfall. Agencies also tend to be short on nurses around this time of year so if you don’t get your bookings in early enough you are going to find yourself without a nurse. As we are a group of six practices we are able to have a couple of extra staff in some of the bigger branches which allows us to be able to send staff to cover shortfalls where needed for a period of time which brings stability to the practices. However if the an- nual leave requests around summer time are not managed effectively you can still find yourself being short staffed. We have recently had deal- ings with a government spon- sored Recruitment Company who offer apprenticeships to school leavers. They do all the screening and recruitments and pay for the candidates to receive training. It is our re- sponsibility to mentor and di- rect them all other levels of em- ployment. Their tutor comes to the practice to carry out assess- ments and so forth. This is cost effective as you can either pay the student the minimum fee of £2.50 per hour or more if you wish to do so. This is an ideal opportunity to help someone young to get into the market place and have an opportunity to develop and as it is affordable you are able to have an extra member of staff as part of your contingency plan for avoiding disaster when it comes to functionality on a day to day basis. As Winston Churchill once said: “A pessimist sees the dif- ficulty in every opportunity an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” DT Looking for opportunity Sharon Holmes discusses options for recruitment of staff About the author Originally from South Africa, Sha- ron Holmes has worked in the field of dental practice management since 1992. In 2003, she moved to London City Dental Prac- tice where after 18 months, was re- sponsible for man- aging four practices in the group. The London City Dental Practice is now part of a mini co-oper- ative group called the Dental Arts Stu- dio, of which she has been instrumen- tal in its creation. Every employer wants a new member of staff to fit in with their team