Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

F or many practice princi- ples the words ‘employ- ment law’ is enough to make their blood run cold. It’s a complex and often frustrating area, but there are many things you can do to ensure that you avoid any pitfalls. The following information has been designed to help you through every stage of the employment process, in- cluding how to advertise for and appoint the best possible candi- dates for your practice. Getting the advert right When a position becomes avail- able, the first thing you need to do it advertise for a new mem- ber of staff – and often very quickly. This is easier said than done, as getting your advert wrong can be a costly exercise when paying for placement in local newspapers. Therefore, it’s worth spend- ing some time putting togeth- er a sheet of criteria for the role. What skills and attributes do you consider a necessity and which would be more of an added bonus? Some practices consider qualifica- tions and experience the most important factor, as training takes time and money. Oth- ers hold customer care and loyalty in higher regard as the rest can often be learned on the job. Deciding what is right for you and your practice is impor- tant, as your criteria can then be put across in the job advert to reduce the risk of unsuitable candidates. It can also be a use- ful reference point when look- ing at CVs and later, during the interview process. It’s worth bearing in mind that your advert actually forms the basis of a job agreement, so making sure it is accurate and not misleading is essential. For example, if you advertise a role at £15k per annum and then only offer the candidates £12k, this could be seen as false advertising and candi- dates could raise a grievance. Therefore, it’s a good idea to put a salary range in place in- stead as this will usually attract the right calibre of candidate, or you could simply say ‘com- petitive salary’. Interviewing skills On a scale of 1-10, most inter- viewers only rate around 3½ at finding the right candidates for the job and this is usually because they’re not asking the right questions. Asking ques- tions which only require a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer are not going to give you much insight into a candidates experience or skills. Asking ‘textbook’ questions, similarly, will only result in getting textbook answers and will not tell you much. Asking for an example of when they used a particu- lar skill relevant to the role is a better way of finding more information and can also un- cover if they’ve been ‘exagger- ating’ their experience on their CV. It’s estimated that around 80-85 per cent of people lie to some extent on their CV. This may sound shocking, but more worrying is the fact that around 60 per cent of people continue to lie in their interviews, so it’s important not to take them at their word. Now, I’m not saying that all your candidates are lying to you, but if computer skills are a necessary requirement of the role, don’t be afraid to set them a computer skills task during the interview stages. If they’re going to be in a clinical role, don’t be afraid to ask them clinical questions or to perform a basic clinical task. You could even ask them to take part in a trial day, to give you a better idea of how well they gel with the team and deal with pa- tients. However, it’s important to avoid questions which can get you in trouble legally. Ask- ing about a candidate’s marital status, whether they have chil- dren, their religion or sexual orientation is a strictly no-go area. So too is asking about their sickness absence in a pre- vious role. References According to the October 2010 Equality Act, all refer- ences should provide factual, provable information only. A ‘It’s worth bearing in mind that your advert actually forms the basis of a job agreement, so making sure it is accurate and not mis- leading is essential’ Employment law can often be a complex and frustrating area for many practice principles page 18DTà 17Practice ManagementJune 13-19, 2011United Kingdom Edition Recruitment, employment law and you Jo Banks discusses the pitfalls of recruitment and employment law - and how to avoid them to attract and retain the best people for your practice