It's no secret that recruitment has been a major challenge for many employers over the past year, and this includes dental practices. In particular, over a third (39%) of dental nurses are looking to leave the profession in the next two years, which is a concerning statistic when they are generally one of the main employees of most dental practices.

Consequently, it's important to get the recruitment process right. It takes considerable time and effort to put together job descriptions and adverts, sift through CVs, shortlist candidates and hold interviews. And if the person turns out not to be the right fit for the role, the practice can face a loss of time and resources in starting over.

The recruitment process

Before hiring anyone, practice owners should take time to consider the gaps in the workforce, why a new person is needed, and what specific skills are required to fulfil the role. Thorough analysis at the preparation stage can help ensure the right person is hired and reduce future turnover.

Once these factors have been identified, analysing the current recruitment strategy can help assess whether it provides the most effective results. An in-depth review can help practices understand whether they meet candidates' needs and expectations, and to stand out from the crowd in a competitive recruitment market.

For example, salary transparency and flexible working arrangements have been seen to be two of the main priorities for applicants. While homeworking won't be appropriate for many dental roles, practices can still promote flexibility with working hours, days and patterns.

Similarly, during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, employees are understandably more interested than ever in the salary and benefits packages available. As such, practices that don't set out their offering from the outset could be falling at the first hurdle by putting off ideal candidates.

Recruiting different types of candidates

With unemployment higher for 18-24-year olds, many practices are missing a trick by disengaging with younger workers, and could be losing out on ideal candidates who don't have the qualification typically associated with that role, despite having relevant experience.

As such, employers should take the lack of experience and/or qualifications of younger workers into consideration when completing recruitment exercises, and not automatically dismiss individuals who don't fit the traditional job requirements. Practices can also benefit from offering apprenticeships and trainee programmes, which can build long-term working relationships and be crucial in shaping young careers.

Similarly, there's been significant attention placed on encouraging 'unretirement' and return to work for those who had left their careers because of caring responsibilities or other personal commitments.

Using positive action tools in recruitment strategies can help with the unretirement initiative. This might include putting statements in job adverts to encourage over 50s to apply, offering training or tailored mentoring programmes to help them return to the workplace, or hosting open days specifically tailored towards these groups.

However, it's important to recognise and understand the difference between positive action and positive discrimination. Positive action is when individuals are equally qualified, so the differentiating factor to decide who gets the role is the protected characteristic (age, sex, race and so on).

Positive discrimination is when the reason for selecting someone for a role is based on their protected characteristic alone, regardless of whether they are the best or most qualified person for it. Positive action is lawful; positive discrimination is not. If practices happen to stray into the latter, they could face tribunal claims.

Practices should also recognise that the wants and needs of over 50s may vary from younger workers, and could put measures in place to directly meet their expectations. For example, older employees may be more in favour of part-time and job-sharing arrangements, phased retirement options, enhanced family-related leave and pay (including grand-parental leave), private health schemes and increased pension contributions.

Retaining staff

There are few things more frustrating than putting time and effort into recruiting a team member only to lose them shortly after they start. To reduce the risk of this happening, dental practices can take proactive steps, like staying in regular contact before they start their employment, giving prompt responses to any questions or concerns they have, involving them in social activities, and providing access to information - such as a contract, employee handbook, breakdown of benefits, etc. - to reassure them you are the best choice of employer.

Practices should ensure they are regularly checking in with their staff and identifying issues early on. Doing so can help avoid problems escalating and facilitate quick resolutions, so a great way to compile effective feedback is by conducting 'stay interviews' - informal meetings to understand what employees do and don't like about the organisation and what areas they feel require further improvement.

This feedback can then be used to assess what changes are needed in the workplace, if any, and in turn should help to improve recruitment strategies and boost retention rates as well as retaining key talent.

At a time when organisations across the UK are struggling with recruitment and retention, it's more important than ever to focus on making employees feel valued and engaged as members of a cohesive and supportive practice team. Sorting your recruitment strategy out means that both practices and employees can get off to a good start.