Navigating the Dental Job Market: Tips and Best Practices of Recruitment

What does the job market for dentists look like in Canada? With almost 29,000 dental health businesses operational in Canada, the job market thrives with many employment opportunities available to qualified graduates. For instance, dental careers like dental assistant positions have risen in demand by 126%, as per a survey from 2019.

If you’re curious to know what kind of recruitment dental jobs offer, this blog helps you navigate the job market. We’ll share tried-and-trusted tips and best practices so you can get hired. Find all the necessary details in this blog about dental field jobs.

Understanding the Dental Job Market

If you are interested in exploring dentist employment opportunities, it’s vital to first understand the dental job market. In this section, we’ll share statistics and facts & figures to prove that there indeed is a demand for dental health professionals in Canada.

Current Trends in Dental Job Opportunities

Here are some important trends regarding the dental job market:

• Experts believe that there will be 13,500 job openings between 2022 and 2031.
• A survey from last year says that almost two-thirds of Canadians saw a dentist in 2022.
• An aging population makes dental job opportunities more common in the country.
• Initiatives like Canada Dental Benefit make dentists more accessible to rural communities.
• Most dentists in Canada are self-employed and 83% operate their own practices.

Also, a limited number of dentist training programs are allowing dental health professionals from the neighboring US to look for jobs in Canada.

Key Demographics and Their Impact

The dental workforce is also aging in Canada. The median age of Canadian dentists is almost 46 years so they’ll retire soon. This means that over 40% of new job openings in dental staffing must arise due to retirement. It’ll also contribute to a labor shortage, making dental health jobs more in demand across the nation.

3 Effective Recruitment Strategies

If you are doing a dental job search and want to get hired, these tips will help you land a decent job confidently. Use these three recruitment strategies to join Canada’s booming dental health workforce:

Leveraging Online Job Portals and Social Media

You can find ample dental job opportunities online. Here’s what you should do:

• Job Portals: Employers often post job ads on platforms like Indeed and Glassdoor. So, you can go job-hunting on these portals. Use dental job boards to compare available jobs and read reviews before applying.
• Social Media: Use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms to find job ads in the country. Employers often upload engaging content on social media, such as employee testimonials and behind-the-scenes looks at daily operations to attract candidates.

You can always contact agencies like TempFind to look for a job in the dental health industry. As a prime dental staffing resource in Canada, TempFind connects employers with capable, highly qualified dental health professionals. Use TempFind to look for a decent job.

     Networking within the Dental Community

Networking can always help you get hired in this cutthroat industry. Many job posts stay hidden from the public and employers will simply do internal hiring. So, one of the most important dental job market strategies is to make connections in the industry so you get informed the moment a job post like that opens up. You should:

• Join professional organizations like the Dental Industry Association of Canada
• Look for mentors in the industry who can help you develop key soft skills
• Participate in community events or health fairs to enhance your local area visibility.

     Collaborating with Dental Schools and Training Programs

Similarly, you should look for internship programs as a young dentist to get hands-on experience. Also, you should engage with mentors who give guest lectures or attend their workshops. That’s how you can stand out from the crowd and make yourself easily noticeable in front of employers & hiring managers.

Evaluating Candidates

Let’s explain this issue from the employer’s perspective as well. What is an employer looking for in an ideal candidate? One of the most important dental employment tips is to develop the key soft skills favored by hiring managers.

Key Qualities to Look for in Dental Professionals

Considering the latest dental industry trends, we can confidently say that these qualities and key competencies have become a must-have for every budding dental health professional:

• Clinical Skills: You should know how to diagnose patients, do treatment planning, possess the right technical skills (restorative work, extractions, surgeries, etc.), and have enough know-how in infection control.
• Communication Skills: You can easily build rapport with patients by harnessing this skill. It helps you explain complex dental procedures and give instructions to your juniors.
• Empathy: A dental health professional must show genuine care for their patients. So, you should listen to them actively and address their fears or concerns.
• Professionalism: Adhering to legal and regulatory standards is vital for a dentist. You must focus on addressing a patient’s genuine clinical needs without recommending a very expensive procedure out of self-interest.
• Teamwork and Leadership: Lastly, employers want candidates to be team players. You’ll have to collaborate with your peers and superiors efficiently. You may even have to take on leadership roles when necessary, guiding less experienced team members.

Conducting Effective Interviews

Next, you should learn the key dental employment trends regarding interviews. How are these interviews conducted and what questions do interviewers ask? This is what they do:

• Create a set of standardized questions covering technical and soft skills to keep interviews consistent for every candidate.
• Use behavioral questions that involve asking candidates how they would handle specific situations, such as managing a difficult patient.
• See if the candidate is a cultural fit or not; they will do it by discussing the values of their dental practice during the interview process.
• Ask candidates if they have any questions in mind; the nature of their questions can tell a lot about their maturity level and qualifications.
• Involve other team members, especially the ones with dental job market insights, to vet candidates and see if they can become part of your faculty.

Using Skill Assessments and Practical Tests

We should also discuss how employers and HR folks assess your skills via tests. You may expect a hiring manager to evaluate your skills and qualifications with this method:

• Case studies and hypothetical scenarios that require diagnosis & treatment planning
• Role-playing exercises where you have to explain treatment options to a patient or try to manage their anxiety/frustration

3 Best Practices for Onboarding & Integration

In neighboring America, an average dental practice has a staff turnover rate of 22%! When we do a dental job market analysis, we realize that a lack of proper onboarding/integration may lead to dental health workers leaving a job. So, employers can try to make their workplaces more appealing with these strategies:

     Creating a Welcoming Onboarding Process

Employers try to make the onboarding process personalized to the team, office culture, and their policies. A warm welcome can easily create a friendly atmosphere in the office, such as welcome kits or team lunches. Pairing new hires with experienced staff members will work as well.

     Setting Clear Expectations and Goals

Your job descriptions must clearly outline the duties required of your staff. So, collaborate with new hires to set SMART goals – both temporary and long-term – so these recruits know how you will measure their performance.

     Ensuring Smooth Integration into the Practice

You can streamline their integration into the practice by:

• Friendly team introductions to foster a sense of belonging
• Training sessions to help them get accustomed to your work routines
• An “open communication” so they can voice their fears/complaints fearlessly

Addressing Common Recruitment Challenges

Let’s discuss some common dental job market challenges here, shall we? We can see that, even though this industry is set to boom with new job openings, the dental health staff also seems to be quitting even faster. Dubbed the “Big Quit,” it stems from the fact that only 25% of workers in the dental health industry believe that their bosses care about their well-being. So, here’s how employers can attract more employees:

Overcoming the Shortage of Qualified Candidates

Employers can overcome the lack of capable dental health job applicants by:

• Using dental job boards, job portals, social media, and staffing agencies like TempFind to find top talent.
• Using the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) to attract skilled immigrants who can fill the shoes of local talent.
• Invest in dental school training programs to create internships or residencies.

Navigating Salary Expectations and Negotiations

Next, you should look into dental industry trends and navigate candidates’ salary expectations by:

• Conducting market research and finding out what truly is a market-competitive salary for a dental health expert in Canada.
• Openly discuss salary ranges in the interview process and be transparent about what you can offer.
• Offer non-salary perks, such as WFH opportunities, health & wellness programs, flexible work schedules, professional development opportunities, and others.

Dealing with High Turnover Rates

You can tackle the higher turnover rate in these professions via these strategies:

• Create a supportive workplace culture to focus on teamwork, recognizing hard work, and creating a healthy work-life balance.
• Come up with a comprehensive onboarding process (like the one outlined above).
• When turnover occurs, conduct exit interviews to gather feedback on why employees are leaving.

Final Tips for Successful Recruitment

This blog gave you a comprehensive dental job market overview that covers different ways to attract/retain top talent. It’s helpful for both employees and employers; it helps employees find their way into the competitive dental health job market, while employers can see how to get the best talent in Canada to work for them. With TempFind, employers and employees can connect hassle-free.