Are you looking to expand your practice, but have found the process of recruiting challenging?
You’re not alone.
It’s getting trickier to find skilled workers, as many have chosen to cut down on work hours or open their own practices due to Covid-19.
That being said, there’s still excellent talent out there, and if you can identify the best possible practitioners to suit your needs, your practice will be primed to grow and thrive.
Now, more than ever, it can be difficult to source the best practitioners to suit your business needs, so to attract the best, you might need to up your recruitment game.
Here are 10 effective ways to attract top talent to your practice:
1. Build Your Practice’s Reputation
Top talent in any field will want to work with the most reputable practice around. Even in the case of parents, they’ll research their child’s school according to reputation. It’s the same when it comes to finding your future place of employment. You’ll find that the best practitioners want to work at the best practice.
Work hard to build your reputation as one of excellence; brilliant treatments, exceptional communication and top-notch facilities. If you can do this and spread the word, top talent will likely find you.
2. Look for the Best Recent Graduates
University graduates may be inexperienced, but every class has a few overachievers. These students tend to have a great work ethic and are usually ready to enter the job market. Additionally, recent graduates have been trained with the latest industry practices, giving your business a modern edge. New to the workforce, recent graduates are likely to have an enthusiastic can-do attitude and bring you fresh inspiration.
Another positive aspect of hiring a recent graduate is salary expectation. Younger practitioners will gladly work for a lower fee than someone with significant work experience. With the difficulties resulting from Covid-19, this can be incredibly beneficial.
It’s probably wise to use a combination of experienced and fresh practitioners to give your practice balance. Build a relationship with the relevant departments at your local universities or colleges. Give the department head a call, or pop them an email, to make the first introduction.
3. Offer Internship Programs
You might feel concerned about committing to permanently hiring a recent graduate. A different approach is to get to know potential practitioners by offering an internship program.
Many colleges require students to do practical work, and you can volunteer to have your practice available for internships. By working closely with students or post-graduates, you can offer permanent jobs to any of the best practitioners you’ve worked with.
4. Use the Power of Social media and the Internet
The fact is that most people search for jobs on the internet these days. So it’s ideal to have an excellent virtual presence.
Here are 5 ways to help you stand out from the crowd:
Set up a Facebook business page
Use a professional logo and corporate identity to give your page a competitive edge. In addition, Facebook has paid advertising, which is a great way to get known.
Pro Tip: When advertising on Facebook, make sure that you set your target audience to locations around your practice and choose demographics of people who are most likely to make use of your services.
Set up a free job listing on Facebook
In addition, You can make use of Facebook’s free job listings and post these on the relevant groups and your page. Be sure to give your posts public settings so they can be shared far and wide.
Link your business’s Instagram account
You can also set up a business Instagram account and create sponsored stories with job postings.
Create online job portal listings
There are also many websites where practices can advertise job postings. Find your top local websites and advertise on those. It might be worthwhile to promote your practice in areas other than your own. There may be golden talent in different regions looking to relocate.
Share vacancies on your website
Be sure to have a website with a job posting section. Work on developing maximum search engine optimisation so that your website ranks highly on Google. You might want to think about employing a marketing expert to help you achieve this goal.
5. A Little PR and Marketing Can Go a Long Way
If you’re looking to attract top talent to your business, you might want to consider working on a PR and marketing campaign for your search. Building a comprehensive press list can take time, but it will be an invaluable tool in the long run. Contact your local radio, TV, newspaper and magazine outlets to find out about advertising or free job posting opportunities. Send a well-written press release to various publications and request interviews.
In addition, you can look for local podcasts or YouTube channels that might be looking for expert guests to interview. The more well-known you become, the more you’ll attract the best talent to work with you.
6. Speak to Your Staff
Your current practitioners studied in the field and likely have connections within the community. Be sure to inform your staff members when you’re looking to expand and see if they know a friend, family member, or acquaintance who might like to apply for a position. This way, you get a trusted reference from a reputable source.
7. Network within Your Local Community
Once again, it’s vital to build your reputation within your local community. Rather than keeping to yourself, get to know your community leaders and fellow citizens. Post job opportunities on the notice boards available in your community. It may aid you to look into running a promotional booth at career days or local markets.
8. Provide a Competitive Salary and Benefits
The truth is that money talks. The best practitioners will want to be paid their worth. Most employees will gain additional job satisfaction based on how well they earn. Make sure that you use professional pay scale websites to help you come up with a competitive rate. You can also compare your rates to similar job posts to help with your research.
In addition, benefits like decent leave, bonuses, and performance incentives will attract top talent. You can also consider offering birthday leave.
9. Remember that Happy Workers are Productive Workers
This is a remarkably truthful statement! You, yourself, do your best work when you feel fulfilled!
Here’s the thing:
Staff acquisition and retention are heavily based on how you treat your staff and make them feel seen and heard. Here are some tips:
- Listen to your staff when they tell you they feel unwell or need some emotional support. Empathy is an essential skill for business owners. Perhaps look into workshops to gain applied emotional intelligence.
- Implement fun activities like dress-up days and chocolate Tuesdays, creating an exciting work environment.
- You might want to consider monetary or gift incentives for excellent work performance.
- Finally, consider a referral fee. This way, your staff will be incentivised to help you find top employees.
10. Become a Leader in Your Field
Word of mouth marketing is probably the number one marketing tool available to you. Get yourself out there, communicate your needs, and spread the word. This way, you might find the talent you’d previously missed.
We know that marketing can be tricky, and you might feel, sometimes, like there’s no time to get yourself out there. The truth is that you could be the best in your field, but if no one knows who you are, you won’t be as successful as you should be.
Be proud of your accomplishments and speak about your practice in appropriate settings. Finally, use professional branding and keep up to date with the latest technology in your field. Consider hiring a branding, PR and marketing specialist to help with your coverage.
By being a leading practice in your field, you’re likely to attract top talent.
It’s not always easy to find excellent employees. However, top talent is out there, and many people are looking for work, especially at a reputable, well-established practice. If you’re not already doing so, it’s time to work on becoming a more attractive employer. By setting yourself up as a leader in your field and putting your practice in the public eye, you’re much better positioned to attract the best talent out there. It may seem like a mammoth task, but if you can put aside time to build your online presence, advertise in your community, and get to know your local media outlets, you’ll quickly start to position your practice as a leader in your field, and consequently attract the top talent.
