How to Keep Your Practice Fully Staffed in a Shifting Climate

If there’s one message I find myself repeating to clients more than almost any other right now, it’s this: hiring is marketing. When you’re looking to fill a position, you’re not simply “posting a job.” You’re running an ad. And like any ad, it has to grab attention, stand out, and move the right person to pick up the phone or hit “apply.” The moment you start treating your hiring the way you treat your new-patient marketing, everything about your approach gets sharper—and your results follow.

Let me walk you through what I’m seeing in the current hiring climate and the specific tactics I’d want you to put in place.

Table of Contents

• The Platforms Are Changing—Are You Paying Attention?
• Don’t Promote in Only One Place
• Your Mindset Determines Your Results
• Make Sure You’re Competitive on Pay
• The Bottom Line

The Platforms Are Changing—Are You Paying Attention?

Let’s use Indeed as our example, since it’s one most of us know and use, and it’s a platform we’ve had real success with for our clients here at MGE.

Over the last several months, we’ve watched Indeed’s algorithm shift. It used to be that you could post a free ad and pull in a healthy stream of applications. The platform would move your listing around, and prospects would come. More recently, though, we’ve noticed the paid ads are consistently pulling better prospects, while the free posts don’t perform the way they used to.

I’m not going to speculate about why that’s happening. It’s simply something we’ve observed—with our clients and with ourselves. But here’s the part that matters for you: this is exactly like your Google or Facebook ads for new patients. Things get stale. Platforms change their algorithms. What worked beautifully for a stretch can quietly stop working, and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss it.

Here’s the trap I see practices fall into. Your ad stops pulling applicants, so you conclude:

• “There just aren’t many people looking for jobs right now.”
• “The hiring climate is tough.”
• “The prospect pool has dried up.”

In reality, the platform changed underneath you. The candidates are still out there—your method of reaching them simply went stale. So refresh your ads. Reword them. Test what works. And when a channel stops delivering, adapt instead of assuming the well is dry.

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Don’t Promote in Only One Place

This is the mistake I see most often, and it’s the same mistake practices make with new-patient marketing: relying on a single channel.

You cannot run your entire hiring effort through Indeed alone—or ZipRecruiter, or Monster, or any one platform. You’ll tell me, “Ashley, using multiple platforms gets expensive.” You’re right. So treat it the way you’d treat marketing:

1. Set a hiring budget. Decide what you can spend, just as you would for a marketing campaign.
2. Choose one paid service to anchor that budget—Indeed or ZipRecruiter, for example—and fund it properly.
3. Layer in the free and low-cost channels around it. This is where most practices leave prospects on the table.

Let me give you the free and low-cost avenues I want you using.

Local Facebook Groups

This one has been enormously successful for our clients. Go to Facebook and search for job groups in your area—“dental jobs Maryland,” “office manager dental office Tulsa,” and so on. They’re worded all kinds of ways, but there are groups for every position: assistants, hygienists, office managers, treatment coordinators. Our local group here is “Tampa Bay Dental Jobs,” to give you a sense of it.

Join the relevant groups and scroll. People post their resumes and announce that they’re looking. Here’s the tip most practices miss: you can go back months. I know six months sounds like a long time, but we’ve had clients successfully private-message someone who posted back then with a simple, “Hey, are you still looking? Or do you know someone who is?” The point is to build and work a network, and this is one of the fastest, easiest ways to do it.

A Sign at Your Front Desk

Put up a sign that says you’re hiring. There’s no shame in it. I’ve had doctors tell me, “Ashley, I don’t want patients thinking we’re short-staffed.” My answer is the same as it is with marketing: it’s all in the positioning.

• Instead of: “We urgently need workers.” (Sounds understaffed.)
• Try: “We’re growing and expanding, and we need more team members to support our flourishing practice.” (Sounds like success.)

List the positions you’re hiring for, and make sure your front desk knows exactly what to do the moment someone asks about it: have an application ready to hand over, and coach them to respond, “Absolutely—are you looking, or do you know anyone who is?” Then have them fill out the application and loop in the office manager or doctor.

Ask Your Long-Term Patients

With the right patient, the doctor or office manager can simply ask if they know anyone looking for work. Use judgment here—I wouldn’t do this with a brand-new patient who just walked in the door. But with a long-standing patient in for their six-month hygiene visit? Absolutely. Something like, “Mr. Smith, we’re growing and doing great here, and we’re hiring—if you know anyone looking for an opportunity, send them our way.” Positioning yourself as a growing practice and asking for referrals is completely appropriate.

Activate Your Team

Make sure your staff know you’re hiring and know which positions are open. Consider a referral incentive: if a team member refers someone who gets hired and makes it through their first 30 days, they earn a lunch or a small reward. Turn it into a game if you’d like. It’s an inexpensive way to put more eyes on your search.

Don’t Forget the Old-School and Professional Channels

• Bulletin boards. In smaller towns especially, the local coffee shop or grocery store often has one. Post a sign—add a QR code that links to your application to make it effortless. (Sounds understaffed.)
• LinkedIn. Network actively.
• Dental meetings and colleagues. Tell people you’re hiring. A colleague may not be hiring themselves, or may have a candidate who’d be a better fit at your practice than theirs.

Your Mindset Determines Your Results

I want to be direct about this, because it’s the quiet factor behind so much hiring frustration. If you approach your search believing there aren’t enough prospects, that’s exactly what you’ll find. If you assume everyone already has a job, you’ll never look hard enough to prove yourself wrong.

Come at it from the opposite direction—“There are people out there looking, and I can find them”—and you’ll be surprised what turns up. A negative mindset closes doors before you ever knock on them.

Make Sure You’re Competitive on Pay

Finally, you have to be competitive in your area, so do your homework on the going rate for the positions you’re filling. You can find that data online, but I’d also suggest asking around—talk to colleagues who’ll share what they pay, and look at competitors’ ads to see what they’re offering and hiring for.

And weigh the real cost of the vacancy. If you can’t afford to be without a hygienist, then spending a little extra to land one may be the right call. Every employee you train well and get productive should be making you money—so factor that into what you can truly afford.

🎧RELATED PODCAST: The New Rules of Dental Staffing (Whether You Like Them or Not)

The Bottom Line

Treat your hiring exactly like your marketing:

• Don’t let your ads—or your channels—go stale. Refresh, reword, and adapt as platforms change.
• Promote in multiple places, not just one paid service.
• Position yourself as a growing practice, and don’t be shy about it.
• Keep your mindset focused on opportunity, not scarcity.
• Stay competitive on pay, and weigh the cost of the empty seat.

Do this consistently, and you’ll stop feeling at the mercy of the hiring climate—and start building the team your practice deserves.

I hope this tip helps.

For any additional questions and information, please call 800-640-1140 or go to MGEonline.com