Results from the Princess Dental Staffing survey are in! 623 dental professionals weighed in, revealing the state of hiring for dental offices for 2024.

What Candidates Want

Location and salary are the two most important things for candidates. 

"I want a job near my home that pays me what I'm worth"

Where are Candidates Looking for Jobs?

Candidates are using Google search and staffing firms to find jobs.

• Google Search
• Staffing Firms
• Networking
• Job Boards
• Social Media
• Professional Associations
• Company Websites

Jobs posted on Princess Dental Staffing hit the top ways candidates are searching for jobs. Our jobs show up in Google search as well as social media.

If your dental company isn't currently promoting your jobs on social media, 2024 may be a good year to get started on social.

Although a smaller percentage of candidates are searching for jobs on dental office websites, it's worth mentioning that few employers reported updating their company website career or job page. This may be an area where employers could benefit from doing a little extra work to attract candidates to their job.

The Biggest Challenges Offices Face in 2024

The three biggest challenges offices face are:

1. Unresponsive candidates
2. Unqualified candidates
3. Too few applicants

We'll cover suggestions for how to handle unresponsive candidates in a future blog post. Briefly, makes sure you're following up and using multiple channels of communication!

While there are many hacks for weeding out unqualified candidates, one of the best is to let someone else weed them out for you early on in the process. That's why we vet our job seekers when they sign up on our website and verify their licensure. That way, you're only getting qualified applicants to your job post.

Getting more applicants often comes down to how the job post was written. We have some resources on this topic on our blog, like how to write strong job descriptions.

Changing Workforce Expectations

The expectations of the workforce are shifting, especially among younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z. This includes the desire for greater work-life balance, flexibility, meaningful work, and organizational values that align with personal values.

One of the best things dental offices can do to attract top talent in 2024 is to get clear about their values and assure the company's culture is featured prominently in their job posts.

In addition, systems that promote more work-life balance and flexibility for dental hygienists and assistants will provide offices with the highest advantage when it comes to attracting top dental talent.

Don't Ghost Candidates

One of the biggest complaints from both candidates and employers is getting ghosted.

And ghosting job applicants can be bad for business.

While we recommend not getting mad about it, when it comes to attracting top talent, a long-term strategy is for your office to get back to all candidates who interview.

While we understand there may be many reasons why this doesn't happen, it will serve your office in the long run by keeping a positive reputation with candidates, who may not apply to future job postings or speak poorly of your office due to a negative ghosting experience.

Expect a Talent Shortage in 2024

75% of offices we surveyed expect the talent shortage to continue into 2024.

Dental offices will need to focus on how they can stand out in a crowd of employers all vying for the attention of a handful of candidates.

While top pay is important, it's not the only thing candidates are looking for in their dental career.

Expect Difficulties Retaining Employees

33% of offices shared they have difficulty retaining employees. This is confirmed by 55% of candidates having been with their current employer less than two years.

While it was hard enough to get candidates attention in the first place, keeping them is another game entirely.

Higher pay, a positive work environment, open communication, respect, and collaboration are all things to strive for at your dental office.

“To enhance retention, dental offices must provide reasonable expectations, better pay, and foster a positive work environment that values open communication, respect, and collaboration."

What other trends do you see in dental hiring coming in 2024? Share them with us on social media.