Bob Levoy is the author of seven books, including 201 Secrets of a High Performance Dental Practice and 222 Secrets of Hiring, Managing, and Retaining Great Employees in Healthcare Practices. He can be reached at blevoy@verizon.net.

Bob Levoy

No dental practice can afford to make hiring mistakes, which can lead to errors, inefficiencies, and costly staff turnover. It also creates a ripple of negativity that impacts teamwork, productivity, and patient satisfaction.

Getting the right people on board however, is no easy task.

Here are five hard learned lessons about interviewing job applicants -- and how to avoid them:

It’s one of the most common errors in interviewing: the failure to establish rapport. As a result, no substantive discussion takes place, nothing is learned about the applicant’s priorities, expectations, or job-related needs, and the interview never gets off the ground.

Recommendation: Don’t be misled or turned off by an applicant who appears nervous, thinking he or she may not be able to cope with a stressful job. The interviewing process itself can cause nervousness and it may have little bearing on a person’s ability to perform a job.

Therefore, the first task therefore is to put the job applicant at ease. The interview should be a pleasant informal conversation in which the person has an opportunity to talk freely and spontaneously to someone who is genuinely interested.

More from Bob Levoy:9 hard-learned lessons about employee compensation in the dental practice

Placing too much emphasis on technical competence: 

Business office skills or clinical skills are often the most frequently discussed subject during job interviews because they’re easy to assess, but such skills alone are a poor predictor of whether a newly hired employee will succeed or fail. Do such skills really matter if the employee alienates co-workers (or worse, patients), lacks motivation, or has the wrong personality or temperament for your practice?

“Beyond skills and experience, what’s the most important trait you look for in a new employee?” is a question I’ve asked countless doctors. The answer given by Steven Garner, a veterinarian in League City, Texas, was “Nice,” he said. “We can train people to do almost anything, but we can’t make them nice.”

Recommendation: Have in mind the five or so personality traits you deem most important for the smooth running of your practice. Doing so will greatly simplify the task of finding the person you seek.

More from Bob Levoy:7 ways to make your dental practice easy to do business with

Many interviewers make the mistake of doing most of the talking during job interviews. They mean well â often providing pertinent information about the position or the practice â but, in doing so, fail to learn what they need to know about job applicants.

Recommendation: A good rule of thumb is to let the applicant talk at least 80 percent of the time. Don’t rush to break a silence.

Wanting to hire a highly qualified applicant may lead to promises about job responsibilities, salary increases, vacations, flexible hours, infrequent overtime, etc., that can’t be kept â¦ or if kept would lead to a staff mutiny.

 Don’t oversell a job by promising more than you can deliver or, conversely, by downplaying the negative aspects of a job. When the facts become known, a new employee will either become demotivated or quit. Face the facts: a job 

 what it is. One solution is to rethink the position. Can the appealing aspects of the job be broadened? Can less desirable aspects be traded or possibly divided among other staff members or done by part-time staff or perhaps outsourced?

RELATED ARTICLE:The 6 things you must do when an employee leaves your practice

 This seems so obvious but, surprisingly, is overlooked in many practices. There are risks involved in not checking references. Eighty percent of all resumes are misleading according to Hire Right, a firm that specializes in employee background checks. Furthermore, 20 percent state fraudulent degrees; 30 percent show altered employment dates; 40 percent have inflated salary claims; 30 percent have inaccurate job descriptions; and 27 percent give falsified references.

Recommendation: One of the best ways to avoid hiring those who are less qualified than they claim to be or who have falsified their resume in other ways is to have job applicants sign a waiver that attests to the accuracy of the information they provide and authorizes you to seek relevant background information. In addition, this consent form should also give potential references permission to discuss the person’s background with you. A reluctance or refusal to sign such a consent form should raise a red flag.

Checking references in this day and age is a “must.” If you neglect to do so, don’t be surprised if you get surprised.

: Hiring the right people for your practice is the best present you can give yourself. It will result in happier patients, less turnover, greater productivity, and significantly less stress.

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5 hard-learned lessons about interviewing job applicants

Here are a few of the many ways dentists can make it easier for patients to deal with their practices:

One of the many benfits of using EHRs is that dentists and patients are both able to save a lot of time. Patient records, medical histories, allergy and medication alerts, stored treatment plans, and other important information can be quickly retrieved, enabling doctors and team members to focus more on the patient.

“Our patients often comment how efficient and high-tech we appear, and this translates into having increased confidence in us as their dental care provide,” says Mary Beth Swift, operational manager for Grandview Center for Dentistry in Edina, Minn. “Our technology also frees us to take the time to be highly personable with our patients and develop strong relationships.”

. This will enable patients to schedule, reschedule, or, if necessary, cancel appointments; access and print health history forms, which can be filled out prior to coming to the office; view and update their contact, insurance, and other personal information; make secure online payments; and get routine questions answered.

To make these interactions even more convenient, give patients the freedom to connect to your practice from their smartphones via a mobile app.

: Make sure your Web site is HIPAA-compliant and as secure as possible.

 As simple as this sounds, consider the comments of David Siegel, expert in Web site design and author of 

“Out there on the wild, wild Web, most sites are train wrecks that have already happened,” says Siegel. Most companies, he adds, think that cool technology and hip special effects will make their sites engaging â without ever understanding their viewers’ needs, interests, or navigating skills.

“Does your site have too many buttons?” he asks. “Too many layers? Too many words? Too many choices? Busy wallpaper-like design in the background? Hard to read typefaces? Too many typefaces? Too many links? Information overload? My message on design is this â¦ keep it simple.”

4) Don’t underestimate the importance of your front desk staff.

 “A great front-desk staff communicates with our patients to satisfy their needs and solve their problems,” says Dr. Howard Rice, a pediatrician and president of Town and Country Pediatrics, a 16-physician practice with three offices in Chicago. “They sometimes are shock absorbers or play the role of an educator, translator, and psychologist to the needs of patients.” This is as true in a dental practice as it is in pediatrics â¦ and perhaps more so.

In this economy, many patients are reluctant to put more debt on their credit cards and often don’t have money on hand to pay the out-of-pocket costs of procedures not covered by their insurance

Allowing patients to utilize third-party financing enables them to spread out their payments (interest-free, in some cases), so it’s not a huge strain on their budgets.

. Many practices have telephone access only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are “closed” for lunch. This makes no sense if early-morning callers are working and don’t want, or are unable, to call from work. Others may prefer to call you during their lunch break or at the end of their workday (perhaps after 5 p.m.). Callers who are prospective new patients (with any of the above preferences) are not likely to call back.

Consider having an early “first in” receptionist who comes in before the doctor and other team members arrive to handle those early morning calls for appointments. Consider also, a lunchtime receptionist for mid-day calls and a designated “last out” receptionist for those late-day calls.

 9 to 5 office hours are simply not convenient for many of today’s time-pressured patients

Some have long commutes or start work early or work late and would like an office with early morning and/or evening appointments. Dentists who have these appointment times (even for one or two mornings or nights a week) tell me they’re booked solid well in advance.

The great jazz pianist and composer Fats Waller knew about being easy to do business with. “Find out what people want, and how they want it, and then give it to them just that way,” he said. He was spot on.

7 ways to make your dental practice easy to do business with

Do you struggle with making payroll decisions? Here is some practical advice.


In the course of my travels, I’ve asked countless practitioners what insights, hard-learned lessons, and regrets they’ve had about building a successful dental practice. This acquired wisdom has been about every aspect of practice management, including employee compensation.

The following are nine of those hard-learned lessons.

More than anything in your practice, your investment in support staff is likely to pay the highest dividend. Dentists need to think of it as just that an investment, rather than an expense. Consider the job of receptionist. Dentists who are focused on keeping a lid on expenses might view this position as an entry-level job and hire someone with minimum qualifications at the least possible salary and benefits. Dentists with an investment viewpoint would look instead for a highly qualified, top-notch receptionist and be happy to pay a higher-than-average salary along with generous benefits. The return on investment, in this case, would be a smooth, stress-free front desk operation with high levels of patient satisfaction. It’s a difference that makes a difference.

If you want to retain exceptional employees, expect to pay a bit more. The difference between “average” and “above average” is incredibly small compared to the value such star performers bring to your practice. Steve Jobs described the difference between an average programmer and a great programmer as being at least 25 to 1. Given such odds, paying 30 percent more for talent seems like a bargain.

If you underpay your staff, you will attract either less competent people whom you probably will let go or those who are just starting out, who will learn all they can from you and then move on to better-paying jobs. Either way, your salary policy will generate more staff turnover than loyalty.

“Don’t give raises to marginal employees,” says Jeffrey J. Denning, whose firm, Practice Performance Group, is located in La Jolla, Calif. “Raises never motivate workers to improve. To the contrary, a raise in pay signals the employer’s satisfaction with the status quo. Further, if the employee is terminated and sues, she has simply to point to the history of pay raises to show she was doing a good job. Judgment for the plaintiff.”

“There is no such thing as entitlement pay, only merit pay,” says Amy Morgan, dental consultant and CEO of the Pride Institute. “All aspects of compensation must be an acknowledgment of an employee’s enhanced performance. Team members retain their jobs and raise their compensation when they meet or exceed the dentist’s expectations, which produces the higher profits that make increases affordable.”

Aside from cost-of-living salary increases, base raises on merit to reward those who do above-average work, such as a business assistant who keeps accounts receivable within an acceptable range or a receptionist with amazing communication skills who can multitask, remember patients’ names, and handle problems with finesse. Merit-based raises in these cases, not only encourages others to excel in their jobs, but also demonstrates what they’re missing by not performing well. For example, if the average pay increase is 3 percent, the above-average employee will merit a pay raise greater than 3 percent (perhaps significantly greater), an “average” employee will receive 3 percent, and the below-average employee will receive less than a 3 percent (and perhaps no) increase.

“Many dentists are overly concerned that one or more of their top employees has reached or surpassed some arbitrary ceiling for their position,” says management consultant Dr. Charles Blair of Belmont, N.C. “We’re more concerned with the effectiveness of individual employees in helping the practice grow profitably and thus focus on the ratio of staff payroll costs to practice gross income. As a result, we often find that paying top dollar for truly stellar employees can result in a more profitable practice.”

If your practice relies solely on a compensation and benefits package to attract and retain loyal employees, over time there’s a good chance that you’ll be caught in a bidding war for the talent you want. Don’t overlook the importance of intangible rewards such as recognition and appreciation for good work, more autonomy and/or authority, a voice in decisions that affect their work, a pleasant workplace where camaraderie and good cheer abound, and, most important, a positive work environment where staff feel valued and respected. Such “psychological paychecks” have an intrinsic value that hard currency can never touch.

Money motivates but only up to a point. If you gave every employee a $1,000 raise starting tomorrow, how much harder would they work and for how long?