Lessons Learned from Online Dating: Using Data to Find the Right Fit for Your Dental Team

When is the last time you went out on a blind date? You remember the one where your best friend set you up and told you that this was your absolute perfect match. He was supposed to be your soul mate, hands down. You spent all day at the nail salon, getting a blow-out and even shaved your legs. Then it was time to meet him. You saw someone standing at the door of the restaurant, but hoped and prayed he wasn’t your soulmate. It was at this point on one of my many blind dates that I realized that my best friend must actually hate me.

The days of a traditional set-up have come a long way. Back then you only knew a few bits of information about the other person and the recommendation from a mutual friend that you might hit it off. Suddenly online dating hit the internet, and now even apps on your phone can supply you with a wealth of information about another person (admittedly, self-selected information). The evolution of blind dates continue as online dating turns in to a high-tech match making game thanks to the ability to evaluate potential mates based on a wide variety of data points.

Funny enough, many dental practices approach the hiring process much like a traditional blind date. You know just the basics about the candidate, like a resume, and on the surface it seems you might have the makings of a fit, so you go for the hire. But just as the days of a traditional blind date have evolved by using data to make better matches, so should the job search process.

What are some of the key takeaways from these successful online dating ventures for dental entrepreneurs looking to build their practice? Well, today’s leading online dating sites all use data to help make better matches. Popular sites like Match.com use the Myers-Briggs personality test, and eHarmony offers its own proprietary algorithm that they call the “secret key dimensions of compatibility.” Using assessments and defined metrics can help create better matches, which can lead to marriages, or in the dental hiring world, the team member best fit for the job.

Let’s Define “FIT”

If you were asked how cohesive your team is today on a scale from failing to thriving, where would you land? Even if you can self-assess as having a good team, it’s worth considering what it would take for your team to move to being great. The key is bringing on board individuals with the right mix of skills, personality, culture and values. Or in short, the right fit.

Fit can be defined across three key platforms: communications style, values and culture. Each of these brings along with it a cross section of attributes your future employees bring to the table. Whether it’s the value they place on flexibility and fun, to their preferred pace of work and office décor style, there are a host of critical factors you will not find listed on a resume.

Chances are your candidates don’t know how to accurately express, or have the self-awareness needed to understand, what will make a great fit in their next position. The odds are doubly stacked if you haven’t considered including these seemingly intangible concepts in the job description itself. For instance, when you write, “looking for hygienist for busy office with five-plus years of experience,” how will this description help you attract the right fit candidate? When sifting through a stack of resumes, chances are you won’t see a list of the candidate’s core values or a preferred communication style. Data is the key to unlock the attributes you know will make a great fit for

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your practice both for you and the job seeker.

ductivity and efficiency, and improve the way you relate to others both in and out of the workplace. n short, knowing the results of this type of assessment can increase your overall Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence is often a bigger indicator of success in careers and lives than IQ since our success depends on the ability to read other people’s signals and react appropriately to them.

Data is at Our Fingertips

Tools that can help you begin to identify so called “right fit” candidates are everywhere and can offer access to data like we’ve never seen before. A recent study found that 67 percent of employers who use (big) data to inform their recruitment efforts said it lowered their cost per hire, and 71 percent said it lowered their time to hire.

A recent survey of 180,000 dental professionals took a high-level look at how different personality types are distributed throughout the industry. Not surprisingly, the personality type that made the strongest showing is Steadiness, which is marked by traits including sincerity and sympathy. Although each of us will align most strongly with one of the four quadrants–Dominance, Influence, Compliance and Steadiness–there are a variety of factors that influence how that individual is motivated to act and respond in a given situation as well as how they make decisions.

While a variety of self-assessment tools exist, the best ones are integrated directly in to the job search function. Each assessment provides a different set of data points that when put together can provide a holistic view of what could potentially make a great match in the workplace. By knowing ourselves we can understand our own tendencies about how communicate and our needs, while also recognizing and adapting to other people’s styles in the workplace.

Create a Cohesive Team with Shared Values

If you ask individuals to list the factors that motivate them the most, what you’ll end up with is a list of key values including compassion, integrity, leadership, purpose and fun. The most critical motivator is purpose. Although 90 percent of individuals will initially reach for “pleasure,” it does not provide long lasting happiness. Ultimately finding purpose unlocks the key to long lasting happiness, both in the personal and professional world.

One of the more popular tools is called a DISC test. Have you ever considered how your personality type could influence the way you work or how you communicate with your co-workers? How about the way you navigate challenges or celebrate victories? As dental professionals, we interact with hundreds of people on a daily basis, but the key to effective communication lies in understanding ourselves first, especially during the job search and hiring process.

While we’ve focused on what a job-seeker should know about themselves before applying for a position, what about the role of the employer? To make a true match, an employer should be able to clarify during the interview process what they believe are the key values within their practice. This is critical. If you hire someone who does not share your vales the end result is an individual who will not align with the company’s culture which generally leads to decreased job satisfaction and high turnover rates.

The DISC assessment ultimately reveals a deeper understanding of yourself and how your behavior affects others. A completed profile can provide an increased ability to respect, appreciate and value individual differences, offer a better ways to work with others to increase pro-

The values you hold ultimately set the culture and the tone for the entire practice. Finding a right fit between your employee’s values and your values can make all the difference.

your culture. They each bring their own set of skills and tools to the table in order to get the job done.

Just as with online dating, you can’t judge a character solely by a profile picture, or in this case, a resume. If you can identify your core values and the things that provide you with your purpose in life, you’ll stand a much better chance of finding and hiring that diverse group of people that can make your team thrive.

Don’t Leave your Culture to Chance

The key to bottom-line success for your practice is ensuring that your culture is well aligned between your practice and your staff. This is where all the data you’ve collected to date comes in to play: combining values and behaviors and using these to make great-fit hires. Being able to identify your practice’s culture, pace, supervision style, flexibility, etc., and aligning these with your candidates’ preferences will all come together in the hiring process. What this does NOT mean is finding a group of people who are all exactly alike. Ultimately, finding the right fit or match is about hiring a variety of staff whose values are aligned with yours and will ultimately fit in to

Known as a onewoman LinkedIn for her industry, Tonya is changing the way professionals in the dental industry search for jobs. Ten years ago she created DentalPost which has grown to become the dental

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industry’s premier online and mobile job board with more than 550,000 registered job seekers nationwide . Tonya’s involvement in the dental industry goes far beyond the dental practice. In addition to being a member of the Academy of Dental Hygiene (ADHA), Entrepreneurial Organization (EO) and Academy of Dental Management Consultants (ADMC), she is on the planning committee for the Northern District Dental Society (NDDS) Gala for Smiles, public relations liaison for the Georgia Dental Hygiene Association (GDHA), and volunteers for the Georgia Mission of Mercy and the Ben Mansell Clinic. Tonya also works with the Georgia Department of Education’s Business Advisory Committee. She is a talented and engaging public speaker, using her boundless energy and enthusiasm to deliver her message about helping practices find and hire the right team member; while assisting job seekers with career coaching.

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