Where to Find Your Next Great Office Manager

Dentists who have their own practices are somewhat unusual among business owners in that they don’t often have the opportunity to see a lot of what goes on in the business as it occurs. It’s hard to oversee front desk functions, for instance, from your position in the operatory peering into a patient’s mouth. That’s why it’s so important to have a reliable, trustworthy, energetic, problem-solving, motivating office manager—someone you can count on to worry for you.

I have written before about what you can do to develop the office manager role in a series of Daily Digest articles, which you can find here, here, and here. But what about making sure you have the right person to develop in the first place? If you are in a turnover situation in that role, how do you find a good candidate who you can be sure will become the champion of your vision for the practice?

I was meeting with a group of practitioners recently—GPs and specialists, big practices and small—and this became a lively point of discussion. They pointed out that dentistry has a habit of recycling office managers, moving them from practice to practice, where they take their baggage and habits with them. It was also noted that the very best dental office managers are difficult to come by because their current employers, knowing these people are worth their weight in gold, do their best to keep them happy in their current environment.

This is where I think it makes sense to think outside the dental box and hire for qualities and abilities, rather than experience. There are plenty of people out there with precisely the skills you are looking for—management skills, organizational skills, team leadership skills—who have had significant success in other high-pressure fields and would welcome the opportunity to apply those skills in the low-volatility, high-reward environment of a dental practice.

Someone like this would arrive with a fresh perspective and ideas, instead of a bunch of habits they had picked up from another practice, which means you get to shape their knowledge of what a dental practice should be. If it is the right person, they will be an eager learner, so you can always get them up to speed fairly quickly on the details that are unique to the dental industry by sending them to relevant courses.

So if you are hiring for this very crucial role in the practice, do yourself a favor and expand your search beyond the “usual suspects.” Enlist the services of an HR company that does candidate searches. Put the word out in your social and professional networks. Check out LinkedIn. Stay focused on the qualities you are looking for—things like passion, adaptability, and a self-starter mindset.

Don’t limit yourself by looking for the best available dental office manager in your area. Instead, find the best available person in your area, and introduce that smart, ambitious person to the world of dentistry.