Anne: Hi everybody, it's Anne Duffy and welcome to the Just DeW It podcast. I have a very darling new friend, I think in the last two years. I met her through joining do and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about her. Before we get started, Wendy Aldhamen helps dental practices attract and hire the right people through thoughtful recruiting and interviewing strategies.
Fun facts. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies self-proclaimed but accurate and spends her free time woodworking. You're my girl. Happy to see you today, Wendy. How are you?
Wendy: It's a beautiful day to be alive and I forgot that I had submitted that I enjoy making cookies ' cause I made a batch this morning.
'Cause I'm gonna go deliver some to some offices. I totally forgot that I put that in there until this morning when I was reviewing something. So, ' yes, I love making cookies and they are wonderful.
Anne: Wait, hold that up again because that looks like it's thin.
Wendy: It's only half of it. Well, this was the ugliest one because the other ones are gonna go to some dental offices.
So of course you eat the ugly ones. Oh my. So this is the ugliest one.
Anne: Oh, I want a bite of that. That looks delicious. It's crispy. Oh, I love it. And woodworking. You know, my mom was a bit of a woodworker and my grandfather had a, a. lathe in his basement. And I'll never forget it was this big thing and he used to make things, and I've got a couple things around the house that he's made, and then I actually put molding around, when we lived in New Jersey.
I had one of those. What I don't, what do you call those things when you, it's a, a planet. Well, it's a board and it's got slits in it, and then you put your saw in there and you just, saw it, I don't know, I don't remember, but I did the woodworking all around the top of our kitchen and I stained it and everything.
who, who was that girl? I don't know. I haven't done that forever. It's so fun.
Wendy: But it feels so empowering, doesn't it?
Anne: Well, yeah. You know, I like it. a completion, right? Yeah. What's your favorite piece you've ever done in woodworking?
Wendy: I have a,little skinny table that sits right next to me that I put my things on.
My husband didn't like it upstairs. he thought that it looked a little funky 'cause it's a little, outta the ordinary. And so I'm like, good. I'm glad you don't like it 'cause I love it. And we put some epoxy in some of our wood and. There's a little hole in the bottom side, and I filled it with some flowers for my grandma's funeral, so it's like extra sentimental to me.
Oh. I'm like, I'm so glad that it's just chilling here next to me.
Anne: I love it. That is,
Wendy: that's
Anne: a favorite, that's a beautiful thing. Something you made and something that means something, and then just having, you know, the spirits of your grandmother with you. It's just, I know she's very proud and that's a beautiful thing.
But we were talking a little bit about you. Before we get started here on your strengths, and you're saying I don't know that much about having to dive in and when I read your strengths, when I was prepping for this, number one, individualization two, activator, three, input, four positivity, and five futuristic.
Oh my God, Wendy, that is so you, because individualization, and this is Strength Finders 2.0 that we base a lot of our due, principles on. I'm gonna read this individualization, which is my dead last outta 34. It's dead. Last. Sees the uniqueness in all individuals willing to customize great at predicting needs.
That's your superpower in the balcony. And that's what you do in your, recruiting. Yeah. you see something about an individual that makes them the perfect fit for somebody else because the person that's hiring them, you're actually seeing something unique about them and you can see that marriage coming together.
Wendy: Absolutely. it is so much a, a marriage too. And, candidates They think that they know the answer that you wanna hear. And sometimes when I feel that in an interview, I'm like, can we take just a pause? Are these answers that are actually coming from your heart or are these the answers that you think that I wanna hear?
Because I wanna hear you. That's the most important thing to me because, I wanna make sure that if I'm interviewing a candidate that the office is the right fit for them. Both sides. and so if I'm talking to a candidate and they're telling me what they think I want here, I'm like, but what do you want in a job?
I'm glad that that's my top score, my top, strengths because, I definitely feel like I have.
Anne: It's a superpower.
Wendy: That's all the time. Yeah.
Anne: That's what people have to realize with,strength finders. And that's why it's, one of the pillars of do is like, you actually now start to look into that and then I would encourage you to go back to your Gallup report and read the big paragraph about individualization and then you put in, knowledge and experience, Wendy.
And that is a superpower for you. So that's one two's activator, which is awesome. So that reminds me of your. webinars that you did, you said, oh, Dan, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this,webinar series.
Okay. and didn't think about like, oh, it's two a month and all the work that's gonna take on the behind of it. But activator your self-starter, you light the fuse, quick decider, gets things started. High energy. do you see that in you?
Wendy: A hundred percent. And I'm so glad that I have a team behind me because I can get things started and I can see the futuristic part of it too, right?
And my strengths, and I can say, okay, here's my vision, here's my end result. Now. This is what I want to have happen. However you get to that end result, that's up to you. this is the beginning of it. Here's the baby, and you get to help raise it till it's 18 and get outta the house.
Anne: Oh my gosh. How cool. That's such a leadership skill though. Well, obviously you're so good at recruiting, so you have done a great job recruiting your team. How long has your team been with you right now?
Wendy: So I have had VAs. Mm-hmm. I had my first VA since before I was even full-time in the business. And I like to say that because
There was a lot of people that were like, How does that even make sense financially? And I'm like, it makes more sense financially because I'm making money over here and the business is making a little bit of money, but I don't need this money 'cause I'm making money over here. And so when I had my va, she was making things move as I was working, doing something else.
It was phenomenal. The longest employee that I have currently, I voluntold her to be my executive assistant and she's basically my second brain. She's been with me for about four years and, I'm so proud of, being able to have her so.
Anne: and you see the growth there.
That's beautiful. And then also we have to pivot sometimes too, right? I mean, it's like sometimes you think someone's gonna work out and when you find out they're not, maybe not suited for that, can pivot and there's nothing wrong as long as we leave everybody whole and, release people for, you know, a good, outcome. Their next outcome or their next endeavor. So let me review the, input is another one. Again, that sounds like you. Great researcher, knowledgeable, excellent memory, mind for detail. Collector, excellent conversationalist, and great with trivia. Are you great with trivia?
Wendy: I am.
Not with like music or TV or anything, but every so often I'll be like, oh, hey, here's a random fact about something that I'm holding in my hand or you're holding or we're talking about. And people are like, why do you know that? I don't know. It's just interesting. Why not?
Anne: It's a strength. It's a strength 'cause there's 34 of 'em and does not lie.
And I love positivity as an entrepreneur, I have positivity. I think it's number. Three for me, but it doesn't matter. It's all my top five. So positivity, enthusiastic, lighthearted, energetic, generous with praise, optimistic, funny and uplifting. And you are funny. You've made me laugh a couple of times and I see you on different shows and things like that, and that's my favorite strength for me is positivity, because I think as an entrepreneur, that rollercoaster. You have to be positive and realize even when you're, you look like you're, you going straight down into the desert or to the ditch that you're gonna be rising up tomorrow if you wake up in the morning.
Right?
Wendy: Yeah. know, I got think it was an accidental compliment, and I'll take it as a compliment. many years ago I was talking with somebody and, she had been in business for like 10 years before me, and, she. Was having an issue with something. And I said, but what about this?
And kind of flipped the script. And she's like, Wendy, how do you find the silver lining in everything? And I'm like. Because not everything is always bad. there's a lot of things that happen in this world or in business, I should say, that seem like they really stink. Like I had one of my employees leave to go to a really large company.
can't compete with the benefits that they offer, you know? But the team member to replace her,
Anne: fantastic. I mean,
Wendy: the other team member. Was wonderful and she got me to be where I am. And then my, now my next one, it's like, things happen and sometimes it's like you think it's gonna be detrimental, but sometimes you just gotta wait a little bit longer until you find that silver lining or talk to another person, to be able to, figure out that silver lining. But
Anne: yeah, yeah,
Wendy: most things have something positive behind it.
Anne: You have to just wait for it.
You have to be patient and we'll be revealed. And then again, you said talk to another, then you call a do. If you're having a really lousy day. Pick up the phone and call it do, and then futuristic, oh, that's strategic well, of course, a couple of your input's, strategic as well. And thenFuturistic, which I love that because that is, well, you're the future imaginative, creative, visionary, even prophetic and inspiring. So apparently You're doing all those things with your team and with our DO members and our community, which is so lovely. But you know, your business is what we're here.
I wanna hear a little bit more, I wanna share a little bit about your business as a recruiter. I have a first question.
Wendy: Yes.
Anne: What's the biggest difference between offices that attract great candidates and those that struggle?
Wendy: There are many things behind that, but. To keep it simple. I think one of the biggest things can be not being open-minded, and saying, here's the list of 20 things that I need out of this employee.
And if they don't hit all of them, then I don't want them. That's more if you're in an area, like a metropolitan area mm-hmm. And you're, you're right. rather than. Being open-minded to the right personality, but having a lower experience and then training them. I think in dentistry, there are so many people who they get hired and then they're on the floor, they're assisting.
Day one or day two, or they're on the phones day one or two. And I think that we really need to do a lot more training than what we do. And there's a lot of platforms out there that can train, and then you train them on your systems and your processes and have them follow you around and see what needs to happen rather than just throwing people in all the time.
Mm-hmm. I was actually talking to some pre-dent students last night at the university that's near here. And, one of the people who was in the group was somebody who I had hired at a dental office a few months back. And she was absolutely wonderful and I interviewed her and I sent her over to doctor and I said, she's got the personality you want.
But she's gonna be gone in two years and she doesn't have the experience level you want, but she's got the personality and I was so grateful. 'cause he's one of like the best dentists in town too. Okay. Like I would go there I have a dentist. I have a lovely dentist, but he would be another really, really great choice for a dentist in town.
And she found a really excellent. Dental home and I'm so grateful that he gave her the opportunity and had an open mind about it because she's loving it and a pretty good fit there. I tell you what,
Anne: and she might even come back and be an associate there sometime. I mean, you know, that's kind of how those things, happen.
Wendy: I kind of mentioned that to him too, 'cause he's. On the older end of, you know, who's gonna be retiring in the next few years, and he is in an area where enough dentists or people will want to purchase his practice. He's in a good area, but. I think it'd be a really wise idea if she wants to come back to the area.
But she did say last night, she's gonna go into the Army so that the army pays her bills. And I'm like,
Anne: oh,
Wendy: of course. You're that smart.
Anne: She's so smart. Okay. So we needed, we need to connect her with Fiona Chambers, who was on our documentary, who went into the Air Force, and then they all showed up in Atlanta when we did the women's breakfast with four of her captains.
They're all young. At a dental school, they're loving what they're doing. When we get off this, we'll have to connect those two together because go back again and let everybody know before we even get into this a little bit more. You, are a recruiter for dental offices tell us a little bit about your recruiting and, your business.
Wendy: Yeah. So, we do dental specific recruiting dental offices as well as dental companies. Mm-hmm. That's what I thought. Yeah. Dental companies that, don't, doesn't have to be an office. I just enjoy all things dental, and I'm dental nerdy and you can talk. Dental, nerdy stuff to me all day long and I'm, I'll just sit here and absorb all of it.
'Cause I love it so much. And so I don't really wanna veer out of dentistry because of that. And there's so many great opportunities and so many wonderful humans within dentistry and, most people say, I just want to help. And I'm like, yes, that is fantastic. And I love that community of people.
So, the main thing that we do is like a done for you recruiting, where we take over all of your recruiting efforts for that role, for that position. And we also offer career coaching. So if there's somebody who needs to find another career, we can help them with that or resume building kinds of things.
And then we also have a VA agency, so we'll help and hire VAs for your practice. most of them have been like a virtual assistant, a personal assistant, executive assistant, social media graphics, things like that. That's been the, majority of the VAs that we've placed thus far.
Anne: those are all needed. And those are all tasks most dental professionals not wanna do and need to be confident that those people are, helping them in their business and their, you know, the retention of patients. But you also mentioned something earlier, which I want to.
Hit on again, was the onboarding. I'm a hygienist practiced 46 years, but when I moved to, Jacksonville, Florida, Tom and I were no kids yet. And I had been in St. Louis, moved to Jacksonville, worked for a periodontist I six months. I assisted. and I had three years of dental hygiene or maybe two and a half years of hygiene, and I had to assist six months before I could actually get into the hygiene chair or a slot.
And I'm thinking nobody does that anymore. Right. I mean, that is, that was so key, not six. I mean, that was a, runway for me for success.
Wendy: Yeah. Absolutely. and they say that 50% of people who leave within the first 90 days is because of poor onboarding and poor training. And if there's offices out there or, companies out there that are listening and, you're hiring somebody who doesn't have dental experience, it's such an interesting world.
However, if you like it and it's for you. those employees will stay. Yeah. But making sure that they have a good onboarding process is extremely important that I don't think enough offices pay attention to these days.
Anne: Well, and they probably need someone like you because they're so desperate to get somebody in that slot because of the turnover in, teams Now but we have to go back to that.
You still can't skip that, can you?
Wendy: No, you can't. And having your documents and your papers together before you even start the hiring process, that's another thing that offices don't do enough of.
Anne: Yeah. how has hiring changed in the last five or 10 years?
What have you seen?
Wendy: Uh, the tables have turned. it used to be where the dental office would have, a million people to apply and you got to pick and choose as the dental office or as the dental company. You got to pick and choose who was the employee. Now it's the candidates playing field.
You may have the same number of applications, but they're probably not in dentistry, but. If you find somebody who is in dental, they have much more of a, this is what I want and I'm not gonna accept any difference. it's the candidates playing field these days and we have to talk to them differently.
the world has changed so much in the last few years, with technology and, the ability to be able to just. Type out your feelings and what's going on and ask questions to people that are in your community too.
Anne: that is key. And actually, it's, simple in one regard, but just not easy.
it's just switching your mindset on that. It's that same thing happening with companies though, Wendy, are the companies, getting more or less, applicants, that are qualified for the jobs. mean, know dental offices are struggling a little bit here. How about the companies?
Wendy: for example, I was,hiring for a remote billing company and we had a lot of applications that we would go through and we had some very, very important. Parameters that we were following, for the company as well as for us, that we're gonna feel confident to be able to say mm-hmm.
Like, we believe that this person can do what, they say they're going to. so we had some interesting comments in some Facebook groups that people would say like, I have 30 years of office manager experience. I don't know why I wasn't picked. but there are some people that might have. Five years of experience, but they've done more continuing education in that five years than you've done in 30 years.
And they have proven, in the way that they speak to us, that they probably know more about insurance in that five year span than you might have in 30 years because of, they went to different courses, they've worked at two or three different offices and, been in different situations. And, so now.
Because people have longevity doesn't necessarily mean anything. Mm. I think more people have had their eyes opened dental offices have had their eyes opened to the fact that. You have to have more education than the experience in a dental office. And a lot of times that that makes a bigger difference than 30 years dental.
Anne: Yeah. Well, that's good to know for anyone that's listening here, that is looking for a job or in a job that they wanna grow and the leaders will rise, but you have to take ownership of your own leadership. Education. I think if you wait for someone to give it to you, that's very telling.
And I think about that. I mean, this is good information for anybody on that sooner than later, let's put it that way. another question I have for you. If a business owner only fixed one thing in their hiring process this month, what should it be?
Wendy: If you are currently hiring and you're struggling hiring, I would recommend to sit down and have a team meeting with your entire team and have everyone help you reflect on why this isn't working, is it the pay, is it the benefits?
Is it the job ad? Is it where you're posting? I mean, there's a million different reasons why you might not be getting traction. And also there's a million buttons on Indeed, and people don't understand what each of the buttons mean. But thankfully there's a little I that you can click onto and learn what those buttons mean on most of the things.
And Doing a little bit more homework or research, either on Indeed or on whatever platform you're utilizing. But also talking with your team to see what will make the difference and what do you see as an employee. ' cause sometimes as a manager, as a business owner you're too much in it of like, this is what I need out of a person, and not thinking about the candidate point of view of what they are reading, that I think would be the biggest thing is to reflect back with the team meeting.
Anne: Oh my gosh, I'm thinking of some of the past dentists that I've worked for. They don't wanna even open it up to feedback. I mean, that would be a whole, but wouldn't that be wonderful to really hear what your team feels, kind of review your culture, what you're looking for?
you know, because it is a family. I mean, people don't realize, I mean, it's, a team and so if you're on any team even related to sports team, those team members become family for you and you know, you have to be, strong in your conviction of, what you expect and what you will.
Enforce in what you won't. But that is a really good way to open up dialogue and actually keep the team that's there, on board and feel like they have part that, their, ideas matter and that they're, input matters. So what should employees do before.
They even post a job because the team member quits on, uh, 5:00 AM then they go, okay, we gotta get a new one. What do they do? What's the first thing?
Wendy: If you can have a little bit of time depending on how much time you might need, do a deep dive on your online presence and see what the candidate is going to see in terms of when they're researching your office, before you post it, before you post any job.
I do that whenever I'm talking with an office. I always do homework, is what I call it. And so I go to their website. I see is the team on the website, is the doctor on the website? does it look really old? Do you still have active, posts on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn and all of those places?
Because your candidates are gonna be looking there. If you're hiring for an office manager and you haven't, you were posting consistently and then it dropped off six months ago. That office manager is probably gonna assume. Maybe there's been no office manager for six months and I have to do social media.
So think about things like that and make sure if that's a downfall, that you put your tasks, what the office manager's gonna do in the job listing without being overbearing or, cumbersome. Mm-hmm. But putting some of those things in there, it's the same when, you know how many coaches have said.
Or consultants have said, sit where the patient sits.
Anne: Mm-hmm.
Wendy: Sit in the waiting room. Sit in the operatory, lay back. So you actually see all the cobwebs on the ceiling. Mm-hmm. Instead of sitting there the whole time. ' cause they see things, the patients and the candidates see things differently than what we do.
And so put yourself in the candidate's point of view and reflect back on what they see about you.
Anne: Wow, that again validates the tables have turned.
Wendy: Yes. You know, maybe we need to re our website so that we can actually attract the right person. I mean, you want somebody that's knowledgeable, that cares about growth and cares about innovation, and yet your website looks like it hasn't been touched for years.
Anne: So, yeah. Listen, that's another great tip. And then lastly, as my questions will go, what's one piece of advice you'd give to someone hiring. Right now, which is almost everybody.
Wendy: I think I saw a stat that said like 90% ofdental offices are,hiring or considering hiring or something similar.
One thing if you are needing to hire before you hire or before you post a job or while you're posting a job, if you haven't found the right person, talk to your team and ask them for employee referrals and pay them for that referral. Because if you're gonna pay that employee a few thousand dollars.
You are gonna pay them less than you're gonna pay me. You're potentially gonna pay them less than you're gonna pay indeed, and you're gonna pay them less than you know X, Y, and Z when you have office turnover. They say that that's like 30 to 50% of that team member who left their annual salary. So if you can get a new person into that position that your team members already know, like, and trust, they're not gonna wanna work with somebody who is a dud and just wants to make money and that they're not actually good.
Mm-hmm. They're gonna wanna work with team members who they know are gonna be. Competent and confident in their work. Otherwise they're not gonna wanna work with them. So that's a another really great tip that I wish more offices would do, and I talk to offices about that all the time.
Have you asked your dental office before we get started? I don't want you to spend money when you can just spend the money within your practice. So ask for employee referrals before you start the hiring process if you can.
Anne: Well, a couple things here and then give them a bit of a commission and a and a referral fee.
I mean, how lovely is that? Because that happened many times and no one's really even barely said. Thank you. And and then I also feel like what you're saying to me. What I think our listeners are hearing. If you're a dentist, this is gonna be very helpful for them. You need to get some of your things organized in your practice.
Take a good look at your practice. What is the culture? Why would somebody wanna work with you? What can you change that maybe isn't, Working and then also, you're the leader, I mean, what, what makes a good leader in a dental practice is you work with a lot of them and, some of the practices that you have had no problem filling.
What is the special sauce coming down from the leader, Wendy, that you see
Wendy: somebody who takes a moment to stop and reflect before they answer. If they find out some bad news. They don't respond right away. They take a minute, they think about it, they process it, they determine, okay, so here's the problem because of the office, but how is does the employee feel?
And think about that aspect too. Check in with your team members, which, that's kind of a hard thing, but longevity within a practice really makes a big difference. And, a lot of times that's because of the good leaders.
Being open to new technologies, new people, new softwares within the practice.
Those are all really good. Key indicators of a good leader. Superficially, of course the things that I look for in employee is somebody who's hungry, humble, smart. Empathetic and kind. Those are the five top things that I look for. And then add in and sprinkle in a few additional things when I'm talking to an office, depending on what they need.
But that pretty much covers, a really great human being within dentistry.
Anne: Oh my gosh, Wendy, that's a mic drop right there. That is a mic drop. It is a great,profession, a great career for all of us. It's growing and somebody said this the other day just popped into my head, but teeth are being born every day, and so this is not going anywhere.
We just need to continue to remember the good things about our profession and that we're in charge of making the difference. Right.
Wendy: Yeah, If I have any say in it, I only wanna bring in people into dentistry that love it as much as I do, and that will help their patients to succeed.
those are all important things. If I wouldn't wanna work with them, I'm not gonna help hire them.
Yeah. we wanna work with, people that are positive too.
Anne: I love it. Well, how do we get in touch with you? So if you're listening to this and you, you need to be hired or you wanna be hired, or you just want some, hiring information, 'cause I know you're all over the place.
Where do they find you, Wendy?
Wendy: My website is career elevation ce.com. you should be able to find all my contact information, but my name is a bit unique, unique in a sense that I don't think there's any other Wendy Diamonds out there, so feel free to find me on socials.
I'm just about every place and if you want a good recipe, then just send me a text and I can send you a recipe too.
Anne: Oh, I love you. You like to cook for cookies. I love it. So it's all, did I say your last name right? How do you say it? Al Domin. I love it. I totally messed that up,
you know,
Wendy: that's okay.
Anne: Now I got it.
No, I got it. I love it. Alright, well Wendy, I can't wait to see you soon. You're gonna be coming to the Dew Retreat that's in November 12th through 14th in Charlotte, North Carolina. You're a big part of Dew. I can't wait to see you at the next. do connect or on one of your webinars or one of our, do learning crews that we have, monthly.
So everybody that's listening the most important thing. And Wendy, now we know you've got your top five strengths that you're leaning into, you're living them. The most important thing for you and for all of us is to keep doing you. Thanks so much for joining me today. Love you, and I'll see you next time.
Thank you. Thank you.
