May 22, 2025

Hiring the right people for your private dental practice isn’t just about checking off qualifications; it's about finding team members who embrace your culture and mission.

In this three-part guide, we’ll explore how to recruit, interview, and onboard front office staff, Registered Dental Assistants (RDAs), Registered Dental Hygienists (RDHs), and even associate dentists with cultural alignment in mind. Each part of the series provides practical tips, examples, and strategies to help you build a team that not only has the skills but also the heart and values that match your practice.

Let’s dive into Part 1: Recruiting mission-driven team members.

Why focus on culture?

Technical skills can be taught, but attitude and alignment with your practice’s values are innate. Nearly 78% of employers say a candidate's personality is the most critical factor in assessing cultural fit. Moreover, almost half of all new hires who fail within 18 months don't fail due to lack of technical ability, but they fail due to poor cultural fit. These insights underscore the importance of hiring for mission alignment and soft skills first.

Define Your Culture and Mission First

Before recruiting, step back and clarify your practice's culture, mission, and core values. Your culture is essentially the personality or "vibe" of your office, how your team works together, how you treat patients, and what you stand for. Whether your practice's mission is providing gentle, patient-centered care, delivering cutting-edge cosmetic dentistry, or serving underprivileged communities, clearly articulate these values.

Spend time defining your core values (e.g., empathy, teamwork, integrity, continuous improvement), and vision for the patient experience. These will become your compass for hiring. Knowing what kind of person will excel in your environment is the first step to finding the right hire.

Once you've defined your culture, communicate it. Include a short mission statement or a few core values in your job postings and website. For example, if one of your core values is “We Care,” mention that you strive to create a caring, positive workplace where team members treat each other and patients with respect. Candidates who resonate with these statements will be drawn in, and those looking for just a paycheck might self-select out.

Attract Candidates Who Share Your Values

With your mission and values front and center, craft your recruitment messaging to appeal to like-minded candidates. In job descriptions, go beyond listing duties, describe your practice environment, and what makes it special. For example:

• Our practice is built on teamwork, compassion, and continual learning. We're looking for a dental assistant who is skilled in the operatory and shares our passion for treating patients like family and maintaining a fun, supportive team atmosphere.
  
  

By explicitly stating your cultural expectations, you signal the importance of attitude and fit. This helps attract applicants who say, “That sounds like me!” and deters those who don’t.

When writing job posts, go beyond just role duties to include the cultural expectations of your team, including the qualities and work style you value. You know the personality traits you’re seeking, hard-working, positive, detail-oriented, etc., weave those into the job listing. Don’t be afraid to say, for example, “Seeking an RDA who thrives in a fast-paced, patient-first environment and loves to learn.” The goal is to have candidates practically pre-screen themselves for culture fit.

Leverage Your Current Team

Your team members are your greatest ambassadors. Encourage them to refer people they know would mesh well. Let them know what values and traits you’re targeting. Often, team members will only refer someone they believe will uphold your culture since it reflects on them. You can even involve your team in identifying the “non-negotiable” traits for new hires.

Talk with your staff about past hires that didn’t work out or did, and pinpoint what traits made the difference. This team brainstorming can clarify the must-have qualities and no-goes. Your staff's input helps refine your ideal candidate profile and makes them feel invested in bringing the right person on board.

Look Beyond the Dental Industry for Talent

Thinking outside the traditional applicant pool can vastly expand your reach. With the current shifts, including federal downsizing and layoffs in certain sectors, there’s a rich adjacent labor pool of talented people with service-oriented mindsets looking for work. Many nonprofit professionals, social workers, case managers, and others have strong interpersonal skills and a passion for helping people. They could be an excellent fit for a dental team's culture, even if they lack dental office experience. As of early 2025, an estimated 14,000 nonprofit jobs have disappeared due to federal budget cuts. That means many caring, mission-driven individuals are on the job market, open to a career change.

Think about tapping into these pools by adjusting your requirements and outreach. If you're willing to train, don't require dental experience for roles like front office or even assisting. Emphasize that you value customer service, compassion, and reliability. You may find a former social worker who handled case loads and challenging conversations with ease. Imagine how well that empathy and communication prowess could translate to managing nervous patients or coordinating treatment plans in your practice. Or a former nonprofit project coordinator who is used to wearing many hats might thrive as your office manager, bringing organizational skills and a servant-leader attitude.

Other service roles can transition well, too. Customer service reps, retail associates, restaurant servers, and even baristas often excel in people skills and can be trained into amazing front office staff. A warm smile, the right attitude, and a problem-solving mindset are gold. The specifics of dental scheduling or insurance codes can be learned on the job.

To reach these candidates, broaden where you post jobs. In addition to dental job boards, post on general platforms (Indeed, LinkedIn), highlighting that you welcome candidates with hospitality or social services backgrounds. Network with local community colleges, job fairs, or workforce transition programs, and let them know you value soft skills and will provide training.

For example, you might connect with a program that helps displaced government workers find new careers, or include a line in your ad: "Background in healthcare, education, or nonprofits? Your customer care experience is valued here!" By actively welcoming non-traditional candidates, you can find hidden gems who bring a fresh perspective and a service-oriented attitude that delights your patients.

Prioritize Soft Skills Over Hard Skills

When reviewing resumes and applications, shifting your mindset from "Who has the most experience?" to "Who would best embody our culture and values?" is essential. Of course, certain roles require credentials (hygienists must be licensed, dentists need DDS/DMD and licensure, etc.), but beyond the basic qualifications, character trumps pedigree. Focus on whether a candidate aligns with your core values above all else.

What does this look like in practice? It means a front desk applicant with 10 years at a dental office but a habit of saying “that’s not my job” may be less appealing than a barista or call center rep with a glowing attitude and eagerness to learn. You might hire a newly certified dental assistant with a bright personality and a growth mindset over a more seasoned assistant who seems rigid or disengaged. It's the classic mantra: Hire for attitude, train for skill. Investing in the right people yields better long-term results than simply filling a position with someone with an impressive CV but a mismatched mindset.

To help evaluate this during recruiting, look for clues of soft skills and values on resumes and cover letters. Did their cover letter mention patient satisfaction, teamwork, or passion for healthcare? Have they volunteered or participated in community service (a sign of a helper mentality)? Did their previous jobs involve customer interaction or overcoming challenges that require adaptability? For instance, someone who worked in an emergency room reception or as a teacher likely has patience and grace under pressure, invaluable traits in a dental office.

You might create a simple checklist of desired soft skills and cultural traits to scan for, such as:

• Positive attitude: Do they convey enthusiasm and optimism?
  
  
• Communication skills: Is their application well-written and friendly? Any public-facing roles in their history?
  
  
• Teamwork: Do they mention working with others or staying collaborative in challenging situations?
  
  
• Adaptability: Have they worked in varied environments or mentioned learning new skills?
  
  
• Service orientation: Experience in customer service or helping roles (healthcare, social work, hospitality, etc.)?
  
  

If a candidate hits these notes, they deserve a closer look, even if their dental experience is minimal. Remember, technical skills can be trained with a good onboarding program, but traits like empathy or work ethic are far more ingrained.

In the long run, an employee who genuinely cares and fits your culture will learn the ropes faster and likely stay longer because they feel at home in your practice. A strong cultural fit often translates to better patient care and team morale, creating a positive feedback loop for your whole office.

Qualities to Seek in Culture-Fit Hires

Every practice has a different culture, but generally, private dental offices benefit from team members with a few key soft skills. Here are some top traits to prioritize and how they add value in a dental setting:

• Empathy and Compassion: Dentistry can be scary for patients. A front desk coordinator or assistant with empathy will notice a patient’s anxiety and respond kindly. This trait is common in social workers and nonprofit folks. They're wired to care. Empathetic staff make patients feel heard and comforted, reinforcing your caring mission.
  
  
• Positive Attitude: A cheerful, can-do attitude is contagious and crucial in a close-knit team. Look for candidates who smile easily, speak positively about past employers, and appear energetic. Positivity helps prevent burnout and keeps the atmosphere upbeat.
  
  
• Team Player: Dental offices are tight teams, dentists, hygienists, assistants, and admins must work in sync. Seek signs of collaboration. Maybe the candidate played team sports or mentions enjoying working on group projects. Being a team player means they will pitch in outside their formal duties and handle the “handoffs” smoothly (for example, the front office and clinical team coordinating when a schedule runs behind).
  
  
• Adaptability: No two days in a dental office are the same, with last-minute emergencies, schedule changes, etc. Hire people who can adapt to changing situations and remain flexible. They may have experience in a restaurant or describe a job where they had to learn on the fly. Adaptable folks handle stress better and find solutions instead of getting flustered.
  
  
• Attention to Detail: Details matter in dentistry, whether sterilizing instruments properly or inputting insurance data. Look for conscientiousness, someone who double-checks their work and keeps organized. Often, this shows up in application materials (a typo-free resume and prompt follow-ups are good signs of detail orientation). 
  
  
• Communication & Customer Service: Every role in a dental office is ultimately about communication, whether explaining treatment to a patient, coordinating with a lab, or simply answering phones with a smile. Candidates with strong people skills and a service orientation should move to the top of your list. This might be evident in roles like retail or call centers, or if they mention defusing conflicts or educating customers in past jobs. Great communicators help ensure patients feel valued and team miscommunications are minimized.
  
  

By zeroing in on these soft skills and cultural fit during recruitment, you're stacking the deck with individuals who will likely blend into your culture and uphold your practice's vision. In this job market, hiring the first applicant with a halfway-decent resume can be tempting. Hiring someone who doesn't meet your core values to fill a slot often backfires. They may underperform or leave, putting you back at square one.

In Parts 2 and 3 of this series, we'll discuss how to interview for these soft skills effectively and how to make the final selection. Throughout the hiring process, keep your culture must-haves and no-goes front and center. Your patience will pay off when you land that mission-driven rockstar who helps your practice flourish.

Not sure where to start? Contact us today!

References

Edge Co. (n.d.). Hiring for personality in dental practices. OnEdge. https://onedge.co.

Veritas Dental Resources. (n.d.). Great staffing shortage tips. https://veritasdentalresources.com.

Chronicle of Philanthropy. (2025). Nonprofit sector job cuts 2025. https://philanthropy.com.