Dedicated to Hiring the Best and Brightest

Over the last few years, PDS has prioritized our recruiting, onboarding and retention strategies because we understand that our success is only as good as our talented people. In fact, one of this year’s organizational imperatives is to reduce turnover. You may be wondering, what does recruiting have to do with turnover? In a word—everything.

The concept is simple: If we assess and hire the right talent, then reinforce with a thriving culture, competitive benefits and long-term investments in personal and professional growth, candidates will not only be likely to join PDS, but they are also more apt to stay and thrive.

Top Priorities for 2023

1. Position PDS as the employer of choice in the markets we serve

2. Assess talented people

3. Hire, retain and support along their personal and professional journey

So, how do we ensure we meet these priorities with such a competitive hiring landscape?

Invest in Advanced, Proven Technology

PDS implemented CandidateID, an award-winning, artificial intelligence technology, through iCIMS to hyper-target the best, most engaged candidates with unique lead scoring and recruitment marketing campaigns.

According to iCIMS, “Recruiting teams are strapped with burnout, inability to hire at scale and undelivered technology promises – all while needing to hire more quality candidates, faster than ever before. New iCIMS data shows that job openings are up 44%, while job applications are flat, compared to January 2021. This means fewer candidates are available to fill more open positions. At the same time, candidates expect more from prospective employers, including personalized communications that leverage modern tools like video, social media and text messaging.”

CandidateID better qualifies candidates by only engaging the most promising applications at a faster rate, allowing us to save time and money.

Grow Company Visibility and Reputation

We have launched candidate retargeting campaigns to propel us to almost four million job views on Glassdoor so far in 2023 and have grown our company’s visibility on Indeed by 221% this year. To put this in perspective, our next highest competitor doesn’t even come close with 350,000 job views.

Invest in University and School Relations

So far in 2023, we have invested in 111 dental schools and specialty program events and 1,200+ D4 students have applied for jobs with our supported practices. To supplement this strategy, PDS and owner dentists partner with local dental assisting schools to offer unpaid externships to dental assisting students in the final phase of their programs. This allows PDS management, owner dentists and the dental practice teams to essentially conduct working interviews to evaluate the extern’s work ethic, personality traits and overall cultural compatibility with the organization during the process. So far in 2023, about 37% of the extern candidates were hired by PDS.

Listen to Existing Team Members and Clinicians

We launched a comprehensive engagement or “listening” strategy through pulse surveys in March to create better alignment across the organization and look for ways we can educate and improve outcomes as we unite around a common goal of creating Healthier, Happier Patients®. In Q1, regional managers were asked to complete a self-assessment followed by surveys to the operations managers and owner dentists. Results were shared at the RM charge at the XP Gala in April and to regional partners in May. Thank you to all who participated. We will be announcing more exciting opportunities to provide regular feedback later this month.

How You Can Help (We Fail or Succeed Together.)

• Team Member Referral Program: Did you know PDS offers referral bonus awards ranging from $300-$500 depending on the role? Certain restrictions apply. Learn more by going to the Recruiting page on PDSConnect > Professional and Team Member Referrals.

• Share your 5-star experience: Websites like Glassdoor and Indeed are leading destinations for job seekers to research companies. Potential candidates consider reviews from current and former team members to be one of the most reliable sources of information and they help us recruit top talent (like you). If you have had a 5-star experience, please consider sharing on Glassdoor or Indeed.

• Follow @ExperiencePDS: As we continue our efforts to hire extraordinary team members, we encourage you to like and follow our Instagram and Facebook pages. Our goal is to strengthen our connections with those who are interested in joining the PDS team while broadening our reach and providing insight into our company culture. If you’d like us to share what you’re doing, remember to tag us at @ExperiencePDS

We Believe in the Power of Teamwork

The following is a testimonial about how a single social media post in 2019 was not only the catalyst for Samantha “Sam” Bernaldo, RDH, to join PDS but also helped her office become a top performer in the North Las Vegas region.

“Prior to becoming a team member, I worked at several private dental offices. In 2019, I was browsing hygienist groups on Facebook when I stumbled on a post from Specialty Regional Director Ashley Quezada about an RDH incentive to relocate from California to Nevada. It caught my eye but I wasn’t actively looking for a job at the time. While I was not planning to relocate out of state, I kept the “you never know” mentality and began considering leaving private practice and applying for a PDS opportunity in San Diego.

Three years later, my husband received a job contract in Nevada. Ashley’s Facebook post popped into my head. I located her contact information and inquired about the opportunity to transfer to Nevada along with the relocation incentives. She said the opportunity was still available and connected me with Regional Director Michael Nguyen. I didn’t realize it at the time but looking back I would have never known about this opportunity if it wasn’t for that social media post.”

In Sam’s first month at El Dorado Modern Dentistry (office 155), she had an impressive average daily production (ADP) which allowed owner dentist Inyoung Yeam, DMD to focus on dentistry. As a result, Dr. Yeam’s ADP in that same month increased and the office was on track to have its new best month for a De Novo 10 months in with 4.8 opportunities per day. The result was Healthier, Happier Patients®

To learn more about upcoming career opportunities, please visit the Pacific Dental Services website and share on your personal social media channels. You never know who might be reading.

JOSH WHIPPLE Sr. Director, Talent and Leadership Development