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Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap through Practice Ownership

Why Experienced Candidates Are the Problem in Your Dental Practice Ownership

Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap through Practice Ownership

Dr. George Hariri | Shared Practices Network

Business, Practicemanagement, Dental, Businessofdentistry, Management, Entrepreneurship, Dentalpractice, Dentist

4.9559 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are you choosing the wrong candidates because you’re afraid you don't have the time to train the right ones? In this episode of the Shared Practices Podcast, Richard and Caitlin unpack why dental practice ownership often feels like an uphill battle—and how to fix it. We discuss the mindset shift required to move from "panic hiring" to building a continuous candidate pipeline, much like you would for patient marketing.

The secret to scaling your practice lies in breaking free from the "experience trap" by creating a living Operations Manual. Caitlin explains the difference between a static employee handbook and a dynamic standards of care (SOC) guide that allows for consistent dental practice management as you grow. We explore how future owners can use the hiring process itself as a catalyst to document systems, ensuring you never have to reinvent the wheel when turnover inevitably occurs.

We also dive into the "lowest hanging fruit" of AI in dentistry: using tools like ChatGPT and Loom to draft training manuals and SOPs in record time. By utilizing voice-to-text and screen-recording technology, you can turn your clinical frustrations into clear, step-by-step instructions for your team. This episode is a survival guide for any dentist moving through an associate to owner transition, providing the tools to hire for attitude and train for skill so that your practice can scale without being held hostage by staffing gaps.

Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the shared practices podcast. I am back with Caitlin Embry and we are doing another

0:08.2

Coach's Corner episode today. And we're going to talk about hiring. The thing that is

0:13.5

terrifying in dentistry sometimes because it feels like an uphill battle depending on what

0:18.4

position we're hiring for. And it sometimes holds us hostage because we're so paranoid and worried of like,

0:25.9

oh, no, if I lose a key team member.

0:28.4

And this is one of the big challenges in dentistry is that we have so few team members.

0:33.7

We're not a corporation of 100 people that it hurts when someone leaves. And we kind of get

0:39.7

into this panic mode of, oh, no, we got to start over and find someone and train them and all

0:44.5

of that. So I think we want to ease that pain today. What are your thoughts, Caitlin?

0:49.1

I think it's an important episode because turnover is inevitable. And a lot of the conversations I've had as of late are

0:57.1

okay I'm sifting through resumes and I've met with a couple of people and you really like

1:03.0

this one person because of their wonderful personality and they were just awesome on the phone

1:08.4

and everyone could just like love them when they walked in the office.

1:12.1

They don't have a lot of experience, though, maybe hardly any verses.

1:16.5

We have had other applicants with many years of experience.

1:19.6

They'd probably be plug and play.

1:22.1

You know, how do we choose between these two?

1:25.2

Are we hiring for attitude or are we hiring for skill?

1:29.4

What happens when you don't have both in one person, you know?

1:32.9

Yeah.

1:33.5

It's interesting.

1:34.4

When I think about this last Denture and Implant Office that I really was the main

...

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