Have you seen it? I have now seen it twice and I think it may now have surpassed Les Miserables as my favorite musical.I am speaking, of course, of "Wicked" the story of the Wizard of Oz told from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. So clever and funny. The musical score is phenomenal, and I don't want to give anything away but the entire community of Oz is destroyed when they try to replicate the big bang using a Hadron-like particle accelerator. OK so I made that up but I don't get many comments so I just wanted to make sure you were still reading 3 sentences in. In all seriousness, if you have a chance - go see it.
In world news.
Why do we risk the total destruction of the universe as we know it to find a particle of energy - infintesimally small that lasts for a millionth of a second?? Don't know what I am ranting about, go to this site and learn about the Large Hadron Collider.
Built near Geneva, Switzerland, this particle accelerator will fling protons around a 17-mile loop at 99.99% the speed of light hoping to replicate the forces at play during the "big bang." Now, I don't want to get into a big "how the universe was formed" debate - cuz this is a dental blog and we all know that God created everything.
However, one of the theoretical side effects of this machine is the possible creation of microscopic black holes. Now, I have watched enough sci-fi television and 
movies over the years to know that black holes tend to be bad, and I have no desire to go forward or backward in time or have the universe destroyed. Now, of course, they say that won't happen but at this point does anyone really know???? Isn't all of this theoretical?? What level of certainty is OK for us to go ahead with an experiment that adds virtually nothing to the knowledge base of mankind - will this let us cure cancer, reverse aging, improve the vocal abilities of the Backstreet Boys?
movies over the years to know that black holes tend to be bad, and I have no desire to go forward or backward in time or have the universe destroyed. Now, of course, they say that won't happen but at this point does anyone really know???? Isn't all of this theoretical?? What level of certainty is OK for us to go ahead with an experiment that adds virtually nothing to the knowledge base of mankind - will this let us cure cancer, reverse aging, improve the vocal abilities of the Backstreet Boys?So let me get this straight - no real benefit and on the downside, possible destruction of entire universe. I'm not real big into making pro/con lists, but in my feeble mind that cost-benefit analysis comes out at a big no-go. But my voice means nothing so smoke-em if you got-em cuz the machine gets turned on soon.
On the dental front I have had to hire a new front desk/patient care coordinator.
I hate having to bring on a new team-member because it interrupts the flow of the office and you are never quite sure how it will work out. That front desk voice/face is so key in the growth of an office and it is the person that I have the least observation of in a normal day (I can overhear things in our small office but not like I can with my hygienists or assistants). Luckily I have found someone that I think will be awesome and she starts right after Thanksgiving so all should be well.
My point in bringing up the hiring, however, is not to talk about the people I hired. Rather it is to talk about the other applicants that were not interviewed. Quick background, I placed an ad online for the position. I did no print advertising at all. We are a paperless, digital office, and if you cannot use a computer to find a job posting and email a resume you will not survive in my office. I am also an insurance-based practice - I'm not ashamed of it, I love providing phenomenal dental care to patients that couldn't afford it without some sort of insurance coverage.
Because of that, however, the front desk position must know how to file insurance, pre-determinations, etc. Since I am a 3-year-old practice I need someone with experience up front. I am not opposed to hiring no-experience employees - I have done it several times with great success. This is not one of those times though. I need someone with experience and I made that very clear in the job posting - 2 years DENTAL experience.
As of today (3 weeks after the posting) I have received 150 resumes. One-Hundred and Fifty. Of those - 20 (twenty) had any dental experience. I got handwritten resumes, resumes that had nothing other than the person's name and phone number, resumes that never explained why they felt their 20 years of experience as an assistant to the traveling secretary would help them in a dental office setting. Resumes that broke your heart because they were willing to learn on their own time the things they needed.
How does a small dental office get that many resumes off of one posting for a front-desk position. I don't care what the pundits say, the recession is not over and the economy is not better - people are still losing jobs, finances are still tight. I wish I could help more than the 5 1/2 employees that I have but I can't.
I'm glad the search is over because it was emotionally draining to read those resumes every day.
The voices have spoken, now they want to go do some dentistry.
Have a great week.
ric
On the dental front I have had to hire a new front desk/patient care coordinator.
I hate having to bring on a new team-member because it interrupts the flow of the office and you are never quite sure how it will work out. That front desk voice/face is so key in the growth of an office and it is the person that I have the least observation of in a normal day (I can overhear things in our small office but not like I can with my hygienists or assistants). Luckily I have found someone that I think will be awesome and she starts right after Thanksgiving so all should be well.
My point in bringing up the hiring, however, is not to talk about the people I hired. Rather it is to talk about the other applicants that were not interviewed. Quick background, I placed an ad online for the position. I did no print advertising at all. We are a paperless, digital office, and if you cannot use a computer to find a job posting and email a resume you will not survive in my office. I am also an insurance-based practice - I'm not ashamed of it, I love providing phenomenal dental care to patients that couldn't afford it without some sort of insurance coverage.
Because of that, however, the front desk position must know how to file insurance, pre-determinations, etc. Since I am a 3-year-old practice I need someone with experience up front. I am not opposed to hiring no-experience employees - I have done it several times with great success. This is not one of those times though. I need someone with experience and I made that very clear in the job posting - 2 years DENTAL experience.
As of today (3 weeks after the posting) I have received 150 resumes. One-Hundred and Fifty. Of those - 20 (twenty) had any dental experience. I got handwritten resumes, resumes that had nothing other than the person's name and phone number, resumes that never explained why they felt their 20 years of experience as an assistant to the traveling secretary would help them in a dental office setting. Resumes that broke your heart because they were willing to learn on their own time the things they needed.
How does a small dental office get that many resumes off of one posting for a front-desk position. I don't care what the pundits say, the recession is not over and the economy is not better - people are still losing jobs, finances are still tight. I wish I could help more than the 5 1/2 employees that I have but I can't.
I'm glad the search is over because it was emotionally draining to read those resumes every day.
The voices have spoken, now they want to go do some dentistry.
Have a great week.
ric
Ric-
ReplyDeleteam currently job seeking -- one career counselor told me on Friday that 1. with so many out of work, employers are able to hire the cream of the crop -- those without experience try, but they aren't getting hired. It seems like you saw some of that. And 2. she thinks the worse is yet to come. It can't continue as we are without more going into the crapper with regards to employment trends. God bless you for hiring... and thanks for the "transferable skills" reminder!
Debby,
ReplyDeleteI don't know that those without experience are not getting hired at all. In some ways, in this economy it makes sense to hire someone without experience because as an employer, they are going to be less expensive to my payroll and they are going to be more appreciative of the job. I like having appreciative staff - so inexperience is not an automatic no.
However, there has to be some link to the job. The automatic resume submissions to job listings in certain "categories" are not going to work. If I am going to put the effort into reading a resume and calling/emailing an applicant, I expect they have done some work to in preparing themselves to apply for my job. If they have, they should tell me about it.
I wish you well in your job search, I know it seems trite at times but I know in my heart it is true - God has a plan for you: Jeremiah 29:11.