How to avoid an associate position from hell- A guide to finding a perfect job

[CDKyle]

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Many new graduates jump form one job to another in the search of the ideal associate position. After 3 failed associate positions, I had to wonder why it is so hard to find a decent job? The answer is that my expectations did not coincide with that of the owners.
The important areas where expectations may differ are in production, treatment planning, how to run an office & attitudes of the staff members including the dentists. All of these have the potential to being a deal breaker.

Part I
I will start by listing a few reasons that dentists hire associates and some ways to identify which your potential job offer falls under.


A) the practice is overflowing with patients
These are practices that booked out solid for several weeks. The dentist is unable to treat patients in a timely manner and is simply swamped with clients.
This a practice that has a genuine need for an associate. The owner is confident they have enough patients and production to accommodate another dentist. These are the only practices that are willing to guarantee a per diem rate. This is the type of office most likely to result in a win-win between the owner and the associate and often can develop into long lasting business relationships.

B) The owner feels he is too busy & would like more time to spend with his family & to go on vacation.

This practice has outgrown the capacity of a single dentist but has not grown enough to accommodate two dentists. I think this where many associate positions fall into. The owner is past his own capacity say 130%. He needs someone to help out and pick up that extra 30%. This means the associate is only busy for a few hours out of the day and is sitting around the office the rest of the time. Obviously, if you are not producing dentistry you are not making money and so many associates leave such a practice. This practice will not offer a daily guarantee because they are not sure they will have enough production to feed an associate.
He owner will usually make a comment such as :” I want you to go out in the community and help me grow my practice. I want people to come to my office and say I want to be seen my Dr. new associate”
As a new graduate you don’t want to help someone grow a practice, you need a place overflowing with patients.

C) The owner wants to concentrate on a limited number of procedures.
In such a practice the owner is tired of doing low productive procedure such as amalgams and extractions and wants to focus his time solely on high end procedures. This can work out well for an associate or it can be cause for dissent. If the owner schedules all of the Crown and Bridge and Endo and places the associate on an amalgam assembly line, the associate will get tired of only doing the low production procedures. If the owner on the other hand, the owner has a specialized skill set such as 6 month ortho, Implants etc leaving the associate to complete other high end procedures Endo, Crowns etc then this works well.

 

[mirk3]

Thanks so much for this information. How do you go about finding a good associateship?

 

[CDKyle]

There are many ways to get interviews

1st you need to obtain the contact information of dentists in the area. You can find this information via several resources:

1) Obtain a Dental Directory
a. If you become a member of a State Dental Association, you will obtain a list of all the member in each county with their phone numbers, email and address
b. Some organizations such as the AAPD have this information posted online
c. You can look in the phone book
d. Google dentists in your zip code

2) Once you have the contact information you have several options
a. Send a letter
b. Send an email
c. Call their office.

Most people feel that a well written letter + C.V looks the most professional. Often these letters end up in a trash can. This is also the most expensive option, because you have to pay for postage + your time getting all of this organized.
The problem with emails is people change their accounts or end up in the spam mail.
I find that the most effective was to go through a Dental Directory and simply call offices. Tell the Office manager that you are Dr. XYZ and would like to speak with Dr. owner. Tell them you are a new dentist in the area and were wondering if he/she had a need for an associate or knows of any colleagues that were looking for an associate.
This technique if fast and you can cover many offices in a single day.

Talk to Patterson/ Schein reps in your area. These guys know which dentists are looking to expand and need an associate.

I have even seen job postings on Craigslist.

 

[DrJeff]

One of the key things I feel that will greatly help lead to finding a successfull associateship is keeping a sense of reality.

Realistically it's not just going to drop right into your own hands without you doing some homework, and it very well may NOT be in the geographic location that you think.

Secondly, by being realistic and open minded, you'll keep more options open to you. Are there some available associateships out there that will pay you a guarenteed 150K on a 4 day work week in the greatest town in the world, yes, but those are very few and far between(especially with the guarenteed $$ part). What is realistic is finding an associateship that has a guarenteed salary of something around 90-100K and then extra earning potential based upon % of collections - you work hard, you get paid more if you go in with that attitude, you'll do a lot better than if you come into a practice with a sense of entitlement and expect to be making as much $$ as the owner from day 1, when that owner has likely spent years building his/her practice upto where it is.

Also, as an associate, especially if there might be buy in potential in the future, your not just making $$ (or atleast hopefully making $$) for yourself, but you are giving atleast some type of compensation to the owner (it may be some extra $$ to him/her in the form of your collections, it may be in the form of some extra free time for him/her since you'll be seeing some patient volume that they usually would have had to see, etc). And if the associateship does happen to lead to partnership, you DON'T have to be great social friends with the owner necessarily, but it does help if you atleast have similar treatment philosophies and practice management ideas.

Ask a bunch of the questions mentioned in the previous posts. If your potential employer isn't willing to open with you about the current + past financial health and patient volume health of the practice, be wary.

Lastly, look for a practice opportunity that seems right to you because of what it offers, not where its located. If your happy at work, you increase your chances at being happy at home.

 

[beijingdds]

One of the key things I feel that will greatly help lead to finding a successfull associateship is keeping a sense of reality.

Realistically it's not just going to drop right into your own hands without you doing some homework, and it very well may NOT be in the geographic location that you think.

Secondly, by being realistic and open minded, you'll keep more options open to you. Are there some available associateships out there that will pay you a guarenteed 150K on a 4 day work week in the greatest town in the world, yes, but those are very few and far between(especially with the guarenteed $$ part). What is realistic is finding an associateship that has a guarenteed salary of something around 90-100K and then extra earning potential based upon % of collections - you work hard, you get paid more if you go in with that attitude, you'll do a lot better than if you come into a practice with a sense of entitlement and expect to be making as much $$ as the owner from day 1, when that owner has likely spent years building his/her practice upto where it is.

Also, as an associate, especially if there might be buy in potential in the future, your not just making $$ (or atleast hopefully making $$) for yourself, but you are giving atleast some type of compensation to the owner (it may be some extra $$ to him/her in the form of your collections, it may be in the form of some extra free time for him/her since you'll be seeing some patient volume that they usually would have had to see, etc). And if the associateship does happen to lead to partnership, you DON'T have to be great social friends with the owner necessarily, but it does help if you atleast have similar treatment philosophies and practice management ideas.

Ask a bunch of the questions mentioned in the previous posts. If your potential employer isn't willing to open with you about the current + past financial health and patient volume health of the practice, be wary.

Lastly, look for a practice opportunity that seems right to you because of what it offers, not where its located. If your happy at work, you increase your chances at being happy at home.

Docs
What are some of the good websites where associate positions are associate positions are posted, I would like to know about them
thanks a lot