When running a business, staffing is almost as important as what products/services you’re offering. Your employees can help make or break your customer experience, so it’s important to hire the right people. However, turnover is notoriously high in the eyecare space, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s at an all-time high in almost all industries.

You’re likely using several techniques to market to potential new patients, but have you considered that you’re also marketing to new employees? Your website, Google and Yelp reviews, and social media profiles and posts are all windows into your business and can tell an interested candidate almost everything they need to know. Are all outlets communicating why your practice is a great place to work? Maddie Langston, IDOC Practice Marketing Consultant, shared her tips for utilizing marketing to attract potential employees to your practice.

Share Your Mission/Vision & Core Values

If you don’t already, make sure you’re sharing your practice’s mission/vision statement and core values. Not only does this share an insight to patients as to what drives you every day, but it gives potential employees something they can relate to. It can also help set the expectations for working there. What’s the overall attitude? Is it a positive, upbeat place or a more tranquil, calm atmosphere? Is it a highly professional institution or more family-oriented?

Set Up Your Employer Page on Recruiter Sites

If you’re looking for employees on recruiting sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, etc., make sure your employer profile is set up and up to date. Your profile can tell candidates almost everything they need to know about your practice while making applying simple. If a potential employee finds your listing, but your page isn’t set up, it could appear like your company doesn’t take the time to follow through on the details. Or worse, it could look like a scam.

Have an Updated Website

Your website is often your first impression for a potential patient or employee. What do you want that impression to be and does your site live up to it? Is your website mobile-friendly? If your site isn’t responsive and/or appears dated, it may not seem like a good fit for those types of employees you’d like to attract most.

Share Updates Via Social Media

Whether it’s patient reviews or practice updates, sharing this type of content on social media helps to humanize your brand. Additionally, it helps to show the type of culture appropriated throughout your business. Maddie shared,

“Sharing posts about the doctors, staff spotlights, optical, events, and holidays can display your personal involvement in the practice and community and allows the job seeker a ‘peek behind the curtain’ to see what it’s like to work at the practice.”

Set Up & Manage Google My Business

Is your practice listed on Google My Business? If not, take the time to set it up. This allows your practice to be visible when people search for “eye doctors near me” or something similar in Google. Once it’s set up, make sure you keep it updated. Adding current photos of the inside and outside of your practice can help prepare patients and potential hires for what they’re walking into. You can also add photos of doctors and current staff members to help them familiarize with a friendly face.

Reviews

Another important piece of your Google listing is the reviews. Patients and employees can leave reviews, which appear when an onlooker searches or stumbles upon your practice. Set up a review request process and work to keep your overall rating 4 stars or higher. Good reviews can speak volumes about your practice, more so than a well-written mission statement, and these reviews have high visibility for interested parties. So, ensuring that you’re capturing all the good reviews and managing those that are less than positive can elevate your practice to both potential patients and staff.

To recruit talented (and keep) employees, you need to set your business up for success by portraying the attitude you wish to hire and the environment which cultivates a happy workplace. Have you communicated why your practice is a great place to work effectively?