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Recruiting a graduate dentist who fits into a practice team requires looking beyond just clinical ability to find one who ticks all the right boxes. By John Burfitt
In the coming months, hundreds of dental graduates are set to flood the workforce. Yet despite so much new talent, practice owners and managers looking to recruit still need to carefully consider a range of factors before hiring.
A resume boasting university achievements and professional recommendations may be impressive, but delving beyond those credentials is vital to gauge just how well a graduate will connect with patients, respond to feedback, fit within an established team and cope with clinical challenges.
Which is why it is up to the hiring team to do a comprehensive evaluation of each candidate by asking applicable questions throughout the interview process to determine the right fit for the patients, team and the business.
Dental recruiter Kamilah Lovell says the first mistake hiring teams often make is they judge suitability based on how accomplished or confident a graduate appears to be. “Don’t just look at their university checklist and make assumptions about what that person’s full skill set is like and how they will fit in. That happens too often,” Lovell, an executive consultant at Cornerstone Medical Recruitment, says.
“We see applicants who are confident and can talk the talk but dig a little deeper and you find they do not have the right attitude or willingness to take feedback on board. Overconfidence can be initially impressive, but then you have to determine what that attitude will be like once they are dealing with patients and working with the team.”
Lovell suggests paying particularly close attention to the candidate’s communication skills throughout the hiring process. “You need to see a consistent approach to the way they communicate—from the time they apply, through the interview process to the negotiating stage when making an offer,” she says, adding it’s also a positive if they have some familiarity with the practice.
“If they have done no research into the practice and particularly your location, then you need to ask serious questions about just how much this person has thought through the logistics of taking on the role.”
The Bupa Graduate Dentist Program was launched in 2023, to provide final-year students and graduates with a structured pathway into the first stage of their professional careers. Around 40 graduate dentists are enrolled in the 2026 program, which offers mentoring, additional CPD and developmental support.
Bupa Dental principal dentist Dr Mark Dohlad believes potential employers need to focus on candidate skills that go beyond clinical competence.
“It’s the ‘softer skills’—like their emotional intelligence, adaptability, resilience and willingness to learn—that can make all the difference,” he says.
We don’t know how good a dentist they are until they start working. What I see a lot is overconfidence, but they’re not people who can be coached. You want to look for coachability over confidence.
Ameena Basile, Dental Business Mastery
“And if they don’t yet have those qualities in line, then work out how well that person can be trained to develop them. Some will develop really well, while with others you may need to determine if that person will fit in with the way your practice does business.”
Which is not to say, he stresses, that candidates need to present as perfectly polished practitioners. “You might need to check your own assumptions that they are going to be as quick and fast as the rest of the team and will be able to hit the ground running in those early months. That is simply not fair,” he says.
“But you do need to see signs that this candidate has the capacity to build on their capabilities and to work with direction, and that if you invest the time and energy in them, you can see them thriving within the right environment.”
Because every graduate does require time, guidance and support to get up to speed once in the workplace. Ameena Basile of Dental Business Mastery says hiring teams need to establish at the interview stage whether a candidate will make constructive use of that investment. “We don’t know how good a dentist they are until they start working,” Basile says. “What I see a lot is overconfidence, but they’re not people who can be coached. You want to look for coachability over confidence.”
She advises looking for a candidate who understands the realities of being in business. “You need someone who understands the dollars and cents aspects, such as the need to build a client base, the importance of retention of clients, and providing a service that is worth paying for.”
The recruitment process can often act as a mirror for the practice team, highlighting how their practice really works, and the job on offer.
“As you talk about the way your practice functions, you might begin to wonder if you really do offer everything you are promising,” Basile says. “So when the graduate talks about their desire for mentoring, you better be sure you have the energy to accommodate that and have other support protocols in place before making any offers. Sometimes the interview process can be a reality check to get your house in order before bringing anyone new in.”
Dr Dohlad states that while recruiting a graduate requires an investment, it can reinvigorate a practice as new, young dentists bring with them contemporary knowledge and ideas that may challenge experienced practitioners to reconsider traditional approaches.
“If you let them, they can teach you as much as you teach them, as they may have some great contemporary knowledge from university that might change the way you work,” he says.
“Being prepared to have those engaging conversations about new ways to approach cases and very different perspectives can fill your cup from a professional perspective. So be prepared to be challenged as it may be good for both of you.”
