Page 83 - RADC 2020

EVENTS
LS Recruitment Scheme
Maj S Darke
The problem of recruiting civilian dental staff is an issue for DPHC(Dental) and in 2018 this was particularly acute within the LS Region with a large proportion
of gapped posts. Thus, our PDO at the time, Col Johnston, tasked Lt Col Valler
to develop an LS Regional Recruitment Strategy. The aim of this was to raise awareness of opportunities offered by DPHC to civilian dentists, dental nurses and hygienists. Following my return from maternity leave in Feb 2019, I was asked to be a part of the team driving the scheme forward. It sounded exciting and I was keen to help. Initially, however, the reality was calling and emailing various Dental Nurse training schools and Foundation Dentist training schemes, and scouring the internet for events that we could be part of to get the word out there. My efforts had varying success, with the vast majority of those contacted not responding, but the three success stories are below told by those who delivered the message.
Miss L Grannells
On 2 June 2019 I visited Forward Academic Team (FACT).
FACT deliver NEBDN Level 3 and NCFE CACHE Level 3 - Diploma in Dental Nursing. They offer online and face to face training
to student Dental Nurses in Hampshire/ Wiltshire and London. On this occasion,
a sunny Sunday afternoon, I delivered a presentation to 30 trainee Dental Nurses
at a school in Farnborough, thankfully all
the usual pupils were at home because it was the weekend – although I did feel like a teacher at the front of the classroom.
The presentation was met by lots of enthusiastic smiles, the students and the course tutors were very surprised to learn that the Ministry of Defence delivered healthcare, full stop, never mind with a large civilian workforce. A few of the students had connections to the military being fairly local to the Aldershot Garrison so became increasingly interested in what DPHC has to offer.
Within the presentation I explained how Defence Primary Healthcare as an organisation provided force generation to service personnel and what opportunities could be sought once the students were qualified;
• Background on how the DDA, DDS and now DPHC (Dental) came to be.
• Explanation on Regional areas with the main focus on London South for the purpose of the presentation, highlighting at the time the current vacancies, and signposted towards
the NHS Jobs for Civilian vacancies
within UK and Overseas
• Who DPHC employs; Civilian Dental
Nurses, Civilian Dental Hygienists
and Civilian Dental Practitioners.
• Explained how the recruitment and
onboarding process works, with some useful tips on how best to apply using STAR format and how to carry those experiences and behaviours into the interview.
• Benefits of working for MOD; Annual Leave, Pension, Pay benefits, GDC reimbursement, Team building, leadership structure, fun and safe working environments in a great team with team building prospects.
I was able to present a short summary
of who DPHC Dental are and it was very well received. The visit brought plenty
of enquiries and interest following this introduction. My intention was to return and present again in May 2020, this was not possible due to COVID, but I do hope to go back when it is safe to do so, or provide a presentation to the students via video link to keep the rapport going and stay connected to this group, especially as they themselves have evolved their digital learning options and expanded their reach UK wide.
Miss C Kalabis at the London Dental Show
Lt Col Valler
LS Region’s Recruitment Strategy
aims to increase awareness of general opportunities for civilian staff offered
by DPHC Dental and highlight specific vacancies within the Region. To further
the success of this a Business Case was submitted to secure a stand at the London Dental Show.
Surgeon General Finance Department granted this as well as providing promotional displays and material.
The show was at Olympia London for two days in September 2019 and the stand was manned by a selection of staff from within the Region, who were also able to visit the
wide selection of other stands and acquire the usual plethora of freebies.
The stand generated a lot of interest from the attendees and a scan-barcode system allowed for the follow-up of interested persons, although the Singing Dentist wasn’t tempted by any of the current openings on offer!
The range of approaches within the Recruitment Strategy have combined to both raise the profile of our opportunities and increase the number of applicants.
Lt Col A Davis
In Jan 20 I was invited to be part of the London and South East FD scheme training day on future dentistry careers. This was held in plush surroundings at the Hard Rock Café hotel on Oxford Street, and
the Deans involved were very welcoming and engaging. There were 200 FDs in attendance with the purpose of the day being their education in future dentistry career pathways. It involved outlining the likely job scopes and what they would need to achieve in order to acquire these roles.
PDO LS directed a presence as part of the LS recruitment plan, to target those individuals at CDP level. As a previous FD trainer, I understood the pressures and demands of the FD year and also that this was a good time to demonstrate having
a rewarding Civilian Dental Practitioner (CDP) career, aiming to attract high-calibre individuals to our Team and encourage their development in clinical dentistry
and leadership in a supportive, DPHC environment.
I was able to present a summary of CDP job requirements, job locations, working environments, opportunities for post- graduate study, and the financial packages and benefits involved with a MOD role. I had several good questions on stage and five people requested further advice and details after the presentation, highlighting that DPHC Dentistry offers an attractive and accommodating dental career in providing primary healthcare to a unique patient base that requires high standards of clinical care.
Like most good things, COVID-19 put a stop to our work as we concentrated on staying safe and dealing with the crisis at hand. However, now we are settling into some sort of ‘new norm’ the recruitment scheme is on again. With social distancing still being a key factor in our lives, we will see in what form these new recruitment events take place and hopefully there will be more success stories to be shared in the 20/21 bulletin edition.
RADC BULLETIN 2020 81