Blog #14- Graduates Jumping Ship – Where is the Loyalty?

Call it what you like, but the new generation has a habit of

Jumping Ship

Thinking the Grass is Greener

Always looking for the next best thing

Gone are the days like our parent’s generation where they stayed in one job in one place for many years.

Don’t try and fight the fact that new graduates are likely to move on to another job after 12 months.

It’s happening.

So do we as practice owners throw our hands up in the air and say well, I am not investing anytime and development into a graduate because once I get them trained they are likely to leave.

What is the alternative option, not train them and have them stay………..

We need to band together in our profession and set a standard for graduates to follow at least in their first 2 years of practice. Just like it was the norm that graduates started their career’s in the public system and then moved to private practice we need to be encouraging graduates to remain in our businesses when we offer exceptional development programs.

How do we do that:

1. It’s starts at the interview process

You should be not sugar coating the role but defining expectations and roles and agreements for a symbiotic relationship between both parties. I will train, mentor and develop you in the first 12 months to then commit to a second 12 months.

2. Offer what you promised

Too many clinics offer a graduate development program, but without structure. So as time goes by and staff get busy the graduates training is eliminated from the priority list.

3. Don’t drop them in the deep end

I have heard some horror stories of grads taking sole positions in practices where no structured training is offered. Talk about thrown in the deep end.

4. Think outside the box

Most grads are looking for certain opportunities early in their career and often are not money driven. See what drives your grad? If you can offer an exceptional mentoring and training opportunity in your practice majority of graduates are willing to sacrifice the short term gain of more money for long term value in their career.

5. Train them so they don’t want to leave

Training business skills and encouraging your graduate to play an active role in your business, will equip them with the skill set to be a valuable asset to you. The fear of some business owners is that then that graduate will move on and open their own business. Is that such a bad thing, perhaps you can work with them to open their own practice that you also have a stake in. This is a great way expand your business with the golden handcuffs on your staff that you have trained to your standards.