Recruiting a nightmare?

It's that time of year again.

Late October and suddenly we all start getting nervous.

Who's it going to be?

Who's going to let us down this Xmas?

And should we have hired already?

New grad season is well and truly upon us, and if you haven't caught the fever.

It'll catch you...

Most owners are overpaying their grads

This is just a fact of simple mathematics.

If you look at it from the perspective of gross margins.

For a sustainable practice you have to be making >50% off your therapists.

Especially the juniors.

But most owners have been quite happy to sign young therapists at above market rates these last few years.

It's understandable given the state of hiring.

But that window is nearly closed and it's a mistake to continue at this level.

Not just for you, for the entire profession.

How can I be so adamant you ask?

Data presented at the APA business conference earlier this month shows that nearly 80% of clinics are running below average profit margins.

Which means owners are stuck treating too much.

Whilst their staff have a free ride on high base wages and low expectations.

But who is there to provide them their mentoring and support?

Everyone is flat out, and grads are floundering in unhelpful environments.

No one cares what they made in their grad year.

They care about what they learnt (or didn't learn...)

Speaking of low expectations

We have to be fair to the next generation coming through.

I've written extensively on the need for mentoring and training for your therapists.

Universities simply aren't preparing them for the fast-paced world of private practice.

And this is no secret.

The APA is onto this too and we will be seeing some change.

But any change will be a cohort away at best.

There are some universities I'm aware of such as Swinburne Uni in Victoria, which have taken a much more vocation specific approach to training their physios.

And these are the diamonds in the rough in my humble opinion.

The post grad courses which are very much directed to private practice teaching.

What the next Gen need

They need.... you.

Plain and simply.

They need you, their boss/leader/manager/coach/mentor/teammate - to step up.

Stepping up to the plate isn't about addressing global macroeconomic problems like the cost-of-living crisis.

It's about stepping up and showing them the ropes.

What it means to earn a dollar.

How hard it actually is to earn the respect of your patients and fellow colleagues.

It is about starting at the bottom and working their way into the most rewarding profession they could possibly imagine.

But those rewards are only available for those willing to work hard.

Like Nick Mullen who won the best clinician paper award at the recent IGNITE conference.

Or Adnan Asger Ali who was crowned physiotherapist of the year at the allied health awards in Darwin.

These are the people our next generation of physiotherapists ought to be looking to replicate if they are serious about their careers.

Not corporate NDIS providers offering 100K starting salaries.

PS. Stay tuned for part two of recruiting nightmares - it's an absolute fire-cracker!

Shane Guna?is the Founder of?Gun Physio Academy.

He writes about leadership, personal development and commercial skills for physiotherapists.

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