18-site private dental group: associate vacancies filled in 18 days, not 47

An 18-site private dental group operating across the south of England had been running its perm recruitment site-by-site, with each practice manager working to their own roster of dental recruitment agencies. Associate dentist vacancies — the single largest perm hiring need across the group — were averaging 47 days to fill. Specialist roles in orthodontics and implantology were taking longer still.

Each site had its own commercial terms with its own agencies. Placement fees varied by 30% across the group for equivalent roles. There was no shared view of which agencies were genuinely delivering and which were not.

Ember VMS was rolled out group-wide with a structured PSL split by speciality: a tier-one panel for general associate roles, a separate tier-one panel for orthodontic and implant specialists, and a tier-two layer for overflow. Standardised commercial terms were negotiated with all agencies onboarded.

Average time-to-fill on associate vacancies fell from 47 days to 18 days as the same role brief reached more relevant agencies faster. Perm placement fees fell by an average of 22% through standardised terms. Practice managers regained the time previously spent managing multiple agency relationships individually, redirecting it to local clinical operations.

The group has since extended use of the platform to its locum hiring across all 18 sites, on the same standardised commercial framework.

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