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RDH Video Resumes Get Interviews

October 24, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

This month we’ve talked about three different ways you can use the Internet to market yourself as a hygienist:

A resume website;
Establishing professional credibility through blogs and social media; and
Creating an online profile or two (or more).

This final one was huge for Tracie – one of the main factors that led to getting hired (website being one and the other I’ll talk about next month).

A Video Resume
I realize the word “video” may cause some anxiety either because you think it will cost too much, be too hard to create, or maybe you think being on camera is too intimidating.

None of that needs to be the case. You can create a good video that will generate solid interest for free in about 30 minutes or less, and doesn’t include you on camera.

Why a Video Resume?
But first, why do it? Sorry if we sound like a broken record, but it makes you stand out. Potential employers cannot help themselves. Curiosity will compel them to want to learn more about you than what’s on your paper resume. Does anyone believe they don’t do this anyway? Studies show potential employers are checking you out online ahead of interviews. It’s just human nature to want to make connections.

So wouldn’t it be better if it were on YOUR terms rather than them simply “Googling” your name? Your website, your online profile(s), your resume video – these are your home bases where you control your brand, your image. Direct them to these places and they are less likely to go searching on their own and find something different than what you want.

And since almost nobody else will offer a video resume you get more time/opportunity to share your brand with them – and more is better.

Your Options
There’s a wide spectrum of videos you can do. The better the video, the better your chances for an interview, but truth be told almost any level of video is going to work. So here are your options. Hint: If money and time are issues skip option 1.

Option 1: Professional Videographer
I’m guessing most of you know you can hire a professional videographer to create a video resume. That will cost you anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand depending on how cool you want to make it, and who you hire. They will interview you, maybe even interview a reference or two of yours, film you at different locations doing different things. The end result is pretty awesome and will make a huge impact… could turn your job search into a “one and done” endeavor. Not only will it showcase you as a great person, it will signal you as a “go getter” and that’s one trait every employer wants.

Option 2: Student Videographer
Lots of high school and college kids out there love making videos and quality equipment is so easy to obtain that they are actually turning out great work. Some students would love to do it just for the experience, while others need gas money. But this is a great option if you want something like what we did for Tracie (click here to see her video) but don’t have much or anything to spend. Contact the local college or high school and ask the media arts teachers (very important) who they think would be reliable and do a good job. The downside can be the reliability factor which is why you want to solicit teachers and not students (unless you know a good one already).

Option 3: DIY
You can absolutely shoot and edit a nice video of yourself – people do it all the time. Truth be told, most modern smart phones shoot excellent quality video and there are lots of free video editing tools and apps you can get (ie Windows Movie Maker). Just set up a tri-pod (or heck prop your phone up), practice what you want to say, gather some photos, and/or text you want to display and start filming/editing.

Another cool (and even more simple) idea is to create a video resume that only has text, pictures, and music right in good old Microsoft Powerpoint. Create it just as you would any slide presentation, save it as a movie file and upload it to YouTube or Vimeo.

The video option we went with for Tracie was probably closer to 2. Basically we hired our then 16-year-old son to use his Flip camera and Windows Movie Maker (free software) to create it. So it is very possible to make a nice low-budget option.

If you are at all uncomfortable with creating a video resume, start with just a PowerPoint, get it done, and then make it bigger and better from there. Often what stops us from doing something is the paralysis from starting.

I have tons more to say about making videos that will help you but want to keep it from overwhelming you. I’ll be diving in more deeply in the weeks and months ahead. If you can’t wait until then, just contact us with any questions you have. We would love to help steer you in the right direction. We’ve even started offering video resume services in our Job Hunting Store and the price is very good at $29.99. Here’s our sample:

Bonus Tip: Keep your video short and succinct. A good range of time is 45 seconds minimum and up to a minute and a half at most.

Getting a Hygiene Job Using an Online Profile

October 18, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

A couple weeks ago we showed you how to create a personal/resume website – a cool way to really stand out and showcase more information about you than what can fit on a paper resume. This week we’re going to dial it back a bit and show you a decent alternative if you feel a website is more than you want to take on or if you want to do more than a website.

Online profiles are different than personal/resume websites in that they display information about not just you but hundreds or thousands of other hygienists in a fairly rigid layout. Like a personal site you can post as much or little as you want (your resume, reference material, pictures, and more detail about who you are). Also like a personal site, the idea is to invite potential employers to learn more about you there. You put the site address on your resume, business cards, postcards, in your e-mail signature line and anywhere else you can think of.

It’s still very unique to do this – most hygienists will only offer up an e-mail address. But that fact will intrigue a dental office to check it out. Back in the “old days” I remember people creating a CD ROM with their resume on it and sending it out. Very few people would do this so it was almost guaranteed the receiver would pop it into their computer just out of curiosity. CDs are pretty much dead, but you can still benefit from the curiosity factor by offering offices a different view of who you are through an online profile or personal website.

So what’s better – an online profile or your own website? Your own website gives you a lot more control over what you can include and how it looks. On the other hand, an online profile is easier and faster to create and offers you some social connectivity. So I am going to tell you that you should do both. They both have their pluses and minuses and are for sure worth doing.

But are all online profiles created equal? Not by a long shot. So today’s post is going to give you a review and recommendation on the ones we’ve taken a look at. We know there are many others out there so if you’ve had a good experience with one let us know.

These are all valuable tools you can use, and you really should explore all of them because each is unique and your experience might be better on one of the lesser recommendations. We’ve looked a dozens of them and narrowed a list down to the top five and then are offering up three honorable mentions.

1. LinkedIn:
You could probably make a case that this is more than enough profile for anyone. And with good reason. At 110 million users, LinkedIn is the third most popular social media platform on the Internet (obviously behind Facebook and Twitter). And it’s sole focus (unlike the top two) is career networking through your online profile.

If you are looking for a job or still have at least 5-10 years of career left (with only a slight chance of changing jobs before you retire) you really should create a LinkedIn account and start using it.

Here’s why. First, it allows you add all your cover letter and resume content in a similar format; Second, it allows you to create connections and directly communicate with other hygienists and dental professionals; and third, it gives you forums to share best practices and network with hygienists and industry professionals.

Okay, now for the bad news. As big as it is, it’s still just a infant in terms of how well people use it. You will find that many people have simply created a shell of a profile and then abandoned it. But you should know that’s changing every day as more and more are seeing its value and embracing it with greater intensity. It will never be Facebook, but Facebook will never be LinkedIn either.

As it matures, LinkedIn is getting better, more user-friendly and providing more opportunities to create meaningful connections with your peers.

For example, LinkedIn now offers “endorsements” this is where a fellow hygienist or dentist you have worked with can vouch for your skills and abilities and virtually tag you as skilled in various areas. Marketers call this “social proof” – a validation that you are who you claim to be and it carries a lot of weight.

Have we convinced you yet? I hope so because I have other online profile sites I want to share with you but for sure get a LinkedIn account, start using it and then look at one or more of these others we share next.

2. Facebook
This is sort of an alternative that can be pretty powerful in its own right. Have you ever considered using Facebook to host your profile?

There’s a couple ways to do it. First, most obvious, is to simply turn your current profile into one that is more professional. We see lots of people do this who really don’t look at Facebook as a way to connect with friends on a personal level but rather share things that are more applicable to their careers or profession. That’s totally fine! Just make sure your privacy settings are set so that they are visible to everyone.

Another way, though, is to either create an additional profile page for your career YOU or create a business page that instead of highlighting a traditional product or service, features YOU.

With Facebook, it’s pretty simple to toggle back and forth between pages you manage and your profile, but not very easy to toggle between two profiles – simply because Facebook wants you to only have one profile. So we would encourage you to create a business page rather than a second profile page for simplicity sake.

Tracie did this and to this day, even though she is not actively searching or using the page, still gets friend requests for it. It’s just a cool way to profile yourself and offers you many of the same benefits LinkedIn has, plus a much larger and more active audience. Click here to see Tracie’s Facebook professional profile page: https://www.facebook.com/TraciePerryRDH

3. Other Top-Tier Social Sites You Could Use:
There are those who are using Google+, Twitter, and even Pinterest as a platform for their professional profile. The only thing we would suggest about that is to try and get a sense of where your audience is.

I know, for example, that the Google+ crowd is mostly folks in the high-tech industry (not exclusively, just mostly). Twitter lacks the ability to include much profile information about yourself, but is excellent at building contacts. And, Pinterest is similar to Twitter but in a more visual way.

Most employers don’t fully look at these three platforms to get the basics about a person’s professional background. Rather they mostly use them to get a sense of who the person is behind the resume. So we list them, but only so you are aware they are an option, not so much as the best way.

4. About.Me
I really like About.Me. It’s visually-rich and super easy to create. It’s also a nice way to introduce yourself to potential employers. It’s free to use, but if you want to really blow it out and make it look incredible it’s only $4 per month. The downside to it is that it’s pretty stripped down – it doesn’t give you much room to tell your whole story. But it’s awesome at introducing you in a nutshell and allows you to truly brand yourself (gonna talk more about branding yourself in a future post). It’s almost like it’s a handshake, elevator pitch and done. Because it’s so easy to create, I would highly recommend getting it created, show the top three things employers should know about you, then link to where they can get more information about you (your website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Here are some hygienists I found on there:
Tina Gravina
Anna Krejckova
Amanda Huddleston
Raelene McLean
Megan Detwiler
Mandy McGovern

And, here’s mine (it was actually kinda fun to create): http://about.me/douglaswperry

5. VisualCV
When you get past the “clunky-ness” of VisualCV it can be a nice way to profile your information. I just found it more difficult to set up and use than the others above and it really doesn’t have the social touch of the others so I would look at it as something you could try, see if you like it but don’t waste a lot of time on it if you start getting confused. I tried to do a search of dental hygienists on it and came up empty. Maybe I was doing it wrong.

I did find a page that an RN has done and it looks nice, so I think there’s hope if you want to dig a little deeper than I tried. Here’s her page: http://www.visualcv.com/carolrn2

There are lots of others like VisualCV, but I honestly couldn’t find one that was as good as VisualCV and since it wasn’t overly impressive, I won’t bother listing the others I looked at. But I would like to hear if you find one that works well or that you really like.

Honorable Mention – Dental Industry Specific
Okay the people who created these sites probably won’t like that I have lumped them all in at the end as “honorable mention” but I have to give my honest opinion, right? I think the intent of each of these is good and perhaps they are making strides to get better. Having said that, yes, you should check them out because in addition to being entirely focused on the dental industry, and giving you a profile on their site, they post job openings and provide other services you might find useful. So here they are:

Dentalpost.net
DentalJobs.net
Dentalworkers.com

Bonus Tip: On LinkedIn we’ve create a Group Forum called Landing a Great Dental Hygiene Job. The community is still young but we encourage you to join as we want it to be a great resource for you to share ideas and ask questions. Click here to visit/join our group!

3 Huge Ways to Build Your Credibility Using Technology

October 11, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

This week’s tip is one of the “secret sauces” of job hunting – every job seeker has the ingredients but many won’t cook up a batch (to your advantage).

Specifically, we’re talking about things potential employers and co-workers see you do and/or say in non-interview settings that make them trust or believe in you. Hopefully, what they see, read and hear will speak volumes about your competence and love for the profession.

But are you communicating it – besides just saying it in interviews, on your resume, or having someone else vouch for you?

Last week we talked about websites, but the technology we speak of this week is even easier to jump into and start using, some of you may already be doing it and not even realize it.

1. Social Media (your own site and others)
There are several platforms you can use to build professional credibility using social media. The trick is to figure out which ones to use. Consider two criteria when deciding this.

First, choose a platform you enjoy or are interested in. Like exercise and other things, you won’t keep it up for very long if it’s boring, too hard, or too much of a burden on your time.

Second, figure out where your audience is – the potential employers and peers you hope to impress. In most cases that would be local professionals, but don’t completely discount those on a regional or national level. You are in this career for a long time, people move around, and professional colleagues are connected all over the country. So it’s not impossible that someone from Maine could learn about someone from California and eventually hire them. Or that someone from Arkansas could be so impressed with someone from Montana, that they offer them a job down the road.

So, get a social profile or two set up and use them. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, even Pinterest and Instagram are places you should share, comment and/or like on. If you like one of those platforms but like sharing non-dental stuff too that’s okay so long as it doesn’t undermine you as a dental professional – you’ll have to determine what posts may potentially harm your career so be mindful of that.

Rather than go into all the ways you can use all three, we’ll give you a few ideas within Facebook since it’s the largest and one of the best. Here are three ways you can build professional credibility within Facebook:

On your timeline post dental articles and memes. If you don’t want to mix business with pleasure, then create a separate page for your hygiene self. A professional page (which is basically a business page) and your main profile page are fairly easy to toggle between in Facebook .
Search for and join nearby group pages where other dental professionals are or might be – maybe your former college DH program has a page for alumni or maybe your professional associations have one. Maybe it’s a local businesses page, where lots of different kinds of professionals are a part of. Find them, join them and begin sharing, commenting, and liking posts so others can learn about YOU.
See #2 above and do the same thing for local business-type pages. The difference between these and group pages has to do with what you as a follower can do. With group pages you are usually allowed to post things everyone can view, but with business-type pages you can only comment on posts the business makes. It’s still effective though for you to make comments and likes on those pages as it creates potential links between you and those you want/need to impress professionally.

2. Blogs
Last week we shared with you how to build your own website using WordPress.com. One of the benefits of using WordPress is it has blog functionality built in to it, so it’s very easy to start sharing things there.

The strength of blogging is that you can offer up more complete thoughts. Social media tends to limit your ability to share bigger chunks of ideas and opinions you have. But with blogs the field is wide open. The disadvantage of blogs is your audience size is much smaller (at least to begin with). There are bloggers who gain millions of followers so you can build yours up, but it takes some time and some promotion on your part.

To begin with, simply promote it on your resume or postcards you send out – provide a link and encourage your fellow professionals to check it out.

Another way to help promote your blog is to “guest blog” on someone else’s blog. The idea here is to find a blog that has lots of followers and ask the writer if you can contribute a guest blog post. Often they will agree and it will expose you to a larger audience of professionals and even allow you to plug YOUR blog. Posts that get published are for sure the type of thing to include on your resume.

3. Trade Publications
There are numerous dental hygiene trade publications you may already be a subscriber to. Not only should you consume their information/articles you should participate in their comment section (assuming their publication is offered online). This too can offer you some big-time professional exposure.

And, similar to guest blog posting, you can also approach trade publication editors about writing a guest article or editorial. And, again, a great resume item to show your credibility.

A Final Note
I hope it goes without saying that your participation in these online platforms should be carefully thought through. It’s just as easy to destroy your credibility by becoming too controversial or confrontational with people. Keep your participation polite, respectful, and thoughtful. Don’t worry if it isn’t a new idea or if it’s nothing earth-shattering to the profession. The point is, they are YOUR thoughts and they help extend your professional credibility

And finally, make sure you leave what I call “bread crumbs”. Those are a trail back to you so that people can see who you are and learn more about you after they read your comments and thoughts. Upload your profile picture and name and include links where people can find you on other platforms.

Bonus Tip: Here are a few dental hygienists who do a nice job on their blogs that I thought you might want to see.

Dental Hygienious – We really like this one but she has not updated it in a while.

Inspired Hygiene – Love how visual this one is (use lots of pictures in blogs)

Woodland Dental Hygiene – Another very nice job here

Contented Dental Hgienist – I like this one because it shows you don’t have to write a lot, can keep things short and sweet

Confessions of a Dental Hygienist – this one is clean, simple and does the job

Brighter Image Dental Hygiene – Great simple blog

My Life as a Dental Hygienist – I can tell she likes to have fun with her blog and that’s not a bad thing, let your personality show

RDH Blog – This one is a good blog too but unfortunately can’t tell who authors it. If you do a blog, make sure it’s clear who the author is

Get Your Resume Website Up in 10 Minutes or Less

October 4, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

According to her boss, Tracie did three key things to land a great dental hygiene job in 2010. In fact, the office was so impressed – they never even posted they had an opening. They met and hired her on the spot! Since then, we’ve heard others say these strategies worked for them, too:

She sent them post card
On the post card, she directed them to a website about her
On the website about her was a video about her

That’s it! That’s all it took.

This week’s tip is to create your own website. “But I have no idea how to build a website!” you say. Or, you might be thinking “I’m not a techie-person.”

My response: It’s easier than you think. Interesting how her resume was not included.

I could give you the written step-by-step or direct you to dozens of different sites and say “go for it.” But I think it’s better to SHOW you. So I put together two screen recordings (five minutes or less each) of me creating one like the one I made for Tracie in 2010.

Below is part 1 (obviously the most important) – this will show you 90% of what you need to know to get started on your website. Before you start, you’ll notice I uploaded a banner image that was already pre-made.

You can hire someone on Elance.com to make one for you, or I can do it (visit our store), or you can make it yourself. If you don’t know how to use Photoshop, you can also create one in Publisher or even PowerPoint. There are also other free online creators available and I will list them below in the bonus section below.

How much time you spend creating and developing the site after that is up to you. We recommend keeping it simple, using lots of pictures, and putting your contact information on there in several places – should be easy to contact you.

And here’s a couple more final tips. If you don’t feel completely comfortable putting your picture on there, you don’t have to or you can create or find an avatar you like. If you don’t want to put your phone number on there, go to Google Voice and set up a free line that directs calls to your number.

Creating a Dental Hygiene Resume Website – Part 1

Creating a Dental Hygiene Resume Website – Part 2

Bonus: Here are some links to sites that will help you create a free banner:

Your Turn: If you like these tips, share the love – make a comment and pass them along to a friend. Good things come your way when you share. Also, follow us on Facebook, Pinterest or even LinkedIn, where you can get additional postings of things interesting to hygienists.

4 Simple Strategies to Design Your Dental Hygiene Resume Like a Rockstar!

September 27, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Question: If a picture is worth a thousand words – and it is – what’s it worth on a resume?
Answer: A lot more!

But this discussion doesn’t end with you inserting a picture of you on your resume. We also touch on color, graphics, and, ironically, the absence of everything.

These four simple elements are easy to include in your resume, yet 75% of resumes don’t have them, giving you a great opportunity to stand out and look sharp.

Color
There’s a whole psychology to choosing colors that say something. We won’t get into that, but here’s a resource on that you may want to review because it is worth considering. Author Margaret Feinberg gives you some really fast and simple definitions for what colors communicate. Click here to review those.

What should you color? Well, how about this rule of thumb: don’t color everything. Besides looking like you ran out of black ink (which looks tacky), it loses its effect and can be (depending on the color) borderline annoying to the eyes.

We recommend using color in one, two or some of the following elements:

Picture of you
Lines, boxes and other “graphics”
Headlines

Avoid color in the main body of text – bullets (the actual element) is optional.

Picture of You
For a long time, putting a photo in a resume was taboo – partly because of tradition (just wasn’t easy to do in the past) and later born out of fears that resume-scanning machines would get confused and reject them.

Neither of those hold up today or apply to the dental hygiene field. Business has completely embraced the digital age and it’s human nature to want to know what people look like before you meet them.

Here’s our recommendation, if you don’t feel comfortable including a photo of yourself, then don’t include it. If you are okay with it, then do it. Who will have the advantage? Probably the latter because it’s one more way to stand out. This is changing, but most people still won’t include one – and that gives you a leg up if you do.

Consider this, studies show that most employers will search you out on the Internet anyway. They’ll look for you on Facebook and other social platforms to see who you are beyond the resume – and chances are they’ll find you. Wouldn’t you rather include a picture of your choosing than some of the ones you may not like as much that might be floating around?

LinkedIn, considered the social media platform for the business world, and basically an extension of your resume, gives everyone a chance to include a profile picture of themselves. Those profiles that include one always standout, look more professional, more complete, more trusted than those that don’t. We’ll be talking more about your online presence in October.

Other Graphics
Lines, boxes, interesting icons, even bullets are considered accents to your resume and they aren’t pointless window dressing – they give your eyes a rest. Reading is work. It requires intense levels of concentration and thinking so a reader can understand what’s being communicated.

Graphics are like seeing a bench after hiking through a mall all day. When placed strategically, they give your reader’s eyes a quick break to rejuvinate. And after reading 15-25 resumes a person’s eyes not only enjoy seeing these little benches, they long for them.

What this all means, of course, is the more visually-pleasing breaks you can offer, the more time they will spend with your resume and more favorable they will be toward it. It’s that simple.

White Space
The absence of graphics and text is really just an extension of what we were talking about with other graphics. It’s a break for the eyes and in general gives you a more organized-, professional-, clean-feel. Try it out – take a page of single-spaced text and compare it to a page of 1.5 or double-spaced text and see which you think looks easier/faster to read.

I think it’s also nice for the person screening you, to give them room to make notes right on your page.

RDH Video Resumes Get Interviews

Getting a Hygiene Job Using an Online Profile

3 Huge Ways to Build Your Credibility Using Technology

Get Your Resume Website Up in 10 Minutes or Less

4 Simple Strategies to Design Your Dental Hygiene Resume Like a Rockstar!

Creating a Transitional Resume for a Dental Hygienist

Contact GetHiredRDH Now

Positive Resume Action Words

Passive vs. Active Writing

Positive Personality Adjectives

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