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Eight Common Punctuation Problems on Dental Hygiene Resumes

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

Properly punctuating a dental hygiene resume may not seem important, but it really does make a difference in a tight job market like dental hygiene.

Punctuation marks are like mini road signs. Without them, sentences and statements don’t always make sense or can be understood differently. Obviously, the last thing you would want is to confuse a potential employer. This can cause them to make assumptions about your attention to detail, communication skills, and even work ethic.

Here’s eight of the most common problem areas I see when reviewing dental hygiene client resumes and cover letters:

Periods

When you are offering up a complete sentence, such as in your opening statement (sometimes called “Objective” or “About Me“), always include periods where appropriate.

But when it comes to listing skills and competencies on your resume, most writing experts agree that since they are not complete sentences, periods are optional. So I usually leave them off for aesthetic reasons.

8-Common-Punctuation-Problems-on-Dental-Hygiene-ResumesHyphens

Use hyphens for compound adjectives that precede a noun, such as “patient-focused approach” or “part-time opening.” And if you have two adjectives that modify the same base word, use a hyphen after the first, as in “double- and single-patient rotations.” Do not use a hyphen in a compound adjective if the first word ends in –ly, as in “highly qualified candidate.”

Semicolons

Semicolons can either separate two independent clauses when the second clause is not directly related to the first or they can be useful when you want to list items that already include a comma.

For example, “Proficient at oral assessments, screenings, and treatment planning; educating patients on proper oral care; and scheduling patients for recall.”

Colons

Colons are used to join two independent clauses when the second clause is directly related to the first. The most common way to use a colon is for introducing a list, as in “I’m great at a lot of things, but I’m particularly skilled at basic dental hygiene protocol: oral assessments, screenings, and treatment planning.”

Commas

Commas are important visuals to help a reader understand the context of what you are writing, particularly when making lists. One of the most common questions is, “Should I put a comma between the last two listed items?” If you are a journalist, no. But in business writing (including resumes) you should add that extra comma. For example, “Proficient at oral assessments, screenings, and treatment planning.”

But also remember that commas are important visuals that help readers understand what you mean. Check out how the meaning of these two sentences changes by adding two commas.

  • “I love scaling my patients and my office.”
  • “I love scaling, my patients, and my office.”

Apostrophes

Apostrophes trip up a lot of my clients. There are many rules and sub-rules on them, but I will just touch on three basic rules as these are far more common:

  • Use them to show possession (singular and plural): “patient’s x-rays” or “hygienists’ tools”
  • Use them in contractions (to replace letters): “doesn’t” instead of “does not” or “it’s” instead of “it is”
  • Optional to use them with initials: RDH’s or RDHs and DDSs’ or DDSs

Exclamation Points

This is interesting! Not!

Exclamation points are popular in informal writing and can add some meaning in literature, but there’s really no place for them in resumes and cover letters – anywhere! So leave them off!

Testimonial sheets, on the other hand, often include quotes from people that know you and it’s perfectly fine to leave them in as they help convey a certain level of enthusiasm for you.

Parenthesis

These are useful in a couple ways on resumes. First, they further define or giving specifics to what you mean in bullet-ed statements. For example, “Proficient at taking radiographs (both traditional and digital).”

Similarly, both parenthesis, dashes (and bold or italics, too) can be helpful in setting information apart or providing additional details. For example, “All Smiles Dental – Dr. Pat Smiles (Albany, NY) – Dental Hygienist 2001 – 2008″

Other Marks

There are lots of other marks available to you, ellipses, ampersands, n-dashes and m-dashes, quotes, slashes, brackets, asterisks and, of course, question marks. But these are seldom, if ever, used on a resume and cover letter.

If you decide to use them, just be sure you fully understand their rules and are using them consistently. For example, if you use an “and” in one sentence don’t turn around and use an “&” in the next one – that’s another common mistake made on resumes.

 

One Simple Attention-Grabbing Strategy for Your Resume

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

What’s one really simple and great way to grab attention with your dental hygiene resume that hardly anyone uses?

Color.

Consider this…

  • Color TV sets came to life in the late 1960s (thank you General Electric)
  • Color computer monitors came about in the late 1970s (thank you Apple Computers)
  • Consumer-grade desktop color printing came along in the late 1980s (primarily Canon, HP, and Lexmark)

Who wants to go back to those good old days of black and white TV? Not me and I dare say you either. Color is a game-changer.

So why is it that in 2015, with all the advancements in color displays and printing, we are still producing black and white resumes?

Mind Shift

For too long we have put resumes in the same category as contracts and instruction manuals – necessary evils of the business world. But you have to think of a resume is a marketing piece. It’s sole purpose is to market you as a great dental hygiene candidate. When companies create an important marketing flyer, do they do it in black and white? No way!

Add Color and REALLY Stand Out

Color takes an average resume and makes it come alive with vibrancy and personality. Yet so few hygienists use it.

I review hundreds of dental hygiene resumes and would say that fewer than five percent have included color. If you weren’t already convinced, then that last line should seal it for you.

Color will make your resume stand out more than 95% of the other dental hygiene resumes out there. In the current dental hygiene job market you need every little advantage you can get and color on your dental hygiene resume will give you one big one.

What NOT to Share on a Dental Hygiene Resume

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

I write a lot about what to include on your dental hygiene resume so this week I want to share some things to NOT include on your resume. These are things that, if shared, may actually hurt your chances of getting a job.

As you consider these four things keep in mind that in a saturated job marketing like dental hygiene, employers are looking for ANYTHING that makes a candidate stand out to them (in good ways and bad ways). These things may seem trivial, but if you were tasked with choosing one person out of 50 or more who all have similar experience and credentials, you would probably start to look at the small things, too.

1. Multiple Phone Numbers

Only give employers one phone number to contact you with. I still see a lot of resumes where the hygienist has included two (sometimes even three numbers). Choose the most reliable and number you can be reached – for most people these days that would be their cell phone.

If you give them two, there’s a chance they will try you on one but not the other or that they will leave a message on a  phone where you don’t regularly check messages. One number keeps it easier for you and for them.

Tip: There’s a free service in the US called Google Voice that will route phone calls to your cell phone. Google Voice will give you an additional cell phone number, which allows you to create a unique voice message and receive text messages. This means you can keep your regular number private and give your Google Voice phone number out and have your own custom professional voice message service.

2. Salary Requirements

Dental employers want to know what you expect for a salary to help weed out some job seekers. Don’t be afraid if you are asked about this, but you also don’t want to offer it up if they aren’t asking.

I’ll be talking more about salaries and salary negotiation in an upcoming article, but you should have an idea of what the going rate is in your area and if you get asked about your requirements I tell clients to give them an extra-broad range. So if the average is $32 in your area, I might consider telling them something like $32 – $42.

In fairness to you, it’s hard to know what you are willing to accept when you don’t know the entire package. Along with health and retirement benefits, there’s commissions, bonuses, paid training, uniform allowance, patient load and amount of time with each patient, assistant or no assistant, and situational considerations like being forced to clock out when there are no patients. There’s also external factors like how close the office is to where you live or the office’s reputation in the community.

All of these are important factors and you can’t simply say, “I will work for $32 per hour” if everything else about the job stinks. Again, give the employer a broad range, tell them it depends on lots of factors, and leave it at that until they make you an actual offer.

Tip: One possible win-win, if they offer something meager, is to agree to that rate, if they agree to a six-month review and adjustment to your rate, provided the review is favorable.

3. Home Address

There are three main reasons they want to know where you live: (1) If you are close and have transportation issues you still have a shot at getting to work quickly (via a neighbor or mass transit); (2) similarly, if they need you at work sooner than expected or to fill in for someone it can be done more easily; and (3) if you live close, you may already know existing or potential patients and that helps them build or retain patients.

Unless you live ultra close (a few miles or less), I say leave it off. If it comes down to you and another applicant, the tie-breaker could be who lives closer. If you do live really close, you can actually use it to your advantage, but I would bring that up in the interview by dropping little hints in your conversation with them like, “Oh, yes, I have a few friends who come here.”

4. Some Previous Employers

Sometimes you just don’t have a good experience with an employer. I’ve heard lots and lots of clients talk about bad experiences they’ve had with this dentist or that front office person. It’s most definitely okay to leave an employer off your resume.

The dental community in some places is fairly tight-knit – people talk and share information with each other. Ideally, you want to create distance between yourself in those experiences. That can include simply leaving it off, but sometimes you are so far removed from a situation (in terms of years) that it’s okay to include.

Tip: If your current employer is a problem (bad experience) – you can still include that employer, but simply leave the name of the office off and tell the potential new employers that you wish to keep that information confidential so as to not compromise you relationship with that office. Most employers will appreciate that clarification and it helps protect your current issues.

Dental Hygiene Solution to an Employer Problem

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

Have you ever thought of yourself (a dental hygienist) as a solution to an employer’s problem – don’t be modest! You really are!

Every employer looking to hire someone has a big problem on their hands. Not only do they need to find a warm body, they need a good warm body. Someone that represents them well with patients and someone who can get along great with the existing staff and office culture.

You may think that because the dental hygiene job market is saturated that this is an easy problem to solve. And maybe in some areas and situations it is, but they can usually only hire one hygienist. So it still has to be a good decision or it may end up costing them lots of money. And they do leave little clues as to what kind of a solution they are looking for

So let’s put the ball back into your court and show you how to find those clues and communicate back to them the solution called YOU.

Where are the clues?

The best place to find what an employer needs in a good hygienist is in the job announcement itself. Read it very carefully because what they write as qualifiers is some of what they either really liked or disliked about the previous hygienist. There are two kinds of qualifiers “technical qualifiers” and “soft qualifiers.”

The technical qualifiers are things like “two years of experience” or “working knowledge of Dentrix.” Those are important, but often times are negotiable if the soft qualifiers are more significant. For example if you have two hygienists apply for the same job, one has experience with Dentrix, but is a little bit quiet or reserved and the other has no experience with Dentrix and is very personable and friendly, an employer will often overlook the lack of Dentrix experience feeling that they can train that, but can’t train someone to be “friendly.”

Separate out the technical and soft qualifiers into two different lists. Next, go to their social media pages and website to see what kind of feel you can get from reading their posts and information. How do they strike you? Are they all business or kind of a fun bunch? Write all of that down. Finally, think about any kind of personal connections you may have with the office – do you have friends who go there? Do you know someone who worked there at one time? If so, then chat with them about the office atmosphere and culture. They may even be a great reference for you – employers trust recommendations from someone they know many times over someone they don’t know.

Now that you have all this information, it’s time to sprinkle it into your materials and interview prep.

Resume
It’s okay to start with a generic dental hygiene resume you have created. Then for each new job you apply for, do a “save-as” and customize and file it for that specific job you are applying for.

Ensure your resume addresses the office’s problem. This may mean swapping out some lines in favor of different information or re-ordering how it displays to ensure they see it. Pay specific attention to the “About Me” section (sometimes called “Summary” or “Objective”). This may be a good place to insert some keywords they use in their job announcement or that you see in other places that seem to be unique to that office. But there are other places throughout the resume where you can make unique.

You may even want to omit some information from your resume if you feel it either doesn’t apply to the specific job or may be detrimental.

Cover Letter
Your cover letter is probably the main document you will want to customize. I recommend a sentence that acknowledges what they are looking for, using the same words they use and then using the sentences/paragraphs beneath it to talk about how you are the solution to that and more. I wrote about cover letters here.

For example, “From your advertisement, I see you are seeking someone who is detail-oriented, flexible, and can handle stressful situations.” And then further down is something like “Co-workers have applauded me for my organizational skills and how I am able to adjust and handle all different kinds of personalities and situations.”

Testimonial Sheet
I’ve written a lot about my recommendation that you keep short (1-5 sentences) testimonials from patients, co-workers, and employers and then place them on a Testimonial Sheet. If you have lots of these then you have the luxury of hand-selecting the ones you give to the employer, based on the specific things they are looking for. If they want someone who “goes the extra mile” then give them a quote from a former patient who said you “go the extra mile.”

Make it a routine habit to gather these throughout your career – you can’t have too many. Then, when you are seeking new employment, you can choose the ones that best fit each job opening.

CAR Sheet
I’ve also written about CAR Sheets – CAR stands for Challenge – Action – Resolution. Think of it is a micro case study, where in just 3-5 sentences you write about a problem, the action you took, and how it was resolved. You can read more about CAR Sheets here.

Similar to Testimonial Sheets you can pick and choose the best examples of your work and assemble a CAR Sheet that addresses the specific solutions a potential employer needs.

Interview
Finally, if you get an interview, this is your opportunity to really hammer home the key problems that office needs to address in a hygienist. First, empathize with them about it and then reinforce you as the solution through a great example from your experience.

For example: “It’s tough to lose a great hygienist as they become almost like family. It’s been hard for me to leave jobs over the years as I really miss working with my co-workers and the synergy we created, but the upside is you get the opportunity to still hire a great new hygienist and have new experiences together.”

I know I sound like a broken record when I say it every week – but standing out, doing things different than other job applicants is what gets you hired. Doing this kind of work to create a more customized response to employers is truly what makes you stand out and appear different. It’s worth taking the time so that your job search is over and done in a matter of weeks as opposed to months and even years.

5 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Dental Hygiene Interviews

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry

It may be sunny outside right now, but the dental hygiene job market is still cloudy.

However, there are breaks in the clouds for those that go the extra mile.

Are you getting interviews? If so, that’s good – you are doing some things right. But for those that aren’t or maybe the interviews seem just token or like the employer has already made up their mind, here are five problems that may be hurting your chances.

[Resume Service]

Bad Contact Information
This one goes both ways – on your end and on theirs.

Sounds ridiculous, right? A lot of employers today reply by e-mail these days to schedule interviews. This avoids the whole phone-tag thing since most people don’t answer their phones when it’s an unfamiliar number. You can’t avoid when someone mistyped your address but here’s three suggestions:

  1. Create a really easy-to-type or remember e-mail address (I wrote more about e-mail addresses here)
  2. Make double-, triple-, quadruple-sure YOU have it listed correctly on your resume
  3. Do the same for your phone number, and even consider getting Google Voice to route calls through your cell phone so that you can create a custom voice message for potential employers

Sometimes the problem is on their end. When you e-mail your resume always ask for a quick confirmation that they got it. If they don’t respond within 24 hours, call, visit or re-email them – you’ll be glad you did if they legitimately didn’t get it. SPAM blockers are very aggressive these days and sometimes legit mail just doesn’t make it.

When Nothing Happens: 5 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Dental Hygiene InterviewsNo Cover Letter
Lots of employers don’t even ask for a cover letter, but if your peers applying for the job all send one that could by why you don’t make the short list. It’s a standard practice to include a cover letter – no one will penalize you for including one, but some will if you don’t. Here’s how to write the perfect cover letter.

Unaddressed Qualifications
Review the job advertisement very carefully and address each of the things they are requesting. This is one of your best tools for helping to sell yourself. They want someone who is a good fit and if you ignore the qualifications or don’t adequately share how you are a great fit, you probably won’t get an interview (you can read more about this here)

Directions Not Followed
In job markets where there is lots of parity between hygienists, employers will look for anything to differentiate candidates. That includes playing little tricks on you. I’ve read lots of job announcements where the employer will plant a very important statement at the end of the advertisement to see who’s paying attention.

For example, there will be a line that reads something like “Please include in your cover letter the name of the current president of the United States.” Those that comply pass the first test of being “attentive to details” and those that don’t… well, their resume gets tossed.

Nothing Has Happened Yet
It’s frustrating for sure, but employers will sometimes hold off for various reasons, putting not just you, but everyone in limbo. It would be appropriate, assuming you have confirmed they received your information in the first place, to contact them 1-2 weeks after you submitted your resume (I wrote more about that here). I sometimes look at that as a red flag that perhaps the employer isn’t someone you would want to work for anyway.

My wife, Tracie, had an experience like that when she was first seeking employment. There was a doctor that had her come in as a temp several times and told her he would soon be seeking a permanent hygienist, but he would never pull the trigger even though he got to the point where he had no permanent hygienist. For whatever reason he struggled with making decisions and it wasn’t just this situation, there were others Tracie heard about later.

Finally, one of the best pieces of advice I can give when seeking a job is never push pause. By that I mean keep looking, keep sending resumes, and keep making contacts with people. One great job interview or one potential dream job can cause a great deal of stress and the best way to alleviate that is to push forward to the next one… to the next opening in the clouds.

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