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Introducing the Dental Hygiene Resume Postcard

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Anna SimkinsAt GetHiredRDH, we work hard to give you the best tools for marketing yourself in the ever-tough dental hygiene job market.

We are pleased to introduce you to yet another product that will help you land a great dental hygiene job. We are calling them Dental Hygiene Resume Postcards.

This new product merges the best of both worlds for hygienists who want to get their resume out into as many offices as possible, but also who would like offices to remember them.

Our experience has shown that dental offices will keep postcards far longer and closer at hand than resumes that tend to get filed or thrown away the moment the office receives it.

Moreover, postcards are more interesting and novel and help you score points, so to speak, as you will be labeled as “creative” and a “go get-er.”

So the marriage of resume and postcard as a tool to find dental hygiene jobs makes a lot of sense.

Anna Simkins2If you are going to do them on your own, here are some quick tips:

  • Use some color to make it stand out
  • Add your picture (this is akin to a logo so it does help)
  • Postcards have limited space so keep the wording to a bare minimum
  • Don’t forget your email address and phone number
  • Give them other ways to learn more about you (ie personal website or LinkedIn profile page)
  • On the backside include a call to action “Contact me now at…”
  • Consider dropping them off instead of mailing them if you have the time as that gives you one more opportunity to sell yourself

If not, we at GetHiredRDH will do them for you. Click here to go to our store where you can purchase this service with our special introductory price – we can do them in any color (more design schemes are coming soon as well). Along with our cost, please also consider the cost of printing (which depending on size can run $10-17 for batches of 50 at Vistaprint.com) and the cost of mailing them, unless you would rather drop them off in person.

Note: Standard sizes come in 6 x 4, 7 x 5, and 8.5 x 4.5 – Our price is the same no matter what size, however printing and postage prices will increase the larger the size.

Dental Hygienist Resume that Gets You Noticed

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“Why am I not getting dental hygienist job interviews?” is the question (mixed with an emotional/frustrated tone) I most frequently get.

While there could be a myriad of reasons, it all boils down to you not doing enough to appear different to employers. We share lots of ways to do this at GetHiredRDH.com.

But I am convinced one of the most important and fundamental ways is by creating a more visual resume – one that goes beyond black text on white paper in 12 point Times New Roman font.

Here are four simple tips to make your dental hygienist resume stand out, and thus lead to more interviews.

[Resume Service]

4 Tips for Designing a Dental Hygiene Resume That Gets NoticedColor
Very few dental hygienist resumes have color on them. I’ve probably looked at nearly a thousand different dental hygienist resumes at this point, and while I have not kept track, I would estimate that only five percent have any color (besides black and white).

Why is that? Probably because it wasn’t too long ago that that was the only option and few people have bothered to change because they think it breaks from tradition.

Is there a rule or etiquette against it for resumes? Definitely not! So do it, just don’t over-do it. Use color to accentuate, not dominate your resume. This will add a quiet, yet significant confident professionalism to your resume.

I recommend using color in the following elements:

  • Picture of you
  • Lines, boxes and other “graphics”
  • Headlines (your name)

Avoid color in the main body of text – bullets (the actual element) is optional. I also recommend not using more than one color.

Picture of You
Everyone has an opinion on adding a picture of themselves to their resume. My advice is simple – if you don’t feel comfortable with it for any reason then don’t do it. However, it factually does make your resume stand out and get noticed.

Your picture is like your own personal logo. It’s a valuable part of marketing you because it helps identify your brand similar to how the swoosh helps to identify Nike. Your “logo” coupled with your personal brand statement or promise is a powerful tool in helping employers connect with you which ultimately leads to them building a relationship of trust with you.

Still not convinced?

Consider this, 94% of employers admit they Google the names of job applicants they are interested in hiring. Why? Because they want to know more about you than what your resume has, including what you look like.

Wouldn’t it be better to display a professional head shot on your resume – a picture that you approve of and feel represents you well? The Internet may serve up something less flattering of you from your past (Google your name and see for yourself). Or, even worse, it could show a picture of someone else that an employer may assume is you.

Again, it’s a personal decision that everyone has to make for their own unique situation, but if you are on the fence, hopefully I have helped you jump to one side or the other.

A final word on this – sign up for a LinkedIn.com account. When people do Google names, often what will come up at the top of the results is your LinkedIn profile. You can also post your professional picture and resume information there for people to see.

And LinkedIn is a great networking tool. We co-manage a LinkedIn user group called Dental Hygienists that I encourage you to join – this will link you to thousands of other professional hygienists across the world, where you can share ideas, ask questions and discuss issues.

Other Graphics
Lines, boxes, interesting icons, and 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 rejuvenate. And after reading 40-50 resumes, an employer’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 navigate and read.

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

 

Why Am I Not Getting Dental Hygiene Job Interviews?

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Everyone knows, the dental hygiene job market stinks. But there are job openings (maybe not enough, but they do happen) and so you should be getting regular interviews.

Are you getting interviews? If so, that’s good – you are doing some things right. But if your phone isn’t ringing much or at all, despite applying for lots of jobs, you should read on because there could be a variety of things going on.

If you feel good about your resume (how it looks and reads) then consider the following:

[Sales Snippet]

Why-Am-I-Not-Getting-Dental-Hygiene-Job-InterviewsYour Bad Contact Information
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 two suggestions – create a really easy-to-type or remember e-mail address and then make sure YOU have it listed correctly on your resume (I wrote more about e-mail addresses here). Also, make sure your phone number is listed correctly and that you have a clear, simple voice message greeting.

Their Bad Contact Information
Sometimes the problem is on their end. Whenever you e-mail your resume always ask for a quick confirmation they received it. If they don’t respond within 24 hours I would recommend you call, visit or try e-mailing again. If they legitimately didn’t get your resume, you’ll be glad you followed up.

No Cover Letter
Lots of employers don’t even ask for a cover letter but if your peers applying for the job all send one and you don’t that could be downfall. It’s a standard practice to include a cover letter so always send one and then make sure you are using it to help sell or market you for that specific job you are applying for. Here’s seven tips for writing a great cover letter.

Unaddressed Qualifications
Review the job advertisement carefully and address each of the things they are requesting. This is one of your best tools for helping to sell yourself to them. They want someone who is a good fit and if you ignore the qualifications or don’t adequately share how you fit your application will be easily dismissed (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 them. 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, they don’t get the call.

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.

5 Tips for Wording a Dental Hygiene Resume

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Dental hygiene resume wording can be as challenging for you – the one creating the resume – as it is for a potential employer – the one reading resumes.

It’s important to remember that most employers simply don’t read every word of every resume. Research shows, you have about six seconds to grab their attention before they move on. Typically, they scan them for keywords and/or something interesting (such as the design).

If you were in their shoes you would do the same – with a stack of 40-50 dental hygiene resumes (and that’s pretty conservative for an RDH opening today) at about 450 words per page – one would have to read at least 18,000 words!

So what can you do to increase the odds an employer will stop and pause to read more on YOUR resume? Here’s five simple tips:

[Sales Snippet]

Word Stingy-ness5-Tips-for-Wording-a-Dental-Hygiene-Resume

Use short, succinct bullet points to describe your experiences. If you can, keep them from wrapping onto a second or third line. Depending on the size of words you use, less than 15 words is adequate, but less than 10 is ideal.

Too Wordy: “Started a new patient program that included an office tour and sit-down meeting with myself and the doctor. We improved patient retention by more than 25 percent.”

Perfect: “Implemented new patient-orientation program, elevating retention by 25%.”

 Use Words that Jump

In resume writing you begin each line with a verb to jump-start a sentence and give the reader a shortcut to what you did. In the examples above, both “started” and “implemented” are good verbs to do this. And we have a list of 500+ positive words you can use to do this.

Be an Active Writer

You also want to make sure your writing is in an “active” voice as opposed to a “passive.” Active is best (especially in resume writing) because it’s easier to understand text more quickly.

Active Example: “I love working with all kinds of patients.”

Passive Example: “There are all kinds of patients I love working with.”

Give Them What They Want

I’ve written often about the importance of knowing what an employer is looking for and then delivering it. Your cover letter is the primary place to do this, but it can also be done on your resume, too.

Read the job opening advertisement and pick out the keywords of things they are seeking in a candidate. Then make sure your resume hits on those keywords – you may need to modify a word or two or perhaps move some lines up in order of importance.

No Errors (grammar, punctuation, spelling)

It goes without saying your resume should be error-free. No mistakes in grammar, punctuation or spelling. There are for sure some employers who will over-look mistakes, but you just don’t know who will and who won’t so you really need to proof-read your resume many times.

I would even recommend you have a one or two friends that you trust read it over. Or you can even hire someone to do it.

When doing it yourself, read it backwards. This forces you to look at each word without getting caught up in the flow of how the sentence reads.

Bonus Tip

Marketing professional Denny Hatch gives the 14 most powerful words in marketing. These are the words that trigger a persuasive emotion. Not all 14 make sense on a resume, but a few do so consider using them on YOUR marketing materials (resume, cover letter, website, etc.)

Proven

Love

Results

Now

You

Four Big Cautions in Designing a Dental Hygiene Resume

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There’s a lot to consider when you sit down and start designing a dental hygiene resume. So today I want to give you four of the biggest cautions or things to think about and consider when you begin.

Four Big Cautions in Designing a Dental Hygiene ResumeSpoiler Alert: A resume by itself is not going to win you a dental hygiene job. It’s sole purpose is to get you from point A to point B so that you can win the job with your personality and interview kills.

But as it turns out, that barrier of just getting an interview is huge in dental hygiene right now. And so the greatness of your resume really does matter!

[Resume Snippet]

Caution 1: Wrong Format
There are three types of resume formats – chronological, functional, and a hybrid of those two. For most hygienists I strongly recommend the Functional format.

The functional and chronological formats are only different in one key way and that is where you place your accomplishments, skills, and experiences. In a chronological you list them beneath each job you’ve had and the job section is near the top, whereas in a functional you place them in their own section near the top. And then beneath that section you create a simple listing of jobs you’ve held.

Because most dental hygiene jobs require a very similar skill set and perform many of the same duties, it makes more sense to place all of that within its own dedicated section at the top, as opposed to the repetition of putting the same information under each dental hygiene job you’ve held.

The only exception is if you have some very specific accomplishments – unique to each job – that you can highlight. Even then, I recommend a hybrid of the two types because it gives you best of both worlds – a little bit of room to include your skills at the top and a little bit of room to emphasize some specific accomplishments beneath each job.

Caution 2. Too Lengthy
The main purpose of a resume is to get an interview. You want the resume to stand out but not in negative ways. Arguably, one slightly negative way could be the length. Generally, keep it to one page. I have done resumes for hygienists who have no experience on up to 40-plus years and they all fit fine on a one-page resume.

In most cases, there isn’t much up-side to making it longer than a page – no one ever got hired because of what they had on the second page of a resume. As an employer reviews 30-40 resumes (or more) for one job opening, there simply isn’t much time spent on each one.

The only exception I recommend is if you have lots of dental industry leadership experiences beyond clinical dental hygiene. For example, if you have made lots of presentations, written lots of articles, performed lots of research, participated in lots of local or national association leadership positions, then you really do have a great case for needing the extra space.

Caution 3. Boring or No Flare
There’s one guaranteed way to make your resume boring and that’s to make it look and read like everyone else’s. You don’t have to get crazy, in fact I would caution against that, too. Instead add small touches of flare. This could include adding a little bit of color, increasing the font size on your name, using a font different than Times New Roman, adding your picture to the resume, using lines or other graphic touches to create sections, using bullets and columns instead of large blocks of text, and also using bold or italics here and there to create emphasis.

Caution 4. Difficult Navigation
Resumes that are packed with single-spaced blocks of text are intimidating for human eyes that are already not enjoying their review of dozens of applicants. Moreover it makes it challenging to navigate and find the key words or information an employer is looking for. One big thing you can do to improve the readability of your resume is to include extra white spacing and markers.

I love white space on any document – it points to two great attributes we all hygienists should seek to showcase – clean and organized. Try to include line spacing settings of 1.1 to 1.5. It’s okay to pull the margins out a bit (to .4 or .5) to help achieve that.

Markings are related to what I was talking about it Caution 3 above. You want to include things like larger fonts in key places, bold, bullet points, and graphics not just to keep your resume from looking boring, but also because those signals that help guide the employer to finding specific things they are looking for. Think of it like a map – if you were in a city you have never seen before and looking at a map, you would want for there to be lots of signs and landmarks to help you find where to go.

Creating a Transitional Resume for a Dental Hygienist

Several dental hygienists wanting to leave clinical practice have been asking me about a transitional resume and how it differs from a regular resume. Much of the categories of content remain the same, such as work history, education history, and summary section to name only a few. The difference is in the language you use […]

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