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Dental Hygiene Job Hunting Resources

April 15, 2015 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, and that’s pretty fitting of GetHiredRDH.com, too. Not that our little website bares an similarities to the great Mediterranean city of old or present, but it hopefully is providing some valuable services to dental hygienists.

It almost didn’t happen – I was at a crossroad after writing the book Landing a Great Dental Hygiene Job. I wondered one day in December 2012 if I had done all that I could possibly do to help hygienists. My wife, Tracie (a dental hygienist), was happily employed, the book was a success, and so I was considering different “hobbies.”

Then I got an e-mail one day from a hygienist asking for help with her resume – she was pretty frustrated with her resume and the whole job search. It was a familiar tone I had heard in Tracie when she graduated from dental hygiene school in 2010. I replied back with some tips and offered to work on it for her if she was interested. She was, so I reorganized some things, enhanced the wording, created a design, added some color and out of the “oven” came a beautiful resume. It all seemed so effortless and natural. She was of course appreciative and soon after found a job. I was pumped!

As these things go, one thing led to another thing and pretty soon I had helped a few more hygienists. But I found myself really enjoying it and decided that if I had the right resources I could help way more people and that was the launch of GetHiredRDH.com. It started with a few free tips and a basic resume writing and design service, but today has grown into what I believe is a great resource for unemployed or under-employed dental hygienists.

Most of what I offer is free. That’s important to me! I know family budgets can get tight when someone is out of work or not getting the hours they need. At the same time, if you need it done quickly and/or need the expertise of someone who has literally written and seen hundreds of dental hygiene resumes, I’m available.

So this week is just a reminder of some of the freebie and paid services you can get from GetHiredRDH.com. If you have suggestions for others, let me know… I’m not done building my own little “Rome” yet.

PS – Many have asked if I do resumes for other professionals/industries. Yes, as a matter of fact, I just launched a website for non-dental hygienists. So far, I have helped quite a few friends of hygienists and enjoy that as well. So if you have non-dental hygiene friends who need help with their resume, please direct them to www.Remplate.com

Paid Services

Free Services/Resources

Dental Hygiene Job Hunting From a Distance

March 4, 2015 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Dental hygiene job hunting is hard enough without adding the element of doing it from a distance. When you don’t live in the area where you need to find a job, you have to some extra things to make you current location not an issue.

But it can be done (I’ve had several dental hygiene clients pull it off) and here are a few considerations and pointers to make it happen for you.

Research

It’s really important you get a handle on the situation where you want to move to. Spend some time profiling the area. Learn everything you can about the area – average hygiene wages, where job openings are posted, proximity to hygiene schools (more schools often equals tougher competition), contact information of local staffing agencies, contact information of local dental hygiene associations or components, and so on.

If the decision to move is still up on the air, it’s really important to know what you are getting into before you make any commitments. It may cause you to change your mind or at least adjust your plans and expectations.

Licensure

The next thing you will need to consider, and hopefully this is obvious, is RDH licensure. What will be required in terms of a new license? What’s legal or not legal where you want to move?

Anesthesia licensing, for example, may be perfectly normal where you live now, but in some areas it’s a new practice and some doctors just aren’t as comfortable with it yet. Are you okay with that?

Networking

The absolute best and most important thing you can do is begin networking with other hygienists in the new area. You can find them on LinkedIn or Facebook in many cases. Or perhaps you have friends in the new area that have contacts.

There are lots of dental hygiene Facebook discussion groups that are tied to specific cities or regions and I believe most followers of those groups will be happy to help you. I help administrate the largest social media group on LinkedIn called Dental Hygienists (at coming up on 13,500 members, you can click here to join them).

I had one client who contacted some dentists and hygienists in the area she wanted to move to and was able to not only make some new friends, but ended up lining up a couple interviews before she even moved there.

Here’s a good approach for that instead of “Do you have any job openings?” Ask instead, “What advice would you give a hygienist looking for work in your area?” People love giving advice – it’s less threatening, yet if they do happen to have or know of an opening, they will share it with you.

If you plan an actual field trip to the new area, consider contacting a few working dental hygienists in the area you want to work in and offer to take them out to lunch – but target ones who are active in the local association as they will generally be better connected. Just tell them you are looking for mentors and contacts to help you find work.

Consider visiting at a time when you can attend a local dental conference or monthly chapter meeting. That will land some great opportunities to network. Bring lots of business cards or postcards to hand out.

Finally, contact the local temp agency. They can get you up to speed on the area’s job scene.

Marketing Materials

I mentioned getting some postcards printed to hand out. That’s a great strategy but try and concentrate it on a smaller radius of where you might want to live, then mail them out to the broader area.

I would also recommend that on your resume you remove your mailing address. Employers look for the least path of resistance and also for any small thing they can to eliminate you as a potential candidate – where you live could be an automatic dis-qualifier for them.

You may even want to consider getting a Google Voice phone number (free) with a prefix that is more common to the area you want to move to.

Staffing Agency

The local staffing agency can be a huge resource to helping you get off on the right foot. Make an appointment to meet with them to talk about the local job scene. Treat your visit with them like a job interview – impress them, make them want to give you their best leads and staffing opportunities.

Finding a job in another city is challenging, but with the right preparation and steps to market yourself you can land a great dental hygiene job.

Getting Dental Hygiene Employers to Know Like and Trust YOU

January 7, 2015 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Getting a potential employer to decide to hire you may seem daunting. But it’s really just a matter of helping them begin to know, like and trust you.

Credibility is one of the key forces behind the know-like-trust factor so it’s worth doing a few extra things in your job search to strengthen your credibility.

Here’s five suggestions, above and beyond your resume and job interviews, to create and build credibility with potential employers (as well as peers).

[Website Service]

1. Testimonials

If you only do one of these five things, let it be this. Over the course of your career gather letters of reference and testimonials from employers, co-workers and patients. You don’t have to ask everyone, but as you receive pats on the back, be they verbal or in writing, save them!

Keep a file of them and add them to a testimonial sheet that can accompany your resume whenever you apply for a job. Also, very seriously consider launching a website for yourself (a real .com address you can keep updated and ready for a new job hunt). We provide this service pretty inexpensively and can even show you how to keep it updated, including adding testimonials as the occur.

2. CAR Information

I’ve written previously about also keeping a CAR (Challenge Action Result) Sheet. This is documentation that you have experienced real-life, challenging situations, knew what action to take, and ended up with a positive result. Stories are powerful persuasion tools and the cool thing is you can use them in writing (on a CAR Sheet or website) or during a job interview – both are great platforms for establishing credibility.

3. Social Media (your own site and others)
There are several social media platforms you can use to build professional credibility.

Two great ones are Facebook and LinkedIn, but there are also ways to do it on Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and others. I’ll suggest the former two as they are the ones I am most familiar and comfortable with.

Both platforms allow you to create a professional profile for yourself (basically your resume information). Even if you prefer not to expose the world to your personal Facebook page you can a professional page that is separate and only shows your dental hygiene self. LinkedIn is well established as the career social media site.

And both platforms allow you to join professional groups where you can co-mingle with other hygienists, dentists, assistants, front office personnel, and others in the dental field. But don’t just create a profile and abandon it, participate – share articles, share opinions, share your expertise. This is how you build your reputation, by simply showing up and participating.

When people see who you are behind the comments (your profile), that’s when the credibility-building (and networking) becomes magical. If you approach your networking with genuine-ness and helpfulness, and avoid complaining or gossiping, your credibility will soar.

I had a client tell me today she used LinkedIn to reach out and contact dentists in her area and actually landed an interview that way.

4. Association or Component Participation
A great way to get to know people is by serving them, and serving with them. Your local chapter of ADHA or CDHA, or even ADA are an incredible way to do this. Don’t just join the organization, get involved. If you only have an hour a week to put into it, that’s okay – offer it up to chapter leadership and see where that takes you.

Most associations would love to have someone come forward offering a little bit of their time. And in that process you will meet peers and other professionals that will see you as more than the average hygienist.

5. Written Contributions
There are numerous dental hygiene trade publications and blogs 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 if you have an interest in research and writing, request an opportunity to submit an article of your work. Not only will you gain some exposure with your peers, you will also have some great content to share on your resume, profile page, or professional website that will make you shine like the tip of a new 11/12 scaler (okay, lame metaphor, but you get the point :-).

How to Secretly Kick Start Your Dental Hygiene Job Search

December 9, 2014 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Dental hygiene job searching is a little like dating, right? You have to put yourself out there so employers know you are available. But before you do that – you need to do some things behind the scenes.

Finding a good match begins with honing in on your pool of potentials. Doing so will save you time and money, and will help you find a job faster.

One of the keys to success (and probably most over-looked) my wife Tracie had with finding a dental hygiene job so quickly was that we narrowed the focus.

In her case, she didn’t want to work more than 10 miles from our house – and the closer to home the better, for many reasons. There were also one or two offices she knew would not be worth marketing to for various reasons.

So here are the four things we did – and at the end I want to give you a FREE copy of the spreadsheet we used.

[Postcard Service]

Step 1: Define Your Pool

The first and most obvious thing to do is figure out geographically how far you are willing to travel for a great dental hygiene job. Put a number on it – is it 5 miles? 10? 20?

Now, think about anything that might possibly eliminate an office. Maybe it’s the type of office or things you know about that office that make you shutter. Make a list of those offices – a no-way-in-heck list!

Step 2: Gather the Data

This can be the painful part because it took me and Tracie hours and hours to type all this in. And we had even narrowed the list down to about 110 offices! Some clients I have worked with had a pool of nearly 500 offices!

But here’s a tip: If you don’t have the time and are willing to shell out say $20-40, you can actually hire someone online to do this for you. I usually recommend Elance.com or Fiverr.com, but I noticed a new site called PeopleBytheHour.com that just opened recently. The point is, it’s not hard to find someone willing to do all the research for you. Just tell them what you want, and you can get it back within just a couple days.

Of course you can do as we did and Google your way to this information. It’s out there, and lots of online directories like yellowpages.com or yelp.com. In fact, it doesn’t hurt to look at multiple directories as one might be more current than another.

Gather as much as you can. We gathered (and you will see in the download) not just addresses, but also e-mail addresses, website addresses and social media (specifically Facebook) addresses. Those latter three are useful when it comes time to market yourself.

Step 3: Launch Your Marketing Effort

Next week, I am going to talk more in-depth about how to create an organized plan or campaign. So you’ll have to hold on a bit longer for more detail on this, but it will include both reactive and proactive strategies you can do once you know who are targeting… so stay tuned!

Step 4: Observe and Keep it Alive

This is the most important and useful part of creating this spreadsheet. You need to keep adding to it as you gather more information. I included a section for notes so we could add observations.

Just a few observations we would add are details about whether the office seemed to employ a hygienist or not; or if the office always seemed to be hiring people (could be a bit of a red flag).

We also used it to keep track of offices she would temp at and whether the experience was good or bad. This can also prove useful in tracking your earnings at various offices for tax purposes.

There’s lots of small pieces of information that can come in very handy and be to your advantage to keep a record or note of and doing so in a spreadsheet will save you lots of time and money in the end as you are seeking a new dental hygiene job.

Free Download

This spreadsheet is what we used and we hope it helps get you started in tracking your potential pool of employers. Next week, we’ll show you how you can put this information to work for you.

Dental Hygiene Job Seeker Database (Excel File Version)

Dental Hygiene Job Seeker Database (CSV File Version)

Creating a Dental Hygienist Letter of Introduction

November 19, 2014 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

The other day I had a client ask for help creating a dental hygienist letter of introduction, which I was happy to do.

So what’s the difference between that and a cover letter?

A cover letter is sent with your resume for a specific job opening (learn more about cover letters here). But a letter of introduction is something you include with your resume when an office hasn’t advertised a job opening.

Are they the first tool I would use to land a dental hygiene job? No, I believe a postcard is more effective. But an introduction letter with a cover can be effective and people HAVE found dental hygiene jobs this way. So I am happy to share the elements of what I feel are an effective letter of introduction.

[Resume Service]

Begin with Traditional Header Information
Start your letter of introduction the same way you would a cover letter, which are basic standard practices for writing a business letter. Begin with the date at the top left, drop down two lines then put your return address information (unless you have your own letterhead stationery, which I recommend). Then two more lines down and put the sender’s name and address. Finally, drop down two more lines and add the salutation (“Dear Dr. Smiles,”).

Paragraph One
Your first paragraph needs to be very simple and straight to the point. Lots of people write these letters and leave people guessing as to what the purpose of the letter is. Make it very clear you are actively seeking employment.

I am actively seeking temporary or permanent employment as a registered dental hygienist.

Paragraph Two
Acknowledge they are not necessarily looking for a hygienist and add that your desire is that they keep your information should there be an opening in the near future.

While I recognize you may not be seeking a dental hygienist presently, I hope you will keep my information in the event something becomes available in the near future (either permanent or temporary).

Paragraph Three
Now you need to tell them why they should keep your information. Refer them to your resume for all the technical skills and experience information, then drive them right into your personal brand – the soft skills that really matter in dental hygiene. Hint: These are often things that make you great with patients and co-workers.

Along with my experience and skills, which are detailed in my attached resume, I believe you will find that I have many other strengths and would be a good fit at your practice. These include:
• Ability to quickly relate to patients
• Detail oriented
• Professional and focused

Paragraph Four
You’ve just told them why you are great, now give them some value-add information. This could be that you live within a mile of the practice and personally know many of their patients. Or it could be that you have just recently completed some valuable training on customer service. Just point out something that makes you extra-irresistible.

As an added benefit, I am also good friends with Ashley Tanner, who has been a long-time assistant at your practice. She can share more about my character and abilities as a dental hygienist.

Paragraph Five
Always finish letters off with a call to action. Want to make it clear you would enjoy talking with them more and how to reach you.

I would love for an opportunity to share more about myself with you. You can reach me at 000-000-0000 or by e-mail at ashleyrdh@gmail.com

The Finish
Then finish it off with your signature line. Beneath that, if you have an online presence (ie website or LinkedIn profile page), include that link. Those links are hard to ignore – curiosity often will lead the recipient into your online information and that can only help you even more. Read more about resume website’s here.

!!!BONUS!!!

Aren’t you glad you read down this far? As an added bonus today – I want to give you a FREE template for a letter of Introduction. Click here to get the Letter of Introduction Template.

Dental Hygiene Job Hunting Resources

Dental Hygiene Job Hunting From a Distance

Getting Dental Hygiene Employers to Know Like and Trust YOU

How to Secretly Kick Start Your Dental Hygiene Job Search

Creating a Dental Hygienist Letter of Introduction

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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