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All Dental Employers Have Two Questions About Job Seekers

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

There are two questions about job seekers ALL dental employers have. It’s game-changer information for them, but they will rarely ask straight up.

Maybe they feel these questions about job seekers are too obvious or perhaps they are silently assessing you based on other information. Whatever the case, you need to respond to these two needs they have over and over again even if they aren’t asking. Very likely, they will be the deciding factors for your employment.

They are your ability to create a great relationship with the employer (and staff) and your ability to create great relationships with patients.

Relationships with Employer and Staff

relationships with employer and staffNo one likes office drama, and in my experience, a lot of dental employers are great at their trade of diagnosis and restoration. But they are not always the best at communication and managing employees. I believe most mean well, but it’s a common complaint of dental employees I hear almost every day.

Keep in mind, there are some absolutely outstanding dental employers out there who are very skilled leaders. I hear those stories, too.

But all dental employers, both good and bad, want to surround themselves with a great team. A team that works and plays extremely well together. This is critical to not only the performance of each person’s duties, but also the chemistry that environment creates for patients.

Running a business is stressful, even if it’s lucrative. Dental employers simply won’t take a risk on someone who doesn’t display a clear ability to build and maintain a strong relationship with co-workers. They want someone who is friendly, personable, and likable. They are searching for a dental hygiene employee that makes those around them better.

Extra points if they are charismatic and articulate, and thus able to serve as a mentor.

Relationships with Patients

relationships with patientsThis might seem like a no-brainer but it’s important to mention because employers won’t hire someone who will potentially offend any customer. Again, they have a lot invested in their business. Offended patients can damage that.

Hygienists, assistants, and front office personnel all have the opportunity to create great experiences for patients… and bad ones, too. Employees know that and are guarding against it constantly, especially with new hires.

Before you are offered the job they have to trust that you are going to always represent the office professionally and respectfully. And, above that, do everything to ensure patients have a great experience. They want to know you will deliver over-the-top service that inspires loyalty and grows the patient base.

Answering Their Questions About Job Seekers

questions about job seekersSo how do you communicate that? How do you convince them? Especially when they aren’t really coming right out and asking these questions.

The most important strategy is that you are fully aware of these two questions about job seekers and that you look for every opportunity to showcase your talent for them. This list below is just a starting point. Think about your own situation and how you can communicate your relationship-building skills.

Resume

Your summary or “About Me” section, at the top of your resume, should address both of these points very succinctly. Tell them you what they can expect if they hire you. Go here to read about the About Me section.

Cover Letter

A cover letter is a great place to talk about relationship skills. It’s really just an expanded summary of the About Me section of your resume, blended with an outline of how you match their qualifications. You can read more about cover letters here.

Testimonial Sheet

A testimonial sheet is a document that includes quotes of comments co-workers, employers, and patients have given about you. These work well because it’s not YOU promoting you, it’s OTHERS. And that lends a higher degree of credibility with those looking to hire you. You should seek out lots of testimonials so you can use the best of the best, those that talk about relationship-building skills. Here’s some additional information about them.

CAR Sheet

CAR Sheets are basically a series of short-form case studies. These case studies are not a discussion of clinical cases, but rather cases of how you have successfully handled challenging interpersonal relationship issues. CAR stands for Challenge – Action – Response. Each one only needs to be about three to five sentences (a paragraph). If you need more details about CAR Sheets, click here.

Digital Materials

I’ve mentioned many times over the years the importance of an online presence for your professional information – could be your own personal website or possibly a LinkedIn profile page. Video resumes are also becoming a valuable tool. Just like the others mentioned above, be sure to intentionally address your patient and co-worker relationship-building skills.

Interviews

Finally, come to your interview ready to share great stories, examples, and experiences. Information employers need will be anything that demonstrates you are a complimentary co-worker to teams you have worked with in the past. Your CAR Sheet, mentioned above, is a great resource for this.

Summary

Your ability to answer the unspoken questions about job seekers, showcasing your relationship-building skills with co-workers and patients is critical. Of course, other technical and soft skills should be presented, but how well you work with co-workers and patients will likely be the deciding factor in nearly every office.

So, be intentional in your efforts to bring these things to the forefront in all your materials and interviews. This will greatly enhance your marketability greatly improve your chances of landing a great dental hygiene job.

As a bonus this week, I want to share with you some really quick but great tips on relationship building from networking expert Amanda Rose.

Four Ways Dental Employers Judge You in 2016

By

Doug Perry
Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

Over the years, dental employers have used different markers and methods for determining the best dental hygienist for the job. But it’s clearly shifted in the last 10 years, making it important to know what they are looking for before you arrive at your job interview.

Dental hygiene skills are important, but it’s really hard to show how good you are at periodontal disease diagnoses or how proficient you are in scaling. Employers know that, so they start to look for other factors in the interview process to help them decide if you are the complete package of what they are looking for.

Here are four areas employers are judging you heavily on:

Enthusiasm

Employers want dental hygiene candidates with a positive and optimistic attitude. When you are interviewing, lean forward in your chair with good posture – you literally want to be sitting on the edge of your seat. That helps project confidence and enthusiasm in your body language. But also don’t forget to lots of eye contact and to inject some youthful enthusiasm in your voice.

Avoid sarcastic comments (even if harmless about things like the weather) or sharing an overly dim view of ANY past work experience. If you need to say something negative for context, always follow it up with the flip side using transitional words like “but on the other hand…” or minimize the negative parts of your experience with lengthier descriptions of what you learned or gained. In other words, show that you know how to make lemonade out of lemons.

Also, in the flow of your conversation, show them you are fully engaged in what they are saying by rephrasing each of their questions before you respond. This demonstrates that you are understanding each other, but it’s also modeling strong communication habits – obviously a skill they are watching for.

Practice how you talk about things in a mock interview with a friend – have them share with you if you sound too monotone, gloomy, or slow. And the best enthusiastic impression you can leave of all is to smile a lot during the interview. That shouldn’t have to be said, but nerves and stress from the interview itself can cause you to forget so keep reminding yourself.

Communication Skills

I touched on this in the first section, but it deserves its own treatment because research has shown that across the board in all industries and careers, the number one most important trait employers want is for employees with strong communication skills.

Your ability to articulate your experiences and skills in the interview setting will go a long way toward you winning the job. But beyond that, people hire people they like so you really need to change the tone of the interview from a question and answer session to a conversation. Question and answer sessions often come off awkward or rehearsed and sometimes both. Conversations are relaxed, so come prepared to inject some questions of your own into each response you give so that a conversation can spring out of your response.

Patient Relations

It should come as no surprise that how good you are with patients is also something they are looking for. You have to not only be good at relating to patients but doing so quickly – there simply isn’t a lot of time to ease into it.

This also of course includes your ability to be a cheerleader for good oral health practices you see patients using, and your ability to influence others toward better habits. Be prepared to talk about the dichotomy of those two experiences because it’s really important for a dental employer to see that you are flexible and can be a powerful expert at the practice.

Another tip is if you actually know some of their patients, this is the time to do some name-dropping. If you already have a relationship with some of their patients their confidence in you will shoot through the roof and you’ll have a huge advantage over others.

Office Culture

Finally, employers need and are looking for a hygienist who isn’t just good at what they do, but able to blend in with lots of different personalities.

Co-worker drama is one thing employers absolutely dread and if they have any inkling that you will be creating or adding their “office family” you won’t get the job. Along with hurting moral, an office that is not cohesive and bonded together like family is less effective financially – which is obviously a huge driver for employers.

So treat every interaction you have with the front office and assistants with great care – showcase your relationship building skills with them. Even though they may not be interviewing you, you can be sure they are checking you out and reporting that back to the employer. Your ability to connect with them is equally and sometimes more important than with the employer.

And then in the interview be sure to talk about team-work and working well with all personality types so the employer at least knows you are aware of how important these factors are to an office.

Summary

Job interviews are challenging and it’s okay to feel intimidated by them if it forces you to prepare in these four areas of enthusiasm, communication, patient relations, and office culture.

The more you are prepared, the better the result. In fact, you should expect a better result!

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