landing a great dental hygiene job Archives - RDH Resumes and Career Guidance

What Does an E-mail Address Say About a Dental Hygiene Job Seeker?

February 18, 2015 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Its often been said that little things can have a big impact – and so I hope you will receive today’s dental hygiene job hunting tip with that in mind.

The problem with small things is they are easy to over look or put off, yet collectively and sometimes even individually, they really do help differentiate yourself from others.

So today’s recommendation is that you take another look at your e-mail address. Some of you have a great, professional e-mail address for job hunting. Others use one you’ve always used and maybe it’s functional but doesn’t really communicate what you want it to.

An e-mail address that communicates something??? Sounds strange, I know, but again it points to taking care of all the small things to create a positive result.

Here are six types of e-mail addresses dental hygiene job seekers should avoid using and two that work great.

All In the Family (example: cindyandjeff@gmail.com)
E-mail addresses are free and most people have more than one nowadays. So there’s really no reason to share one for job hunting purposes – it could send a message that you are not savy or pro-active enough to create a personal one, which could lead employers to thinking you aren’t up to speed on technology. Or they might even wonder if a message will actually get to YOU.

Provocative or Vain (example: 2hot4u@gmail.com or bicardigirl@gmail.com )
It used to be fun to come up with interesting or unforgettable e-mail addresses – sorta like a vanity license plate – but that’s so 1990s. When applying for a job, you really need to portray an attitude of complete professionalism. The only exception to this would be my last example – when it relates to your passion for dental hygiene.

Too Much Information (example: emily1976@gmail.com)
Sometimes when we can’t have just our name we put it in combination with something like an important year in our life. Caution: for those sensitive to age discrimination this may be a dead giveaway!

Not Enough Information (example: emr90@gmail.com or 990_toop@gmail.com)
Some create cryptic addresses or ones that just have initials and a number. These addresses are harder to type in and impossible to remember. If it’s hard to type in, you run the risk they will type it wrong and you’ll never hear from them (even though they tried) and you are missing an opportunity to communicate something real and more meaningful.

Mixing Work with Personal (example: emily@monarchdental.com)
Some employers give you an e-mail address… for work (servicing clients, communicating with suppliers, etc.), not for personal reasons. You’ll put a bad taste in a potential employers mouth if you use your work e-mail to apply for a job with them. Whether true or not, they might assume you sent it while at work – an even bigger no-no.

Time to Cut the Strings (example: emily2015@college.edu)
No doubt you’ve had a great experience in dental hygiene school (okay, you can laugh now)! But, seriously, for some soon-to-be or new grads still hanging on to that e-mail address you got through your college, it’s time to get an address that doesn’t convey how inexperienced you are.

Okay, we’ve slammed all the wrong ways enough. Here’s the right way to create a professional e-mail address that portrays you as a serious job seeker.

Really Good (example: emilyjonesRDH@gmail.com or emily@emilyjonesrdh.com)
Create an address with your first and last name and throw in RDH at the end. There’s a good chance that adding RDH will guarantee you can include your first and last name without any need for numbers or symbols. Your name is an important brand symbol (think of it as your company name) – you want that in front of potential employers as much as possible so it sticks. So making it clear and identifiable within your e-mail address is a small, but smart thing.

Also Acceptable (examples: emilylovesteeth@gmail.com or smilemakeremily@gmail.com)
If you have a flare for creativity, you can create some fun ones that are memorable and not out of line as a job applicant. I still don’t think this type is best, but I also don’t think it hurts much.

Final Recommendation
Most e-mail service providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail have the ability for you to have multiple e-mail addresses that go into one box. You just need to look up what the settings are for your provider. That saves you the hassle of having to check multiple accounts and potentially missing something important.

Are You Boring Potential Dental Hygiene Employers?

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

Tight job markets, like dental hygiene, often mean going many months and even years before you land a job. No one really loves looking for a job so it only makes sense that when it drags on and on – rejection after rejection – the whole process wears you down and any enthusiasm you were able to muster early on is long gone.

Unfortunately, it shows.

It often shows in your voice, the language you use, facial expressions and your posture, too. It even shows in your resume and other materials.

If you’ve been looking for a job for more than three months and plan to continue in the same patterns, it’s time for a change.

A few years ago I lost 60 pounds over the course of two years, in preparation for two marathons I ran. While you might consider that a success (I certainly do), it wasn’t without lots of failures in between. I would go along great for a couple months (lose 1-2 lbs a week) then I would hit a wall.

The problem wasn’t because I wasn’t doing the right things, but rather because I was doing the SAME things as a routine. My body got used to them and adapted (our bodies resist losing weight – it’s a natural survival instinct built within us).

Searching for a dental hygiene job can be the same way. You may have some good routines in the beginning and a decent set of materials, but over time the experience becomes stale and old and you’ve lost the motivation and excitement. That’s when it’s time to hit pause and shake things up a bit with a fresh or different approach.

Here are five ways you can shake things up in your dental hygiene job search:

Job Searches
Instead of checking the same old job boards you do every day (yes, you should continue that). Be proactive and send out some postcards. Remember 75% of all job openings are unadvertised. That means there are huge numbers of employers looking for employees you will never even hear about because your job search is restricted to just checking for the latest openings on job boards.

Temp Agency Feedback
Meet in person with your local staffing agency and ask for their opinion on your approach. Let them coach you and give you some honest feedback and critique. There may be something you are or are not doing that could make a big difference. Moreover, if they have a client like you who is genuinely seeking their guidance they will go to bat for you and help you.

Resume & Cover Letter
Look at your resume and cover letter. Do they look and read like everyone else’s? Add some color, a design, maybe your picture, or re-write and organize the text differently. Play around with it and ask for feedback from professionals (including us at GetHiredRDH.com).

Drop-In Visits
Take 15-30 minutes out of each day and make it a goal to drop in on three offices (ones that are close to each other). Introduce yourself and that you are seeking temporary or permanent work. Leave them with a business card or postcard. Heck, leave them with a plate of cookies – that’s memorable!

Branch Out
Connect with other hygienists in your area virtually through a number of different social media sites that exist. If there isn’t one that exists then start one! As a more physical approach, contact some offices and ask the hygienist if you can come in and observe how they interact with patients.

Just do this in one-hour chunks with several offices per month. Compliment them (genuinely) if they do a great job and thank them – boom! You just made a valuable contact and you will likely even get the chance to meet the staff and dentist(s). If they don’t have an opening, maybe they will know someone who does.

In summary, just do things different than you have in the past. This alone will help increase your enthusiasm and your new approach(es) will give you confidence and show up on your face, in your voice, and overall attitude.

Finding Dental Hygiene Jobs from a Distance

October 2, 2014 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Finding dental hygiene jobs in the area you live in can be pretty challenging, right? How about trying to find a dental hygiene job from a distance – as in hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Sounds impossible!

It can for sure be harder, but not impossible.

So let’s talk about some ideas on how you can do this.

Research

It’s really important you get a handle on the situation where you want to move to. What’s an average salary there? Are there any jobs?

In talking with hygienists across the United States and Canada (I think I’ve now had at least one client in every state and province now), the problem of finding a dental hygiene job is shared. Some areas seem to be a little worse than others. A hygienist in Florida was telling me the other day that there are something like 19 dental hygiene schools there and that the average salary is well below the national average.

I haven’t verified that so if it’s incorrect I apologize, but that’s the kind of thing you would want to find out beforehand because it may impact your decision to even begin a search from a distance.

Licensure

The next thing you will need to consider, and hopefully this is obvious, is RDH licensure. How do you get it, what’s legal there and what’s not. Some states allow for anesthesia licensing and others don’t.

And you may want to consider, too, that if anesthesia licensing is new to the area you considering that many doctors may still not be comfortable with hygienists getting their patients numb – I hear lots of reports about that!

Decision Time

Once you’ve researched the area and have the licensing figured out. You have to decide how to conduct your job search. Will you do it completely from a distance? Will you visit there once or twice for a few days or even weeks? Or will you simply roll the dice and move there?

If you have family there it makes the whole process easier, but even then can be risky if you leaving a paying job behind.

It impacts some of the advice I give below so think that through carefully.

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 will be happy to help 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. Just tell them you are looking for mentors and contacts to help you find work. I would also have some postcards designed and hand deliver as many as you can while there.

I would also get in touch with the local component leadership and maybe even do the same – offer to take them to lunch or for a cup of coffee.

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

GetHiredRDH.com Profile: Linda

November 15, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

This week we’ll take a break from OUR tips and share some inspiration from YOU. A few weeks ago we interviewed Linda from Texas, who has been a working hygienist for 28 years.

GetHiredRDH: Tell us about the moment you knew you wanted to become a Dental Hygienist?

Linda: When I had worked as a RDA the hygienist working in my office encouraged me. I watched her serve her patients. One day my boss allowed me to clean his teeth. I tried to mimic what I had seen the hygienist do. I realized I wanted to provide more for my patients. I applied to DH school within six months of that experience.

GetHiredRDH: Tell us about a professional mentor or favorite quote that inspires you professionally?

Linda: I have someone that has inspired me throughout my career. She was my freshman sister in hygiene school. She encouraged me to continue my studies by example. She is a dedicated professional and I am in debt to her.

GetHiredRDH: What’s the most challenging thing about finding an RDH job?

Linda: Finding a clinical job is difficult enough but finding a place that I can practice my profession is even more difficult. Hygienists, in most states,are required to have general and direct supervision. Therefore my professional practice is dependent on the dentist/employer’s vision.

GetHiredRDH: Tell us about your experience landing your current job (how long you were searching, how many other jobs you had applied for, the interview(s), etc.).

Linda: I was searching for a position full or part time in an office where I could exercise my skill and knowledge for the benefit of the patient. I was having difficulty. I decided to give of my self. There is a community center that has a dental unit. I volunteered once a month from August to February. In February I worked with the Clinic’s dentist, son of the founding dentist. He liked my work and said he’d open up a day a week in his office for me. Bam! Since then I have been offered more hours: two and a half days a week.

GetHiredRDH: Boil it down, what were some of the key factors that helped you get your current job?

Linda: I used my skill, knowledge, empathy and sense of humor. The employer acknowledged these traits and brought me on board.

GetHiredRDH: What advice would you give other hygienists who are struggling to find a job (or the right job)?

Linda: Never believe you are not good enough. You have just yet to find the right position for you. Volunteer, get involved, stay current.

GetHiredRDH Tip #9: Share the Love

November 8, 2013 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Several of our recent RDH resume writing clients have asked, “I get lots of good reviews from patients. How can I use them?”

Patient reviews and doctor references are absolute gold! Whether you are looking for a job or not you should always save them.

But what do you do with them? We’ve been creating for our clients what we call “Reference Sheets” to accompany their cover letter and resume. This week’s tip goes over what those look like and include.

Start with What You Have

To begin with, take a look at what you have. Some hygienist may have two or three letters of reference from a doctor, but no reviews from patients. Or maybe, they have some reviews but no letters of reference.

So we advice professionals to create a new page (Reference Sheet) that will accompany their cover letter and resume. Title the page “Reference Information,” and include a short sentence on what it is you are offering up. Be sure to include that full letters of reference and/or more details “are available upon request.” It would be rare that a dentist would ask for them but you want to offer it up so they know you are being truthful about their existence.

Make it Part of Your Resume “Family”

Next, format your Reference Sheet to look similar to the resume design scheme (same colors, font, style, etc). Start with your letters of reference. Create a sub-heading and then under it copy and paste or re-write the best paragraph out of each letter. Then include the date, name, and title of the person who gave it. You could even include their phone number.

After that, do the same thing for patient reviews. The only difference is you don’t want to include the patient’s full name. You could even put in a fake name if you are worried their confidence would be compromised in any way. And you may also want to add where the review was left (ie Google Reviews, Yelp, Angie’s List or other places).

Ideally, you would have three quotes from letters of reference and about five or six patient reviews and have them all fit on one page (one side). Obviously, it’s better if the reviews include your actual name and are not simply calling you “the hygienist” or “girl that cleaned my teeth.” But use the best of whatever you have, even if it only references you by title and not name.

We’ll be talking about a resume kit in the next week or two so you can see how this Reference Sheet can be assembled with your other materials.

Bonus Tip: Don’t have many reviews? You should ask for them. Most people are happy to give you one, but you have to ask. Make a point of asking one patient each week or month (you choose the interval) so you have a steady stream of good reviews you are collecting.

What Does an E-mail Address Say About a Dental Hygiene Job Seeker?

Are You Boring Potential Dental Hygiene Employers?

Finding Dental Hygiene Jobs from a Distance

GetHiredRDH.com Profile: Linda

GetHiredRDH Tip #9: Share the Love

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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