personal brand Archives - RDH Resumes and Career Guidance

Dental Hygiene Job Search: How to REALLY Stand Out

September 28, 2015 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Doug Perry, RDH Resume Coach

Think of your dental hygiene job search the way Nike thinks about a new product. Granted, you are not shoes or apparel, and you aren’t trying to communicate who you are to millions (even billions) of people. Businesses like Nike have to stand out or they lose customers and money.

But, just like Nike, you have a brand and something to lose as well. Your brand is a promise of what an employer can expect if they hire you. Are you meticulous? Ultra-experienced? Great with special needs patients?

Let’s figure out your unique promise so you can differentiate yourself from other job seekers.

What Do You Think?

The first step is some introspection – take some time to think about and write down the type of person you are in three different settings. These settings can and will overlap (no one is entirely different in each setting). But when you begin to put them together, you will see your strongest attributes are those that fit within multiple settings. Here are the three settings:

Individual – your strengths that show when you are not around others or when you work independently of anyone;
Social – your strengths when you are relaxed with friends and family; and
Professional – your strengths when you are working with others (both patients and co-workers).

Now organize your strengths, recognizing that some fit well in one circle, but not another or that fit in multiple circles (overlap). Those that overlap in at least two circles are the start of your brand. But you’re not finished yet. This still needs to be validated before you are ready to push it out there.

What Do Others Think?

“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.

Now let’s finish by gathering some additional information. You need to know what your friends, family, and colleagues think your brand is. You might think, “My biggest strength is that I’m really team-oriented,” but if the feedback you get from others doesn’t match up then you probably haven’t captured your brand yet. The more people you talk to the more clear the picture will be. Once you begin to hear some of the same things from person to person, you can now merge that information with your self-evaluation and move to the next stage of the process – which is to prepare your materials (resume, cover letter, etc) and your in-person messaging (answering interview questions, body language, etc.).

To get this feedback from others, I would recommend you do it not only in an intentional way (setting up some time to talk about it with someone), but also in normal situations you find yourself in. For example, as you are working side-by-side with a colleague, interject where it seems natural one of your core perceived strengths – let’s say it’s to be more personable.

“Sandy was sure talkative today, it was hard for me to focus on talking to her about her flossing technique. I’m trying to be personable with her. What do you think I should do to be more personable?”

Using this approach, you open the door for some conversation about this strength and if it’s really is a skill you’ve mastered. The idea is to make the conversation completely non-biased and non-threatening to the person you are having it with, so they can feel it’s safe to be honest. Let them know you want to improve and if you need to they can feel comfortable sharing some things. If not, then you are probably right about it being a key strength.

Repeat this many times (and continue to do it throughout your career) and you will not only learn some things about yourself, but also become a better hygienist.

Now What?

Once you have this information – even just a beginning foundation of a personal brand – it will help you sort through what is unique about you so you can communicate that in your cover letter, resume, and job interviews. Bonus points if you can tie this into what others say about you in the form of a testimonial sheet or if you can communicate simple examples of your work on a CAR Sheet – that will really backup and add huge strength to your personal brand!

So, what this boils down to is in how you write your materials, the way you describe things in person, the way they find more about your online (either through a personal website or LinkedIn profile), what others say about you, how you conduct yourself in interviews (formal and working) should be as consistent as you can possibly make it. Hone in on your brand strengths and it will be difficult to ignore when it comes to decision time for an employer.

Remember, branding is about selling your unique promise to an employer. Most job seekers won’t go to this length because it takes time. But when you don’t have a unique promise about you, you are essentially making it harder for a hiring employer. They won’t know what what to expect – you will appear to be an average candidate.

How Does a Personal Brand Make a Difference?

This approach will make you appear (and feel) more organized and confident, which are desired attributes in a job seeker.

But more important, employers want predictability when it comes to hiring someone. They want to know based on the brief introductions they have had with you that you are everything you claim to be. The more you can drive home your personal brand, the more confident they will feel in hiring you.

Employers will also make assumptions about you. If some of those assumptions include that you are well-organized in how you present yourself, they will make the assumption (and it’s probably true) that you will reflect this to their patients. “If she seeks to show a high level of professionalism in finding a job, then she will do the same at my practice,” might be one way an employer would think.

Summing it Up

Again, you have a personal brand – everyone does – but you may not be showcasing it nearly enough. Or maybe you are trying to share it, but there’s something that’s inconsistent about the whole package and this raises some red flags for employers.

Wherever you are at with it, take some time to really know your brand, organize it on paper, validate it through others, and take ownership of it by letting it show up consistently throughout your materials and presentation and this will strengthen your ability to land a great dental hygiene job.

Ditch Your Dental Hygiene Resume Objective

March 25, 2015 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Easy question: What’s the most important part of any written document?

Easy answer: The top!

For obvious reasons, the top of your resume is the most important one-third of the paper. That’s where our human eyes are trained to go first – so what you put up there should appear perfect and balanced. It’s the starting line for an employers eyes to stroll (in many cases, a sprint!) down through the rest of your information to the bottom.

The top of your resume usually includes three or four key elements: Your name, contact information, a picture of you (which is optional), and a summary statement (traditionally called an “Objective”). But take note, the traditional Objective section has changed in the last 10 years and many professional resume writers (myself included) are no longer taking the same approach.

Your most important task as a job seeker is to differentiate yourself from other job seekers. You don’t want to be perceived as just another applicant in any profession. But for dental hygienists its even more critical – your job market is one of the most competitive out there. Preaching to the choir, right?

Everything you do – your resume and other materials to your dress and how you respond to questions – should have that goal of being different in mind. If not, you could be missing out on the best job of your career.

The space at the top of most dental hygiene (and other) resumes is wasted on a tired, over-used statement about “furthering my career as a dental hygienist” or something similar. That’s a nice objective, unfortunately everyone’s statement is the same and so employers gain nothing from it.

New Section Title

Instead, re-label the section “About Me” or “About Jennifer” and then really talk about you (more on that below). What sounds more interesting, enticing and friendly, Objective or About Me? This will help to draw the employer into your world in a non-threatening, relaxed manner. It’s also become a much more accepting phrase for offering a basic introduction to people, places and things, thanks to the Internet. One added bonus to changing your section title is that 90-95% of all the resumes out there are still using the word “Objective” so an “About Me” gives you an immediate differentiation from nearly every applicant.

New Section Content

The term “elevator pitch” is used to describe a very short verbal statement that describes who you are or what you do (or both) in the time it takes to enter and exit the elevator from a very short distance (one or two floors). In sales, everything is truncated so that you can impart and influence someone quickly. Think of your About Me content as a type of elevator pitch.

Craft your About Me into a statement that helps an employer quickly begin to know, like and trust you. Obliterate all thoughts of the old objective statement – the employer already knows it’s your objective to work for them (that’s obvious). What they really want to know is who you are and here’s how you do it:

Keep it short. One to two sentences in most cases, and somewhere between 35 and 50 words. If you get too wordy they won’t read it.
Devote the first sentence to the type of clinician you are for patients; and then the second sentence to the type of employee/co-worker you are for your boss. So long as technical qualifications are met (you are licensed and experienced), those are the two most important considerations for an employer.
Include a flavor for your personal brand – two or three things (adjectives) that make you especially unique or different (there’s that word again). Here’s a list of more than 100 positive adjectives you can use to describe yourself.
Use an active as opposed to passive voice to help conserve words and drive straight to your points. Here’s a quick explanation of active vs. passive writing.
Finally, one alternative, or possibly an add-on to the statement is to share a story of why you became a hygienist. Stories are both engaging and can give readers great insight into you. Just keep it very short (one sentence) and with a point, then go into the type of clinician your are for the second sentence and the type of employee you are for the final sentence.

Easy, right?

Well, if you are still struggling to figure it out, here’s a couple samples to get you going:

Example One: “As an experienced and friendly dental hygienist, I am confident and committed in my skill and ability to leave patients smiling and appreciate a work environment where I’m surrounded with an awesome team of fun and hard-working dental professionals.”

Example Two: “I became a dental hygienist because I loved how I felt after visiting my hygienist – I always left with a great smile. Now I enjoy doing the same for others, sharing my love for oral health with a dedicated group of compassionate professionals.”

What’s Your Unfair Advantage?

June 25, 2014 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

The other day I was at the store picking out some fruit (apples). There were several varieties on display and dozens to choose from of each variety.

My family likes the Gala variety and they are inexpensive, so I often go for those when I’m the one shopping (Tracie and I trade off). At first glance they all appeared the same, but looking closer I could see that while none were perfect, some were a better match of what I was looking for.

Those that I chose had an unfair advantage over the rest.

As a dental hygiene job seeker, you have your own list of unfair advantages over others. Everyone has them!

But are you aware of them and do you highlight or promote them? Most job seekers, not just hygienists, simply do what everyone else does and give potential employers a list of places they have worked, where they went to school, and tasks they know how to do – hoping that will somehow be enough.

But if everyone or most present themselves the same way, how is an employer to know what makes anyone unique or different?

Why not make a statement right from the start that you are going to be different to get different – do the uncommon things to get the uncommon results.

It all begins with your unfair advantages – things that make you who you are. Again, Everyone has them, but very few will take that next step and promote them.

Your Unfair Advantages

Everyone has at least five areas of unfair advantages:

Skills
Training
Experiences
Personality
Who you know

You could also make a strong case that proximity (or how far away you live from an office) that gives you an unfair advantage. And there are probably a few others too, but I think it’s important that you focus most of your attention on the five main areas mentioned above.

Also keep in mind, your unfair advantages could be individual things or the combination of several that inter-related. They may be enormous or only slight. But they are all important for you to identify.

Breaking Them Down With Examples

First, let’s identify them.

Skills: What routine dental hygiene tasks, skills or duties are you especially good at – better than the average hygienist? Some hygienists feel they are particularly good at educating and teaching patients, while others get great results treating perio patients.
Training: Do you have any additional training that not every hygienist has? Could be the use of lasers, or maybe you have a bachelors degree in dental hygiene.
Experiences: What unique experiences have you had? Special emphasis should be on ones that infer something about you (the type of employee you are). A couple months ago, my wife had a patient that had a seizure in the chair. Tracie has had previous experience helping people with seizures so she was able to spot the issue immediately and stabilize it. I had one client a few months ago that spotted a cancer growth and ended up saving the life of a patient.
Personality: What is your personality like? Are you extremely well organized or the life of the party? Are you patient with children or really good at building relations with adults? There is no right or wrong, it’s just who you are. One office may want the life of the party, while another prefers someone more serious.
Who You Know: How big is your professional network? Do you only know the staff in your office or have you have contacts at several offices? Have you restricted your contact to just professionals in your local association or do you have wide network the spans the globe?

Now Let’s Highlight and Promote Your Unfair Advantages
There are three places to do this:

In your job hunting materials,
At job interviews, and
As you participate in professional meetings and functions

When creating your job hunting materials, clearly word your unfair advantages through out. Sprinkle them into your resume, cover letter, postcards, business cards, and website. Then go the extra mile, create more unfair advantages by having a resume that looks and reads like you have got it all together. Add some color and graphics, coordinate the look of your materials, and don’t forget to create a Testimonial Sheet, where your fans are given the chance to back you up or confirm the unfair advantages you talk about it your materials.

Next, share actual stories and experiences of these unfair advantages. Job materials are all about telling a potential employer about your advantages and job interviews are all about giving examples of them. Be ready with a story or experience for each of them. Stories and examples help employers make stronger connections with what you are telling them and are a huge way to win them over.

Finally, networking with other professionals gives you and them a chance to create and build strong relationships. They can see and experience you for who you really are – that you are normal, that you work hard, that you are nice, or whatever your unfair advantages you have to offer. There’s very little that substitutes for actual experiences with people and only way to do that is to put yourself out there – network.

Also keep in mind that networking doesn’t have to be all in-person. While it’s better to meet people that way, you can do it virtually and also just as importantly, you can nurture existing relationships though digital communications (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Pinterest).

One final related note…

Do you feel like you only have one or two unfair advantages and want more? Whether you have one or dozens, keep building on existing ones and create new ones throughout your career.

Always look for opportunities to improve a core skill, get trained on a new technique, learn from a new experience, develop your interpersonal relations, and meet new people.

This is your career – your passion – make the most of it. Carp diem! Do that and you will always have plenty of professional unfair advantages to help get you land a great job.

Get Hired RDH #24: How to Create and Sell YOU to Employers

April 4, 2014 By Doug Perry, Dental Hygiene Resume Coach

Up until a week ago I was a pretty avid Diet Coke drinker – I’m trying to kick the habit lately. But I’ve realized over the years how good Coca-Cola is at marketing their product to me and millions of others (probably many of you).

Have you ever viewed your dental hygiene job search as similar to how Coca-Cola views their search for the perfect customer?

Okay, I agree. You are not a soft drink, but stay with me for a few minutes as I share how you can easily and successfully use the same “branding” strategies that Coke and others use to turn a potential employer into a real employer.

Just like Coca-Cola, you have a brand. In a nutshell, your brand is a promise of what your employer will get when he or she hires you. Are you great with kids? Are you good at helping patients relax? Do you work hard? Are you a team player?

By now you have probably nodded your head in agreement to all those things and I could probably keep listing you would keep nodding, right?

That’s fine, but dive into your own head and figure out what your brand is – your strengths! Then ask a few of your friends and acquaintances who know you professionally (so mom probably doesn’t count).

Take all that information and create a long list in a Word Document of everything. Leave it all there, but shorten it down to your top three to five at the top of the page – each one could be a word or a short statement. Save this document in the same folder as your resume because this is your brand and you’re going to be using it often as you market yourself as the best employee money can buy.

Next Steps

Okay, so a job opening is posted in an area near you – you’re interested. No joke, here’s a listing I found today as I am writing this that reads like this: “We are a fun, family dental practice looking for a self-motivated, enthusiastic, adaptable team player to join us 1-2 days per week, including Saturdays.”

“Perfect” your lips whisper as your eyes widen. You are only looking to work a day or two a week while you go to school and Saturdays are no problem.

Almost without looking you start to open up your generically-written cover letter and resume, save them as PDF files and begin composing an e-mail to send with your attachments.

STOP!!!

Before you send that e-mail, you’ve got some important things to do to improve your chances of getting an interview. It won’t take you long but it does make a difference.

Re-read the ad. They are a “fun” office and looking for someone “enthusiastic,” “self-motivated,” and “adaptable.” In one sentence they gave you a hint of their brand “fun” and the brand they are looking for “enthusiastic,” “self-motivated,” and “adaptable” (which are probably also extensions of their brand).

Now, open up the list of your branding traits. How does it match up? If not at all, then do some more investigating if it’s really the job you want. It’s okay if it’s not a perfect match, so long as you see some areas that are common.

Next, and most important of all, open that cover letter back up and make sure what it says reflects what they are looking for. Because while YOU know you are all of those things, they won’t unless you demonstrate or tell them about it.

Along with the usual paragraph formalities included in traditional cover letters, include a truthful paragraph about how you are a great fit for their office because along with your technical skills you are (bullet these out):

Have a high level of enthusiasm for dentistry,
Described by co-workers and friends as proactive or a self starter,
Uniquely skilled at adjusting to different job duties.

Did you see how I reflected exactly what they were looking for without copying and pasting their words? Assuming you are being honest, you should absolutely marry your brand with their brand in the cover letter. So open up that online thesaurus and find some synonyms that capture what they are saying without being a copycat.

This same approach should also be taken with your resume. Anything they want and you have, make sure you include that in your cover letter AND resume before you send them out.

Vague Ads

So what if you find a job listing that tells you next to nothing about them? It’s pretty rare for that to happen, but you can go to their website, visit their office, talk to people that know people who work there.

Anything you can pick up on that will give you clues as to the type of brand they are and are looking for will help you be able to position your brand as a great match with their brand. If you have extra time, you should try and do this anyway, especially if they invite you for an interview. The more you know, the better prepared you can be to match your brand.

Final Quick Tips

I could go on and on a lot longer, but let’s wrap this up with six additional quick tips:

If you get an interview, you’ll need to turn your brand into an “elevator speech” that you can share within 30 seconds to a minute. Google “elevator speech” to get some ideas.
Create a consistent “look” or design for your brand on any printed or electronic marketing you do for yourself (business cards, post cards, website, design of your resume, etc.).
Does your physical appearance match your brand? There’s a wealth of research on colors, clothing, and hairstyles that can help guide you in this area. Search for that, too.
Have your friends help you with your behavior and mannerisms, again to ensure they are consistent with what you are saying is your brand.
How about your voice? Nobody likes hearing their voice, but do you sound like you think your brand should sound? Friends are good for helping you with that, also.
Finally, make sure your social media sites and general presence on the Internet is not inconsistent. Google your name and see what you find. Studies show, most potential employers do this so it’s best to get ahead of that to make sure you are okay with what they see and read.

Dental Hygiene Job Search: How to REALLY Stand Out

Ditch Your Dental Hygiene Resume Objective

What’s Your Unfair Advantage?

Get Hired RDH #24: How to Create and Sell YOU to Employers

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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