In the dentistry field you may not feel like there’s any way to stand out other than where you went to school, and what certification do you hold.
We can tell you, that that is not the case...
There are ways to have your dental resume stand out just by making some simple changes.
So, let’s go over our top five dental hygienist resume tips that you need to know to have your resume stand out from the rest.
1. Include All Of The Languages You Speak
This is becoming increasingly more important as the years have gone on. Being able to separate yourself by speaking an entirely different language as well as the predominant language in your country, can help set you apart, and allow you to work in more niche areas and practices.
For example, almost every practice in Los Angeles requires you to speak English, but there are going to be certain practices with a predominantly Spanish-speaking clientele. These practices may be looking for someone that is able to speak Spanish in order to accurately communicate with the patients that they have.
The key here is that these practices may not always include this language requirement or preference on their job posting. This could be due to multiple different reasons. They could not feel it’s necessary to include that based on the area and that it would be a given, they may not consider it necessarily mandatory until someone states that they do speak it, or they may simply have just forgotten.
As a dental hygienist who deals with many patients on a daily basis, being able to show that you’ll be able to accurately culture those relationships for the success of their business is vital.
This is applicable for both permanent work and temporary work. No business wants to bring in a temp, and have them create a bad reputation for them when they have worked to create a good one.
2. Include The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Buzzwords
First will go over what the ATS is, and we’ve talked about it before and you can find that here, but we will review it in a brief summary.
ATS stands for the applicant tracking system, and this is a program downloaded by employers that allows them to very quickly filter through resumes that have been submitted. It scans for criteria that the employer wants to ensure is included, such as having certain certifications, certain skills, and more through the resumes that have been submitted. It then filters these respectively.
So why is it important to make sure you tailor your resume to that specific job posting?
If you don’t, there’s a chance that a human being will never even see it if they are using these programs.
That’s why we want to include other main dental industry-specific buzzwords and phrases, as well as required skills and certifications as dictated by the job posting.
Some of these buzzwords can include some of the following:
- Patient Relationship Building.
- Mediator of team issues.
- Performed and exposed the conduction of dental radiographs.
- Chairside performance.
- Accurate diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease.
There are more depending on your location such as certifications that are going to be favored by the state that we recommend including.
3. Talk About The Newest Technology You Have Worked With
The newest technology can range drastically depending on what you’ve been exposed to. There are some instances in which practices have used augmented reality to better train on certain procedures that may be less common, instances like that could be related to DentSim Simulator, but are not limited to them.
Another key technology that some dental practices have moved towards is the concept of Teledentistry. This has been more recently popularized with the increase of popularity regarding smartphones with cameras, as well as the recent events that have encouraged people to stay home and do as many activities as they can from their own homes.
Including a skill like Teledentistry on your resume shows an employer that you were adaptable to whatever happens, and it shows that you are flexible enough to help their business even if you’re unable to be in the office.
This may also be something that the practice has been looking into, but doesn’t really know enough about it to roll it out. As someone that would be coming in with experience in this regard, you would be able to provide some valuable insight.
However, these do not have to be strictly limited to technology-based off of your phone. There can be new technology that you are familiar with that is directly related to different dental tools that are being created every year. Similarly, as we spoke about being able to advise on Teledentistry, you would be able to advise encourage the implementation of tools that were beneficial in the past that you have experience with.
4. Formatting Your Resume
Think of formatting as your first impression. The first thing the hiring manager or hiring Dentist is going to see you when they pull out your resume is how it is formatted. It is mostly recommended for dental hygienist resumes to keep it in a black-and-white format, that is easy to read, and easy for the individual reading it to find the information they are looking for.
There are also many different formatting styles that you can choose when writing your resume.
The three main accepted formats for resumes are the:
- Functional style resume.
- Reverse-chronological style resume.
- Combination style resume.
You can find our complete breakdown of all of these on our how to have your dental hygienist resume stand-out post.
5. Take It Step By Step
Deciding to redo your resume from scratch, or re-organizing and re-formatting the one you already have, can’t seem really overwhelming when you’re starting in square one. The biggest thing to undertake this task is to take it step-by-step.
If you have the options of taking a couple of days and slowly and methodically going through your resume to ensure it’s the best that it can be or filling it out very quickly but having it just done, it’s always important to choose the former if possible.
This can be starting from the top of your resume, and just working down through each section. Making sure all your dates are accurate, positions are accurate, that you’re using the best wording, action verbs, and buzzwords you can in order to optimize your resume the best that it can be.
Asking yourself questions like, how can I improve my objective statement? If you don’t have an objective statement, you can add one, we have a whole guide on how to write an effective objective statement here. Picking up things like this are the reasons why it’s important to go through your resume.
When going through your resume, it’s OK if you don’t finish it all in one sitting. Take your time, and do it right.
This will ensure you have the best chance to landing the position that you want.
Next Steps
Now that we’ve gone through some important tips to take into account when you’re writing your dental hygienist resume, there are some other things to take into account as well. You can find those below.
- 8 Phone Interview Tips That Will Get You Hired
- Top 7 Tips For Writing A Cover Letter
- How To Have Your Dental Hygienist Resume Stand Out
- Crucial Certifications and Skills You Need To Have To Be A Dental Hygienist
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Chris Lewandowski
April 30, 2024
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