Everyone wants their resume to be memorable. But how?

Whether you're new to the dental field or a veteran, when it comes to finding a new position at a dental office (as an assistant, office manager, or hygienist) you may find yourself asking three very important questions: 

1. What should I include in my dental resume? 
2. What do I write in my perfect resume? 
3. How can I make myself and my resume stand out and memorable?

In addition, many people in the oral health industry will often find themselves wondering what tips are helpful for resume writing. 

Knowing the answers to such questions can make the difference between being placed in the shortlisted candidate pile and the definite ‘no pile’. 

The good news? 

In this article we are going to go over three tips that will help your dental resume not only be noticed, but keep it fresh in the hiring manager’s mind as they go through application submissions.

Let’s get started . . .  

1. Teeth Cleaning is Routine Your Strengths and Achievements are Not 

One of the first things you can do to help your resume stand out to hiring managers is to have a brainstorming session about the following aspects of your oral health career: 

• Experience: What experience do you have in the dental field? What is unique about each professional and career experience you have? 
• Education: Where did you go to school and what degree do you hold? GPA?
• Trainings: What trainings have you attended to develop and propel your knowledge of the dental field forward?  
• Achievements: Are there achievements and recognitions you've received?  
• Memberships: Do you hold memberships with associations related to your particular career in the dental field? For example if you are a hygienist, are you a member of the American Dental Hygienists Association (ADHA)?  

This tip is effective for helping you brainstorm resume content and accomplishments in your career. And it will allow you to put creative thought into what you do, all you have done, and highlight how your personal career experiences make you unique in the field. 

As you work through these aspects, you may choose to talk to a friend in the oral health field or contemplate them on your own. 

PRO TIP: Don’t want to do this on your own but can't get together with a friend or family member in person? Try using FaceTime, Skype, or another technology platform for connecting to others. 

On that note, technology can also play a large role in how your resume is viewed by a hiring manager.  How can you use technological knowledge to write a perfect dental resume?

Glad you asked. . .cause that's coming up next. 

2. Teeth Shine and so can you!

Are you ready for our second tip for writing your perfect resume? Let's improve the level to which your resume gets noticed and get you one step closer to being called into for an in person interview!

Make it clear in your resume that you are well versed and knowledgeable with technology used in the oral health field and in dental offices today. 

This is very important because, because most job postings are going to list technological skills and knowledge that they would like you, the applicant, to have. 

It's a rarity, but what are you going to do it you apply for a position, and find out after being hired that the dental office doesn't use email but only has a facsimile machine? Would you know what to do?

This is where you and the dental office might not be a good fit... 

The same is true if the dental office is only using email and automated booking systems with texting services to connect with dental patients. Will you know what to do then? 

You'll want to make sure you don't fall into either one of these categories and always have a strong understanding of needed technological skills for your career.

Try one or both of these two strategies: 

1. Have awareness of what some of the technological skills are that you may need. 
2. Attend trainings or take courses on how to use the technology being implemented in dental offices today.  

On to our final tip for making your resume memorable. Let's take a look at structure . . . 

3. Avoid the Root Canal and Embrace Eye-Catching Structure  

We're at the finish line! When it comes to writing the perfect resume, what's the trick to making it memorable? 

A single word: Structure. 

There are three types of resume formats mainly used today: 

1. Chronological: Your work experience, you guessed it, in chronological order. 
2. Functional: Your skills and strengths highlighted and the main focus. 
3. Combined:  A blend of both worlds, functional and chronological. 

Now, you could spend hours deciding between the three types of resume formats to use.  And if you need help picking a format, checkout our blog: Choosing the Perfect Dental Resume Format.

Or you can focus on the details that will make your resume filled with eye-catching structure. Here's how...

Just follow these six steps: 

1. Grammar: Check for grammar errors (Grammarly could help).
2. Punctuation: Confirm all punctuation is correct on your resume
3. Posting: Look at the job posting you are applying to and ensure that your resume meets and exceeds the applicant requirements the employer is looking for. 
4. Qualifications: Bold qualifications to make sure they are visually easy for a hiring manager to find. 
5. Key information: Identify of your key information and career objective, and deliberately make it clear what you are seeking. 
6. Contact: Determine if your contact information is easily available with a single glance. 

Well, we hope those tips are helpful. Be sure to let us know what you get the job!

What's something you do to make your resume memorable? Leave it in a comment below!

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