How to Write an Effective Dental Assistant Resume

A properly written resume is a job seekers best friend. This is the first impression that is made on a potential employer as many only accept these via email or from an online job board. Writing an effective dental assistant resume can be the stepping stone to that better position or that first important leap into a new career.

The need to write a dental assistant resume that stands out from the crowd is first and foremost. Begin by listing your actual work experience and if there is none as of yet, then list some of the campus and community activities that may have been participated in and any memberships from professional organizations that you may have obtained while in school. This helps to show the potential employer that you are dedicated to both your career and those that are around you.

The next step would be to list any certifications that were achieved in school or over the course of your career. This shows the employer how much training you will or will not need upon hiring. This step is very important, particularly for those with little or no on the job experience as it shows a good basis for easy training.

A dental assistant resume that is correctly formatted should include things like name and contact information along with any schooling. This should not just be for dental assisting but any other college or high school with years attended and type of diploma of degree obtained. This shows a propensity for learning, particularly if the applicant is a newly graduated student and if you so choose, the addition of a G.P.A. is not a bad idea either.

A skill list should be the next item placed on a dental assistant resume. This can include such items as a list of administrative and clerical duties that may have been performed elsewhere such as filing and tracking records, setting up patient appointments and acting as a receptionist if the need should ever arise. Any patient education experience may be added as well, whether it was in a classroom setting or an actual office, as this demonstrates the ability to work closely with the patients.  

An experienced dental assistant may be able to add real life scenarios to this section of the resume to include surgery assistance, taking x-rays and preparing the equipment before an actual procedure. The inexperienced assistant may have done this in school and this may be added by them as well. The more information that the potential employer has in a resume, the better the chance of being called in for an interview becomes.

By going online and doing some research, a sample resume may be located for comparison against your own. This may give you some ideas as to how to format it and what got the most attention from others looking to either find that first position or simply that better one. There are many websites on the Internet with just such input and should be used to their fullest.