Your First Dental Assisting Interview

Hello everybody

Maria here. So are you a dental assisting student and you have now graduated and you want to prepare for your first interview

So I was a dental assistant for several years. I did become a hygienist and now I currently have my own dental hygiene mobile practice

But when I worked in a dental office, I would kind of assist with the interviews

So I know what type of questions they're going to ask you. And I also know how you can pass those questions to get the job

So let me help you guys to kind of prepare you. So I'll talk about the tiny things first

Like please make sure to dress professional. Don't show up in a tank top and jeans

Wear nice black pants. Just a nice outfit overall. Do not show up in your dental attire, scrubs

We don't like that. Just look professional. Like look professional like you're going for any job interview

Another thing is always remember to bring at least one resume and one cover letter in case maybe the office lost it

they misplaced it. I cannot tell you how often that happens. It's nice that you actually bring it so

then they can maybe say, do you have a resume with you? We would like to keep it. Let's, you know

move on Because either way you might be called in because they already seen your resume and they want to talk to you further or you might be called in for an interview just because you just simply are handing in your resume and saying I would love to apply and they had time and they want to speak to you now

But these are the types of questions that they're going to ask you. They're going to ask you things such as why do you feel you would be a good fit for this office

And you're probably thinking, I don't even know the office. I have no idea

You should say something like, you know what? kid, I would walk by here every day. I would always look in and people always seem so happy

People seem like it's a good place to work. So that really enticed me. And then when I knew I wanted

to become a dental assistant, this was actually the first place that I wanted to apply. So you could

say something like that. That just speaks so highly. And it makes the office, the people working there

feel good too. You might be interviewed by the office manager and a dentist. Sometimes

you'll be interviewed by the dentist and their assistant because that's the person who's going to be

training you, but you want to make them feel good as staff members. Another thing that they might ask you

are, well, what is a negative quality about yourself? You know, tell me a positive quality, but also

tell me a negative And this can often stump people because we don want to say anything bad about ourselves right We here to sell ourselves to get the job But something you could say which is also a positive but it is a negative I guess too

is you could say something like, you know, I'm quite the perfectionist

So this can be seen as a good or bad thing. It might take me longer to do something because I want to do something right

So, or, you know, doing something well to the best of my ability. and I'm not going to stop until I get it right

You know, as a new dental assistant in school, X-rays was more of a trickier thing for me

but I didn't stop until I got it right. It did take time

So anything here that maybe I'm having trouble with, I'm going to ask for help

It might take me a little bit longer because I am new, but I will not stop until I get it right

So see how I turned a negative into a positive, especially new dental assistants

You are new. that is seen as a negative But if they mention at the interview something such as well you very new you don have any experience yet this is how you should reply You should say that is true I am new but you can mold me however you want You know I don have experience but I am so willing to learn And I would love to work here that I will do what you tell me because I have nothing to compare it to other than school of course but that very very different you can mold me

however you want doesn't that sound amazing if I was interviewing you or me I would hire you because

you would be very energetic you know you are positive and you know you're new you know that

that's seen as a bad thing but I mean come on you guys you have to start somewhere. But always anything they say to you, make it into a great positive. Let's say you haven't

worked for a couple years because you were in school. They might bring that up. You can say

I didn't work while I was in school because I was lucky enough that I didn't have to. And that made me

really focus on what I was learning. And I did get very good mark. So that really helped me. So I feel

more prepared than maybe somebody else because I had devoted my past year to

years on studying dental assisting. So you can bring that up. Those are the types of questions

they're going to ask you. So if you have any questions, comment below. I would love to help you guys

Let me know if you need anything. And good luck. Please let me know how your interview goes and I'm sure

you will get the job