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Sink your teeth into our complete guide to writing a dentist CV. Packed with useful tips to polish your next job application to a pearly white glow.
You’re on the cusp of writing a great dentist CV.
From filling cavities to keeping us plaque-free, you allow people to smile with confidence.
But first—
You need a CV that shines like freshly-bleached pearly whites.
No worries.
This dentist CV guide will show you:
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Dennis Fang
0777 777 7777
dfang_zety@gmail.com
Personable dentist with 5+ years experience assessing oral health, screening clients for diseases, and contributing to a busy high street practice. Implemented patient counseling methods which increased client satisfaction by 55%.
Work Experience
General Dentist
September 2015–Present
High Street Dental Practice, London
Key Achievement. Introduced a new method dubbed ‘five handed dentistry’, which reduced dental operation times by 15%.
Education
Dental Foundation Training. August 2014–August 2015
North Finchley Dental Practice, London
BDS, 2:1 Hons. September 2009–June 2014
Queen Mary University of London
Skills
Professional Memberships
Like taking an x-ray before operation, dental office managers scan each CV to figure out how they’ll proceed.
However—
It’s just a 7-second glance, according to our HR statistics report.
If you don’t pass that initial scan, they’ll toss your CV in the corner biohazard bin.
So use the chronological format. Why?
This CV format keeps your dental CV straight like a good pair of braces. Lab managers and dental office assistants are most familiar and comfortable with this format.
Here’s how to structure a dentist CV:
Choose the best CV fonts to keep it legible. Make proper use of white space and section headings to guide the recruiter through all your CV sections.
When you prepare for lengthy oral surgery, you’ll start by putting them to sleep.
It’s the opposite on a dental CV—
You need to begin by waking them up with a powerful CV introduction. It’s known as a CV profile or CV summary
And the easiest way to write it is to answer the following questions:
The way you answer will be different depending on how experienced you are. Here’s what an experienced dentist should do:
And if you’re just starting out and lacking in experience then use this approach.
There’s a lot of competition for dental jobs, so how to beat the other candidates?
Create a dentist work experience section that lights up and amplifies you like a medical-grade magnifying lamp.
Here are two dental hygiene CV samples:
RIGHT |
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Dental Hygienist January 2016–December 2019 High Street Dental Practice, London
Key Achievement. Implemented patient counselling methods which increased client satisfaction by 35%. |
WRONG |
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Dental Hygienist January 2016–December 2016 High Street Dental Practice, London
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Like a tooth with a cavity, that wrong one has a gaping hole.
It’s missing what makes the ‘right’ one so great: hand-picked responsibilities and quantifiable achievements to prove your dentistry knowledge.
Here’s another example for a dentist moving to another practice:
RIGHT |
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General Dentist January 2016–Present High Street Dental Practice, London
Key Achievement. Introduced a new method dubbed ‘five handed dentistry’, which reduced dental operation times by 15%. |
But what if you haven’t cut your teeth yet as a dentist, hygienist, or lab technician?
No problem.
If you have relevant work, like being a dental assistant or nurse intern, add the most relevant points, like this:
RIGHT |
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Dental Assistant January 2017–December 2019 High Street Dental Practice, London
Key Achievement. Received top score (99%) for having friendliest chair-side manner to patients. |
Here, you give your experience as a dental assistant, though you are applying to be a dentist or hygienist.
If you have other non-dental experience, only add dentist-relevant duties and achievements to your CV.
Pro Tip: Achievements are hard to come up with when writing a dentist CV, but they are super impactful. If you’re stuck, first think of some big project or innovation you had. Then, ask yourself what the results were, and you’ll come up with a great win.
One slip of your dental drill, and you become a brain surgeon.
Same with your dental CV—
Slip up on writing your CV education section, and you’ll be looking elsewhere for work.
Whether you’re writing a dental assistant CV or an oral surgeon CV, listing your education correctly is crucial for dental jobs.
Dental Foundation Training. August 2014–August 2015
North Finchley Dental Practice, London
BDS, 2:1 Hons. September 2009–June 2014
Queen Mary University of London
You’ve got dental skills galore.
But—
So do all your dental hygiene and dentist competitors.
Show them you’re cutting edge while they’re still pulling teeth using string and a doorknob.
Which dentist skills, though?
Create a simple list of dental skills to start, like this one below.
Include both hard and soft skills. Hard skills are those you learn (e.g., Dentrix software), while soft skills are those you develop throughout life (e.g., time management).
However, stuffing your dentist CV with any skill up there is like drinking Coke with every meal—
No good dentist recommends it.
Instead, refer back to the job ad, and extract the right skills like a Coupland’s elevator.
Here’s a sample dental hygienist job description:
If you read each job ad carefully, it’s easy to tailor your skills section to match:
When making a CV in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your CV here.
When you’re done, Zety’s CV builder will score your CV and tell you exactly how to make it better.
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WRONG |
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The wrong skills put them to sleep like general anaesthesia.
The right example, though, is tailored and fits like a filling.
Finally, mind the ATS.
The applicant tracking system is a program which helps larger dental practices cope with the many CVs they receive every day.
Employers first scan a CV into the system. Then, they perform a simple extraction to find specific CV keywords. In return, they receive a score based on each CV’s match to the job ad.
Use keywords which the dental job ad uses, word-for-word, so the ATS easily understands it.
Like setting yourself apart as the dentist to visit in town, your dental CV has got to wow them more than the rest.
How?
By spicing it up with extra sections.
Every other dentist had those previous CV sections. To stand out, additional CV sections show them you’re unique and capable.
Here are great options to add on a CV for dentist jobs:
A dentist CV without a dentist cover letter is like brushing teeth without toothpaste—
Ineffective.
Always include a cover letter, as 53% of employers say a CV itself is not enough.
Here’s how to write dental hygiene cover letters they’ll eat up:
Your dental assistant cover letter is the first impression you’ll make on the dental office—
Make it strong like a calcium-rich diet.
Want to know more cover letter tricks that always work? See these articles: 14+ Best Cover Letter Tips, Advice & Guidelines and How to Write a Job-Winning Cover Letter
Hopefully you see now that writing a great dentist CV is not like pulling teeth.
Let’s summarize.
Here’s how to write a dentist CV:
Now THIS is a dental CV that will shine like a gold crown!
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your CV will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Got any questions on how to write a dentist CV? Not sure how to talk about dental assistant skills or lab technician achievements? Get at us in the comments below, and thanks for reading!
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