How to Rock Your Dental Assistant Interview
It’s that time of year when mock interviews and job interviews come around when you may feel nervous or worried about making a great first impression. After all, you only get one chance at that first impression. If you’ve gotten a call to come in for an interview, you’ve already made a great impression on paper! Now it’s time to rock the in-person interview. You’re in luck because we have a few tips up our sleeve to help you get a head start for your interview!
Show Up Prepared
You should know the practice that you are interviewing for. Research the practice by looking at their website, social media, and job reviews. The human resource director, or your interviewer, will most likely ask you why you want a position at their practice. Use your research to describe why you like the practice and what you have noticed by looking at their daily updates and reviews.
Review the Job Posting
Take a few looks at the job posting before you go in for your interview and highlight keywords and personality traits that you feel like describe you. Use those keywords in your interview. For example, if your interviewer asks what some of your strengths are, you can say, “I am very hard-working and I love working in a team. That is why I love the way that I see your team working together to support each other.”
Bring Your Resume
If you are at the job interview, the HR director has most likely seen your resume but it is nice to have it in front of both of you to reference anything that stands out. Bring a few copies in case anyone else happens to join the interview.
Be Prepared for Questions
An interview should be a conversation between you and the practice so that you can get to know each other. You should be asking them questions to show that you are interested in getting to know them. Most of the questions will come from the practice though. So be prepared with your answers to the most commonly used interview questions ahead of time:
- Why do you want to work here?
- What was a previous work challenge you overcame?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
Dress Professionally for the Interview
Dental Assistant jobs usually have a laid-back dress code with scrubs and a clean appearance. You want to dress for the position that you want to achieve but also dress to impress. If it is a working interview, you might be expected to wear scrubs. But if it is a meeting interview, business casual is appropriate. You want to stray away from jeans, t-shirts, and baggy clothes. You want to show that you care and that you are put together. Trousers and a blouse with a blazer might be your go-to.
Arrive at the Interview Early
We all know the saying, “If you’re on time, you’re late. If you’re early, you’re on time.” Everyone’s time is valuable and you want to show that you respect their time and are appreciative of the opportunity. If you are unfamiliar with the location, map it out well in advance so you know where to go when you get there. Leave early enough so that you can be prepared for unexpected traffic and still arrive about 5 minutes early.
We know that interviewing for a new job can be stressful. But at ProGrin, we want to make it a great experience for you and make you feel like family from the beginning. We value all of our employees and what they bring to the table. You can review all of our job openings on our website and if you’re interested, give some of these tips a try!
