Are you the Highest Paid Dental Assistant you can be?

There have been many people reading this blog! Some of you have written great comments. Now that the manual is approaching is completion date I want to have a few of you read it in its BETA form and give me some feedback prior to completion!

The first 25 people to respond will receive a FREE copy of the first draft of the Manual, excluding the interviews, to read, review and give me some feedback!

If you are interested, please send me an e-mail to info@hahnunlimited.com and place “Manual BETA tester” in the subject line.  After I send you the file all I ask is that you send me some detailed feedback including what you liked, did not like, and what you would like to see more or less of.  I will need your e-mail, name and status (working, assistant, etc.) in the email please.

Thank you!  And, GOOD LUCK 

I have been getting more and more questions about the manual.  Well, it is almost done, but I really want it to be a great resource for you, so I am taking my time.  It needs to be concise, to the point and very helpful.  The last thing I want is a large, boring book that nobody will want to read.  If you are old enough then you will recall what Cliff Notes are.  Well, this would be a Cliff Notes like version!  Just the facts. 

If there is anything that any of you specifically want to see in the manual, this would be the time to let me know!

I am very excited about this manual.  Stay tuned for more information on this soon!

I asked myself this recently when I was interviewing assistants for my own office. Needless to say in this economy I received many resumes. Some I dismissed immediately for various reasons, some were ok and others intrigued me.

I set up several working interviews after meeting with a few of the candidates. Many of the assistant were good clinically, some were in need of some serious practice, and a few had that special something…

Everybody who wants a job in this economy needs to focus on that special something. 

So you are wondering, what is that special something…Well, it can be different for everybody, but a few guidelines will help you find your special something.

1. Your resume must be clean, neat, spelling error free, and “different”. ATTACH a picture!  A good one, of course. Smiling.
2. For the interview, present yourself professionally.  Do not wear scrubs!!!  I repeat, Do Not Wear Scrubs. Dress as if you were interviewing for a 5 star hotel. Formal.
3. Smile and interact. Immediately point out something nice about the office, staff, etc. Find something. This will set the tone.
4. Give a firm handshake and look the doctor directly in the eye!  Pick one eye, not the bridge of the nose, and stick with that eye.

That will get you started….there are many more important things you need to know, and eventually (maybe soon) I will post my guide! 

I hired a dental assistant that represented the image I am looking for, and her special something was……

Times are tough, there is no question about it.  Everyone is feeling the pinch.  Dentistry is one of the least affected professions, yet still, overhead needs to be controlled and the business needs to be profitable.  So, you wonder, is my job secure?  Maybe…

The person who keeps their job is the one that the dentist/office can’t function without.  You need to make yourself “special”.  Do you sell the big cases?  Do you build relationships with all the patients and make them referr new ones?  Are you the happy smiley face that everyone loves to see everyday?

This is not the time to expect anything.  Be reasonable.  Ask what you can do to help the dentist get through this tough time.  Bend over backwards, don’t just go with the flow.  Every patient that comes to the office now is essential, treat them that way. 

If you had issues that need to be resolved, do it quickly.  In other words, has the dentist talked to you about things they wanted you to work on?  You better be on top of that.  Dress sharp, smile, build relationships with the patients and be a team player.  Those who sit around, play on the internet, don’t talk to patients, dress poorly and have a poor attitude will be asked to leave.  Dentists are people as well.  We do not want to let people go, but if we have to, then we always keep the core team that we love to see each day.

This too will pass, as someone in my youth used to always tell me…

It has taken a while, but soon the manual I am writing will be completed!  Over the last year I have researched what is available for someone looking to be the best dental assistant they can be, and I found nothing.  You can buy all sorts of books on the subject of salary, interviews, you name it, but nothing specifically helps dental assistants.  If you are like me then you want a short to-the-point how to manual rather than a novel.  If you are looking for the spelling of a specific word, do you need to know how all the other words are spelled?  This manual specifically addresses dental assistants and helps them get a better salary or/and job. 

• Increase your salary
• get the job you want
• get an interview
• get more benefits

Check back for a link to the manual soon!

There are so many websites out there just copying and pasting articles, information and advice.  So I wanted my readers to know that there is a real live dentist behind this site! Yes, I am Dr. Christian Hahn and I have written everything you read about dental assistant salaries, jobs, and any other advice you get from this site. Everything is based on my experience working with some of the best dental assistants in the field. So, all the information is new and specifically geared towards your profession!

You can read more about me on my personal website in the blogroll on the right. Yes, I have a real job and practice dentistry daily! I have hired and interviewed countless assistants. But more importantly, I have taken the time to talk to many of my successful collegues about this subject and have put together a plan for dental assistants to succeed at their profession.

You may ask why would you do this? Well, it is simple. Good dental assistants are very hard to come by. And I am not talking just good at assisting. There is a huge market for dental assistants that want to be different, and I only hire those assistants that fit into that category. As it turns out, most of my dentist friends do the same, and they are mostly the highly successful kind that have offices you want to work in. So, how do you work with one of those dentists? Well, that is what this site is all about. 

So, look around, follow the blog, see what you can learn. I even try to answer questions! Soon I will post the manual I have been talking about which will put all this information and much more into a simple format.

It will be a while until my Dental Assistant specific job interview and salary   guide is completed – I want it to be perfect!  Interviewing dentists and creating the mastermind document may take a while.  So, you don’t want to wait until this resource is done.  What do you do to get the salary or pay raise you want NOW?  Or, your job interview is next week, you can’t wait, where do you turn? I have found a few guides that I used in the past that work great and listed them below:

Here are the resources you can use for now that will most certainly give you an edge in the market.  You are more than welcome to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding these – heck, even better, leave a comment here on the blog for everyone else, I have opened the comment section now!.  The information is wonderful and applies to many different occupations!

• Amazing Cover Letters – This is a very good resource.  I learned A LOT from this guide!  Worth its weight in gold.
• How to Ask for a Pay Raise - Another good resource, but here the focus is on pay raises.  

The information in the two above resources in invaluable!  I have learned a long time ago that nothing comes from nothing.  If you do nothing, then nothing changes.  You have to educate yourself and that can only be done by learning from others.  I would not be where I am today if I had not attended hundreds of continued education hours and seminars. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on my education which has paid dividends way above that. Spend a little money to make a lot…it only makes sense.

Alright, I am going to give you 5 of the most important things you need to know BEFORE you go to your job interview.  You can get all kind of information on the internet, but information overload is a killer.  Before you go to your job interview there are a few things you must be prepared for or you may be better staying home. These are my 5 favorites, as a cosmetic dentist, not necessarily what you would read in some standarized article.

1. EVERYTHING about the position you are applying for.  In other words, be prepared to answer questions about your duties as a dental assistant.  Now, to impress the dentist, always drop some other talents you have into the mix when given the opportunity.  I really like to hear assistants tell me they are well versed in marketing (both traditional and web 2.0). [click to continue...]

This is the blog post that helps you find a better paying dental assistant job than the one you currently have.  It is more simple than you think.  If you do not enjoy what you are doing, feel unappreciated, not part of the team, and not to forget, are not making enough money, what can you do?  Well, first you need to figure out a few things.  I can not discuss all scenarios, but here is a common one that I encounter:

You have been working for an office for quite some time.  Everything seems to work fine, but there really are no systems in the office that help you know what you need to be doing.  You have not had a review, ever, and it feels that if you don’t say or do something, nothing will ever change.  So, let me help you.  Yes, most of the time, if you do nothing, then nothing will change! 

Most dental practices lack the following:

• Clear system telling you what happens when (such as raises, benefits, reviews)
• A strong leader (no, not a monarchy or tyrany, a strong leader is something completely different)
• Someone that makes sure that the systems are followed (most offices will have an OSHA person, someone that orders, someone that answers the phone – but who makes sure the office systems that are designed to protect the employee and further their growth are followed?)
• Someone strong enough to say something

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Thank you all for your responses, I have received too many questions about salary and job related issues to answer here.  I wish I could answer everyone, but hopefully my answers to some of who will help others as well.  I will create a FAQ in the material that I am working on that should answer all the questions I can think of!

First, I think it is almost funny that since I launched this post, MSN decides to run an article “Five Surprising Salaries” (by Anthony Balderrama), which kind of shows the difference in salary in real life.  I think paramedics should definitely be paid more, they save lives on a daily basis…  Regardless, dental assistant salaries can vary significantly depending on many (most under you control) variables, and it can be quite a surprise how little and how much a dental assistant can make!

Now, here are some guidelines for some of the e-mail I have received:

1.  Jennifer:  If your back and hands are hurting, then you need to strongly consider the fact that dental assisting is hard on your neck, shoulders and back.  Orthodontic assistants do not always have as much strain, but it still can wear you down.

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