Which are you:

A)  A Display Assistant?

b)  A Proactive Assistant?

Let me explain.  Some assistants hold the instruments in their hand and require the dentist to “grab” them.  This requires us, the dentists, to take our eyes off the task at hand and look for the next instrument.  This is what I call “display assisting“.  It really is quite inefficient and drives dentists nuts. 

Don’t be a display assistant, be proactive.  Passing instruments requires that the assistant actively pays attention and places the instrument, with some force, into the dentists hand while removing the old instrument.  After a little practice the dentist and assistant will be a perfectly smooth team.  The dentist won’t have to look up at all and the assistant understands all procedures and how the dentist works, anticipating all his/her needs.

Display assistants are no help to dentists. We may as well have a tray we can pick instruments up from!

When applying for a job, YOU are the product.  You may be a dental assistant looking for a raise, or maybe an interview, but note that everything about you will be judged, usually within the first 20 seconds, regardless of what you are looking for.  Fair?  Nope, but reality.  Therefore it is critical that you make those 20 seconds count. 

Note that this can also happen over the phone, not just in person!  Every conversation is a job interview, or a raise review.  Make every moment count.  After a while you will not just walk the talk but you will be the talk.  It will be natural for you to act a certain way, and that is when you will become the highest paid dental assistant! 

Let me expand a little…This applies to all aspects of life.  We judge our doctors, our friends, everyone, usually in the first 20 seconds.  So here are a few important things to consider:

• Did you dress for success?
• Do you look well kept?  Meaning hair, nails, TEETH, smile, skin, etc.?
• Does your body language radiate the correct signals?  Are you scared/closed up?  Are you smiling?
• Are you quiet?  Do you take the initiative?  Are you submissive or engaging?

Think about what you want to come across as.  You have met people that you are just blown away by.  They seem “natural leaders”.  Take Obama for an example.  He looks sharp, is well groomed, definitely engaging, and radiates confidence.  That is easily noted within the first 20 seconds.  Now, not to be political, but it is an easy example.  Compare that to McCain.  Do you see a difference?

Decide where you stand and what you stand for.  A New Year is always a good time to drop a bad habit and start being the person you want others to see you as, and soon enough you will be that person.

QUESTION:  Who knows what the symbol above means?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It has been a tough year for many people out there.  Bad economy, bad job market, bad flu, bad overall.  It will be up to you to change all that for 2010.

Set realistic goals, small goals, so you can achieve them and move forward.  Large, unrealistic goals only make you feel bad about now achieving them and sets you even further back.

2010 could be one of the best years ever for all of us.  The upside is tremendous!  Start the year of right.  Find a job you love.  Get paid what you are worth.  Make an effort to do something you love every week.  Life is short, don’t waste it! 

The Secret Dental Assisting Manual not only helps you get a job and a higher salary, but it teaches basic principles of life that helped me succeed personally.  This is a great place to start…

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

It has been a great year, and I wanted to wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season!  Thank you for making this website a success.  May 2010 be a successful year for you all.

Christian W. Hah, DDS

Key to Success

Thank you all for your great feedback!  The Manual is there to help you get started, and this blog is here to continuously update the information and help answer your questions.  In today’s economy we all need to stand out to succeed or get left behind.  It is my goal to make you all the best dental assistants in the field!

Let me let you in on a little secret about the secret manual…This manual is not just for dental assistants.  It is not just about dental assisting.  It is not a boring how-to assist manual.  It is really about what I have learned over my lifetime that has helped me personally achieve my level of success, compiled into a short but powerful manual. 

Successful people think and act differently.  All the books I have read about success have a common thread.  At first I was always looking to find the magic bullet to success, which does not exist, as we all know.  This was a frustrating journey.  The more I read the more I felt I was not getting this magic bullet UNTIL I stepped back and took it all in.  Success is an atitude.  Success is a mindset.  Success is a lifestyle.  Everybody can be successful, you just need to know where to start.  Well, that is what my manual is about.  This is the grammar of success for dental assisting…you must know and live this stuff before you can read and write success! The Key To Success is in your hands now, what you do with it is up to you.

The Manual is completed!

• How to get an Interview in your dream practice

• How to get a Raise

• How to get a great job!

• How to become the highest paid dental assistant

Successful Dental Assisting

After over a year the manual is now available online!  Thank you all for beta-testing the outline allowing me to create a concise yet powerful manual that will allow you to become that successful dental assistant that you want to be. 

Don’t even think about paying thousands of dollars for a dental assisting degree from a school until you have read this manual!

DAILY I get dental assistant resumes and emails asking for a job. The reality is, most of these people had spent thousands of dollars to get a degree that is pretty much useless unless you know what I teach you in this manual.  Most resumes end up in the trash and emails deleted.  A select few make it into my “future” file.  Some I even call!  Find out which dentists keep and which are tossed.  This alone can save you the frustration of never getting a job because you have little to no experience!

Click the link below to order it!  Don’t be statistique.  Take your career and destiny into your OWN hands.

CLICK HERE to Download The Highest Paid Dental Assistant Manual

Thank you all for your input, I greatly appreciate it!  In today’s economy it is critical to know how to stand out.  How to be that one-in-a-million employee.  This manual will focus on how to make you stand out.  How to make you “different”.  How to make you succeed!

Information is the key to success in almost every profession.  Yet, many of us have the information and don’t succeed.  Why is that?  Simple.  It is in human nature to seek the quick fix for everything.  The magic bullet.  The jackpot.  That is, unfortunately, not reality.  The good news is that if you build on your information you will hit the jackpot.  Not because you got lucky, but because you persevered!  In simple terms, baby steps.  Move towards your desired goal daily, one step at a time.  Do the things you like least first!  Tackle the tough tasks that weigh on you most as soon as possible to free up your energy for the next step.  Before you know it you have reached and even surpassed your goal!

I hope you enjoy the manual and learn to grow into the successful person you already are inside.

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……