INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nursing positions are at a 9% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 3,080,100 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 276,800 to 3,356,900 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Nursing jobs was $75,330 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $53,410, and the highest 10% more than $116,230.
Our conclusion? The Nursing job market is wide open for candidates.
Top dental nurse sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a dental nurse resume experience section
Dental nurse resume's job experience checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Dental Nurse resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Set up and wipe down of treatment room in accordance with infection control guidelines.
- Run sterilisation room in accordance with current infection control guidelines including operating of ultra-sonic machine and autoclave.
- Maintain patient comfort before, during and after treatment.
- Stocktake and ordering to maintain adequate levels of stock.
- Managed sterilisation room, ensuring all tools and equipment were sterilised according to guidelines and that accurate records were maintained.
- Resonsible for stock rotation and stocktake.
- Daily cleaning of the clinic.
- Processed end of day reports and settlement of Hicaps and Eftpos.
- Trained and mentored new dental assistants, resulting in a 20% reduction in training time and an increase in overall team productivity.
- Implemented new patient education program, which resulted in a 25% increase in patient satisfaction scores.
- Assisted with the implementation of new dental software, resulting in a 50% decrease in administrative errors and a 40% increase in efficiency.
- Maintained exceptional cross-infection control standards, which was recognized by the practice receiving a 95% rating from the Care Quality Commission.
- Implemented new inventory management system, resulting in a 30% decrease in supply costs.
- Demonstrated exceptional organizational skills, ensuring that patient records were up to date and accurate.
- Provided a warm and friendly atmosphere for patients, resulting in a 90% satisfaction rate.
- Maintained cross-infection control standards, which was recognized by the practice receiving a 95% rating from the Care Quality Commission.
- Improved patient satisfaction ratings from 85% to 96% by implementing new communication strategies and streamlining appointment scheduling.
- Reduced inventory waste by 20% by developing and implementing a new ordering and storage system.
- Trained and supervised a team of 5 dental assistants, ensuring compliance with all safety and quality standards.
- Assisted with clinical procedures, including patient preparation, charting, and taking radiographs.
- Maintained accurate patient records, including treatment plans, progress notes, and consent forms.
- Assisted with 20+ procedures per day, including cleanings, fillings, and extractions.
- Implemented new sterilization procedures to comply with CQC requirements and ensure patient safety.
- Managed patient records, including updating digital records and preparing charts for upcoming appointments.
- Assisted with reception duties, including answering phones and scheduling appointments.
- Maintained a clean and organized work environment, ensuring all instruments were properly sterilized and stored.
PRO TIP
In writing your Dental Nurse resume, you will no doubt want to list your previous duties - as you should. But steer clear of just listing your duties, instead of your achievements. Make your resume stand out by communicating what you have done, and not merely what the job needed you to do.
Action verbs for your dental nurse resume
Recommended reads:
Dental Nurse Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume skills section checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top skills for your dental nurse resume
Excel
CPR
Bilingual
Cannulation
BSL
Scout/Scrub
Patient care
ACLS
Customer service
Communication
Compassion
Patience
Flexibility, adaptability, and emotional stability
Proactive, ethical, and responsible nature
Honesty
Team-player
Strong work ethic
Time management
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
RECOMMENDED READS:
Dental nurse resume header: Tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your dental nurse resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Dental Nurse resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
Dental nurse resume summary best practices
Checklist: What to include in your dental nurse resume summary.
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a brief but informative introduction to your experience section. In this section you should go into more depth about what you have done, and how you did it.
Recommended reads:
Listing your education, certifications and courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top certifications for your dental nurse resume
Basic Science for NDEB AFK Course, INBDE, Dental Board Exams
Review microbiology, physiology and biology for board exams - NDEB AFK exam, INBDE, MFDS, hygiene, and assistant exams
Modern Dental Extractions - Fast, Painless, & Non-invasive
The goal is less trauma and less drama! This is an update that teaches superior methods for atraumatic extractions.
How to Start Your Dental Practice in Three Months From Now.
Even without much practical experience or financial resource. And Get Desired Patients right from Day One.
Purpose Driven Dental Assisting
An introduction to Dentistry and Dental Assisting.
20 lessons I learned in Dental Business Management
Experiences after 20 years in business.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
How to write a dental nurse resume
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Dental Nurse resume:
Dental nurse resume: How to make yours more creative & stand out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Dental Nurse resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What makes a great dental nurse resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
