The majority of my days are spent explaining to dental offices why they need to change their job posting if they want to have success in finding qualified Dental Assistants, Hygienists and Front Office Dental Personnel. Especially when their posting looks like this:
When I see a post like that, I always ask the job owner “Why would anyone apply to that job post?” They usually fumble or get upset, so I continue on and add “There are more jobs for dental assistants and hygienists than there are dental assistants and hygienists looking for work. The ones that are looking for work are going to apply to the jobs that grab their attention and make them want to apply. You have to market and sell your job and practice. It doesn’t matter how many eyes we get your job in front of, if your job post doesn’t give applicants a reason to apply, you aren’t getting applicants.”
Yes, writing a great post takes time but it pays off enormously when done right.
This post aims to help you write a powerful job post that actually gets applicants. So lefts jump in.
Job Title
Let’s start with the job title/job headline/position type – whatever the job board you are using is calling it. The goal with this is to keep it simple AND have it be a title dental professionals actually search for.
In dentistry this is pretty easy.
Dental Hygienist
Dental Assistant
Oral Surgery Assistant
Etc.
Front office positions can get a little tricky. People like to throw in Coordinator or Practice. Which we (us in the dental job field) know, people don’t usually search for or click on.
So if possible – stick with the basics-
Dental Office Manager
Dental Treatment Coordinator
Dental Front Office
Dental Hygiene Coordinator
Dental Receptionist
If you are looking for a Dental Insurance Coordinator or Dental Financial Coordinator, you can try to post that. However, if you aren’t having much success, switch the job title to Dental Office Manager or Dental Treatment Coordinator. You will find you may have much better luck. Then in the description, you can explain the duties and actual job title.
For example if you need an Insurance Coordinator, a Dental Office Manager job title will get you way more qualified applicants. And in the job description you can put : Our Office is looking for an experienced Dental Office Manager to take on the role of our Dental Insurance Coordinator… And then explain the duties.
I know many of you want to fight me on this. It’s dishonest, It will cause confusion, etc. It wont. This is an advertisement. Think of every commercial or social media ad you have ever seen. The point is to get your attention, not give you every single detail about the product. That is what we are doing here. Getting the attention of applicants to get them to apply to your job.
Body of Advertisement
The body of your advertisement has a very basic bone structure.
Attention Grabbing Start
A little about your practice and the position you are looking to fill – 2 to 3 sentences
Practice hours
Benefits
Responsibilities – 4 to 5 bullet points max
Qualifications – 4 to 5 bullet points max
Call to action
For the sake of keeping this post from running wild. We will create a Dental Hygienist post together. I will work on getting an article together with templates for every position for you soon.
Attention Grabbing Start
The key to this, is to know why hygienists would leave their current position or apply to your job over the hundreds of other jobs available to them.
Our research tells us that hygienists want flexibility in their work schedules, a better work environment with autonomy and better pay. If your office offers any or all of these, you want to highlight that in your very first sentence. For Example:
Part Time Hygienist – 2 or more days a week (You Choose the days!) – $60 to $65/hr + Benefits
Any hygienist looking to work 2 or more days is going to love this. Especially if the pay is competitive for your market ($60 to $65 is southern California’s going rate for hygienists, please don’t send me angry emails about this). Simply look up other job posts in your area and make sure your rate compares to those.
A little about your Practice and Position
A few sentences is all it takes to let a potential applicant know what they want/need to know. Again, most hygienists want to have 1 hour per patient, solid office reviews, excellent team, award winning doctors…
So here is what I would include if you offer any of those items.
Our award winning private practice, located in San Diego, CA, is seeking a part time hygienist to join our wonderful team 2 or more days a week. We aim to provide our patients with a relaxing and thorough hygiene appointment with 1+ hour per patient. If you are looking to be a part of a team that values you and your patient care this is the place to be!
Or
Our highly reviewed dental practice (with over 100 5 star reviews) is looking for a dental hygienist to join us 2 or more days a week! We offer a wonderful work environment that offers our team an amazing work life balance!
Practice Hours
Pretty straightforward. But Hygienists usually want to know the hours before they apply. Many are moms of young children with daycare pickup and dropoff.
I like to italicize my hours so they stand out. If you have been looking for a hygienist for a while here is my foolproof way to list the hours to get applicants.
Practice hours are*:
- Mondays and Wednesdays 9AM to 6PM
- Tuesdays and Thursdays 8AM to 5PM
- Fridays 9AM to 2PM
*If you can work 2 or more of these days please apply! Also, if the hours don’t work exactly for you, we can be flexible!
Some additional advice. Hygienists do not want to work 5 days a week. Many prefer to work 3 days a week and they like to divide their time between different offices. So, if you need a full time hygienist, post your ad like above and then put multiple hygienists on your schedule to get you to full time.
Benefits
Most hygienists know they will not get benefits working part time. But my suggestion is to do some soul searching and think of every possible benefit you can include. If your job is truly part time then only list those benefits they would get if part time.
Below are all of the out-of-the-box benefits I can think of for you to list as benefits if you have them.
Benefits for our hygienist include:
- Paid Time Off/paid vacation
- 401k with match
- Dental for you and your family
- Medical or Medical Allowance*
- Bonuses
- Vision
- CE assistance
- Uniforms
- Tool Sharpening Service
- Practice dentistry in an award winning practice (List any awards)
- Latest and greatest technology to make sure your patients get the best care
- Massage Chairs in waiting room
- Free Cuddles with our therapy dog
- Quarterly Team outings
- Bonuses based on production
- Bonuses based on services rendered
- Weekly treats for the team
- Office Sterilization Tech
If you are offering a full time position you could do something like this:
Benefits for our hygienist include:
- Medical*
- Dental
- 401k*
- Bonuses
- CE Assistants
- Uniforms
- Paid Time Off
*Full time employee benefits
That way, if they want those benefits they know they need to join you full time. But if they only want to work part time, they know those benefits won’t be included but they will get to enjoy all the other benefits.
Responsibilities And Qualifications
Hygienists know their responsibilities and what they need to practice, however, the job boards like these! And if your job advertisement has them, they are more likely to show them to more candidates. So post them. But don’t overdo it, 4 to 5 bullet points max.
Responsibilities
- Ensure patients feel as comfortable as possible before their examination.
- Conduct initial mouth screenings and check oral health history, Identify conditions like gingivitis, caries or periodontitis.
- Clean and help protect patients’ teeth (e.g., remove plaque or apply fluoride).
- Educate patients of all ages on proper teeth care (by demonstrating, for example, good brushing techniques).
Requirements and skills
- Diploma in Dental Hygiene.
- Valid license to practice.
- A patient and empathetic attitude.
- Proficiency with computers, especially with Dentrix software, and strong typing skills.
Call to action
Lastly, a simple call to action at the end. PLEASE do not ask them to email you with their cover letter and a 5 paragraph essay on why they want to work for you. They don’t know you well enough to put in that effort. Especially when other offices are begging them to work for them.
Just ask them to apply.
A simple – We can’t wait to meet you. Apply today! – is all you need.
So lets put this all together in a Powerful Dental Hygienist Job Advertisement.
“Full Time or Part Time Hygienist – 2 or more days a week (You Choose the days!) – $60 to $65/hr + Benefits
Our highly reviewed dental practice (with over 100 5 star reviews) is looking for a dental hygienist to join us 2 or more days a week! We have a wonderful work environment that offers our team an amazing work life balance!
Practice hours are*:
- Mondays and Wednesdays 9AM to 6PM
- Tuesdays and Thursdays 8AM to 5PM
- Fridays 9AM to 2PM
*If you can work 2 or more of these days please apply! Also, if the hours don’t work exactly for you, we can be flexible!
Benefits for our hygienist include:
- Medical*
- Dental
- 401k*
- Bonuses
- CE Assistants
- Uniforms
- Paid Time Off
*Full time employee benefits
Responsibilities
- Ensure patients feel as comfortable as possible before their examination.
- Conduct initial mouth screenings and check oral health history, Identify conditions like gingivitis, caries or periodontitis.
- Clean and help protect patients’ teeth (e.g., remove plaque or apply fluoride).
- Educate patients of all ages on proper teeth care (by demonstrating, for example, good brushing techniques).
Requirements and skills
- Diploma in Dental Hygiene.
- Valid license to practice.
- A patient and empathetic attitude.
- Proficiency with computers, especially with Dentrix software, and strong typing skills.
If this sounds like a great fit for you, Apply today!“
And there you have an amazing dental hygienist post that will get applicants.
A few things to keep in mind.
I mentioned some of these but will reiterate:
- Try to list as many benefits as possible – People love benefits. This post includes benefits or luxuries you could be offering but might not think to mention.
- Some states require pay to be on the job posting, some don’t – however we see that jobs with competitive salaries get 32% more applicants. Which for hygiene is a lot. So make sure your pay is competitive and post it.
- Don’t ask applicants to jump through hoops to apply to your job – this is an advertisement to get them to apply. Make that process as easy as possible.
- If your pay rate is a little lower – think of ways you can offer additional income. This post is aimed at hygienists – but offers great ways to increase pay while increasing office production/income.
- This post offers more tips and tricks to get applicants to apply to your job.
- Do NOT use terms like “Rockstar” or “work hard play hard” in your job post. There is a negative connotation with those terms.
I hope you find this post useful!
Smiles,
Holli Perez
DirectDental
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