If you’ve recently finished or are about to finish your dental assistant program you’re probably eager to hit the job market. After all, you didn’t do all that studying to stay where you are. While it’s wonderful to be ambitious about your new career, to give yourself the best chance of landing your dream job you need to first focus on the interview. Here are some dental assistant interview tips to help you prepare.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR A DENTAL ASSISTANT INTERVIEW

You can never anticipate everything that will come up in a job interview, but you can organize what you have and what you know. Here are some examples of details you should prepare ahead of your dental assistant interview.

  • Your company research – Do an online search of the business you’re interviewing with. Try to get a good feel for how they operate and any key information they may want you to know about them.
  • Your skills and education – Review the job posting and try to match up your knowledge, experience, and talents with the list of job requirements. This way you’ll be more prepared for those targeted interview questions.
  • Your interview skills – If it’s been a while since your last interview or if interviewing has never been your thing, you may want to practice your skills. Use your campus resources and speak to someone in career services to run through some sample dental assistant interview questions and answers until you feel more at ease.
  • Your interview etiquette – Sometimes the way you answer a question is as important as the answer itself. Remember to rehearse your interview etiquette while you’re working through your dental assistant interview questions and answers. Shake hands, be polite, and make eye contact. Also, don’t forget to pay attention to what the interviewer is saying; show interest in what you’re being told about the company.
  • Your map – Don’t wait until the day of the interview to find out where the business is located. Look it up ahead of time. . Being late to an interview never makes a good impression.
  • Your own questions – Even though you are the interviewee, you are also interviewing them to make sure this is the right place for you. Bring a question or two of your own to ask.

SITUATIONAL QUESTIONS

A lot of patients are a bundle of nerves when they arrive at the dentist’s office. With this in mind, dental assistant interview questions often include a few about how you would react in certain situations. Different patients have different reactions to treatments and the interviewers want to know that you will react appropriately.

Look up some sample situational dental assistant interview questions and practice your responses to them. Draw on your personal strengths such as having a calm demeanor, being able to prioritize, and having sound judgement to formulate answers. Also, try to recall some past situations where you’ve had to employ these skills. All of these details could come in very handy when the situational questions come up.

ROLE-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

This is that part of the interview where your education and job experience comes into play. Expect to be asked questions regarding your training and experience with dental equipment, previous customer service experience, computer skills, procedures for dental tasks, organizational skills, and anything else that relates to the day-to-day job requirements.

Keep in mind that while you may be fresh out of school with no on-the-job experience in the role, you have your recent training to use as an example. You may also be able to use other job experiences as examples of how you would perform in your new role. For example, past customer service triumphs work in practically any interview.    

BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS

One of the biggest dental assistant interview tips you can get is to think abouthow you would react in a variety of situations. Behavioral questions come up fairly regularly in interviews. Employers want to know that they’re hiring someone who’ll conduct him/herself professionally. You may be asked questions about how well you take criticism, how you maintain your composure when patients get angry, and how you get along with coworkers. Think about your past job experiences and your interactions while you were in training.

As with any job interview, making a good impression in an interview is about being prepared and being confident in your skill set. Taking a bit of time to plan your strategy can have big payoffs in the end.Good luck!

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